This song is about a dream. It's quite obvious. Lyrics like, "Why are you so far away?" suggest that the characters in the song are separated by some sort of barrier, that being reality. The song changes from what seems like a sappy love song where all is well and slowly reveals to the listener that the woman is in fact in a dream. The lyrics have two parts, the symbolic and the obvious:

Spinning on that dizzy edge
I kissed her face and kissed her head
And dreamed of all the different ways I had
To make her glow
"Why are you so far away?" she said
"Why won't you ever know that I'm in love with you?
That I'm in love with you?"

This entire verse is important because of the single line "Why are you so far away?" It reveals that there is some sort of barrier between the two people.

You
Soft and only
You
Lost and lonely
You
Strange as angels
Dancing in the deepest oceans
Twisting in the water
You're just like a dream...

"Lost and Lonely" suggests that the person is alone in another realm, not reality.
"Dancing in the deepest oceans, twisting in the water" symbolizes him. He himself is the ocean/water, and she is inside of him, in his dream/fantasy.
"you're just like a dream" is the obvious. She is a dream.

Daylight licked me into shape
I must have been asleep for days
And moving lips to breathe her name
I opened up my eyes
And found myself alone
Alone
Alone above a raging sea
That stole the only girl I loved
And drowned her deep inside of me

"Daylight licked me into shape" means he was woken up after dreaming.
"I must've been asleep for days" obviously a dream.
"....I opened up my eyes" once again, dream.
"..alone above a raging sea, that stole the only girl I loved, and drowned her deep inside of me" is a little more deep. It symbolizes the fact that metaphorically speaking he is the ocean/sea, and once he woke up, the sea (him/his imagination) stole the only girl he loved because he woke up and was therefore no longer dreaming, and drown her deep inside of him because she was sent back into his imagination/memory.

Anyway, that's my take on it.

this song is pure genius. their songs are masterpieces.

robert smith's voice is amazing.


"Show me how you do that trick
The one that makes me scream" she said
"The one that makes me laugh" she said-
i honestly think this is is referring to sex,
because it says "the one that makes me SCREAM".
it could also be a refferance to the little things
he does for her that are actually very big, though.


And threw her arms around my neck
"Show me how you do it and I promise you
I promise that I'll run away with you
I'll run away with you"-
she wants him to explain to him how he can
make her feel so special so easily. though, she
obviously isnt really expecting him to be able
to explain how much he loves her, since it is a
very complex thing.


Spinning on that dizzy edge
I kissed her face and kissed her head-
the thought of her makes him lightheaded,
and that kinda good -i-love-her way.

And dreamed of all the different ways I had
To make her glow-
he dreams/thinks about his various abilities
to bring out the best in her.


"Why are you so far away?" she said
"Why won't you ever know that I'm in love with you?
That I'm in love with you?"-
he proably dreams so much, that she stats to think
he doesnt love her, and she feels there is a
huge void between them, though he probably doesnt
feel that way. he may think everything is fine, but
he does love her.

You
Soft and only-
so innocent and the only one he loves/wants.

You
Lost and lonely-
shes somewhat confused and feels alone.

You
Strange as angels-
she is so perfect in his eyes, that she is like an
angel, and we cant really see angels, unless we're
in heaven. if we see angels while we're alive, its
ind of strange.

Dancing in the deepest oceans-
lurking around in peoples' minds alot.

Twisting in the water-
i honestly am still thniking about this one.

You're just like a dream...-
shes almost too good to be real, but he loves her.

Daylight licked me into shape
I must have been asleep for days-
someone else mentioned that Robert's gf
had drowned and died. if thats the case, then this
ties together perfectly. he is in denial, and doesnt
want to believe shes dead, so he constantly dreams
about her, but one day he wakes up and realizes
that she does only exist in his dreams now.

And moving lips to breathe her name
I opened up my eyes
And found myself alone -
he hear's her name in his head, and he opens his
eyes and sees he's alone because she is no longer
there with him. physically, at least. spiritually, she
might be.


Alone
Alone above a raging sea
That stole the only girl I loved
And drowned her deep inside of me-
the girl drwned in the sea and now shes sunk way
down into his thoughts, so he cant get her off his
mind.

Just like heaven-
absolutely perfect.



thats how i see it.

Sounds to me like the girl he loved drowned. Thus all the references to water...

A perfect song. I agree there is an Edgar Allan Poe/Annabelle Lee vibe, though there aren't any solid references to it, other than iconic seaside imagery, and being separated from idealized, perfect love.

This is my favorite song of all time, nothing could possibly top it. Has anyone heard Charlotte Martin's cover of it? Of course it isn't better than the original but I think she does a really good job of capturing the emotional depth behind the lyrics :)

Dancing in the deepest oceans-
She was carelessly playing around the water

Twisting in the water-
Drowning as a result

You're just like a dream...-
He can't do anything to help her

This is so romantic. I doubt it could be about sex. It's love. Lost love :(

lovely song. "And drowned her deep inside of me," sort of encapsulates what the song's about for me, that it was his fault the relationship ended because he never showed her the love she wanted from him. only once he "woke up" did he realise how much she meant to him.


Laura Cortese also does an amazing cover of it. think Owen Pallett meets the Cure.

The song is about him realizing that he is gay. The girl that he is supposed to be with is dead and burried, (inside of him no less). Making HIM the fem. Also, 'drowned her deep inside of me' or is that deep in sodomy????

He's above the raging see, now by the end of the song, not in it. or 'dancing in the deepest oceans, twising in the water'

He kissed her head???? Really? And he's distant and far away when he's with his girl?

When he finally 'opens up (his) eyes' he is alone ABOVE the raging see. He has opened his eyes now, and sees himself for what he really is. Gay.

Of course, it's Robert Smith, we all knew that like 15 years ago.

Awesome song, and easy to play on guitar. Ironically, this song about being gay, will get you a lot of chicks. and probably gay dudes too.

Sea. I meant Sea, instead of see, in the above post.

This song did always remind me of Annabelle Lee. To me, this is the perfect song. I could listend to it over and over and over and never get sick of it. There arent many songs like that. I think the song is about the fact that some of us never meet that perfect 'soulmate', for lack of a better word. He is literally dreaming and he is dreaming about his 'soulmate' who dreams of him too but because of fate and the vastness of the world or the 'raging sea' he will probably never meet her. The first verse is about a playful moment he would have with her. The second verse, he is thinking about how perfect this is and how easy it is to love her and make her happy. It is then he realizes it is a dream and it is as if she is speaking to him across the vastness - 'Why are you so far away?, she said. Why wont you ever know that I'm in love with you?' 'Lost and Lonely' 'Strange as Angels'- he sees himself as strange and not fitting in but he also sees himself as a good person that she would appreciate if only they found each other. 'Dancing in the deepest ocean, twisting in the water, youre just like a dream'- she dreams of him too and knows he is out there somewhere in the vastness of the world. 'Just like Heaven'- he resigns himself to the fact that she is an unattainable dream.

Robert Smith; "The song is about hyperventilating—kissing and fainting to the floor."

The "Show me how you do that trick" line works on two levels. First being a personal memory of his - he used to do magic tricks when he was a child - and the second being a trick of seduction. I suppose you can view the latter in which ever way you like.

ok heres what i think....
the dream thing i dont think is meant to be taken so literally...i think hes refering to their relationship as a dream (supposedly with his drowned gf)

references to dizzying and sex (do that trick one that makes me scream) and all the diff ways to glow and dreaming and spinning and running away together is like hes lost in the dream in what he thinks is a good as a dream and how perfect it all is and thats kept him from really being close to HER instead of the idea of their dreamy relationship.., meanwhile shes asking y cant he see shes in love with him and y is he sa far away from her...well der its caz hes dreaming

then hes licked into shape not literally ofcourse. but its like hes finally awoken and realise to late that she IS prefect and not a dream...he drowned her in his own thoughts and dreams and now its too late shes gone...

he says shes just like a dream the whole way through untill the end when he realises that shes not like a dream which isnt real and a figment of his imagination...

hes realised that shes like HEAVEN---real and perfect and gone.

thats my take on it


but no one will ever noe for sure caz we didnt rite the song
but no matter the meaning its like one of my fav songs of all time love the guitar riff and the way he sings the words all melty

First up I *do* think this song refers to sex, as well as other aspects of a relationship. I think this song is about how sex influences falling in love for a guy and a girl.

I also don't understand the comments that feel that if the song *is* about sex then that somehow cheapens it. Sex is a fact of relationships and plays an important role in them. This song doesn't treat sex in a superficial or puerile way, rather it seeks to illuminate how it can impact feelings of love and closeness between two people.

Anyway, I think the core idea is that the girl in the song is receiving a lot of pleasure from the guy she's with, this makes her feel more intensely, deeply and profoundly for him (hence all the 'water/drowning' imagery - "Dancing in the deepest oceans / Twisting in the water"). But this response isn't mirrored by the guy, for whom sex doesn't have the same impact, for whatever reason.

The disparity in their experience of sex is what creates the distance between them and ultimately what makes him 'lose' her (ALL the language that indicates sex refers to the girl's sensations and the guy's creation of them - this includes the whole opening verse as well as: "I kissed her face and kissed her head / And dreamed of all the different ways I had / To make her glow"). She is stepping into this world of physical pleasure and protection and connection which are the sensations she associates with sex, whereas for him, he may get some pleasure himself but it's not enough to create the same abandon, vulnerability, and connection that she feels for him. I think that is a real problem in relationships, other things being equal, beginning to have sex with eachother can end up having a profoundly different impact for the two partners.

As for whether they physically part from eachother, I'm not sure which way to read it. I can see the lyrics as reflecting their parting, or, alternatively, as reflecting the loss of their emotional connection with eachother. She has fallen in love with him, and because he can't reciprocate, he loses her. Hence the paradox of the line: "Alone above a raging sea / That stole the only girl I loved / And drowned her deep inside of me." The puzzle of how he can have her 'inside him' and still have lost her is solved: the raging sea again refers to the overwhelming and consuming power of her affection and love for him (in which sex has certainly played a role) which literally 'steals' her from him, because without reciprocating those feelings, there is no future to their relationship.

I laughed at first at Hugh Jorgen's comment that it was related to cunnilingus but now I can see how he thought it. Those feelings are very similiar to the sex act.

However, I agree with another person's interpretation that it's about the love and making her happy too.

I think its about one of those dreams where everything is great and you wake up thinking its true, excited to tell everyone, then realize it was just a dream and lay in bed depressed for a few hours

First part seems to be referring to sex,
"Show me how you do that trick, The one that makes me scream" She said.
"The one that makes me laugh" She said.
Like, he's learnt some new trick in bed and it makes her scream and giggle.

"Show me how you do it and I promise you
I promise that I'll run away with you
I'll run away with you"
Sounds like she's promising him, She'll be with him 'forever'
And no one can stop their love.

'And dreamed of all the different ways I had
To make her glow'
Seems to again come back to sex, because apparently sex makes your skin glow.
And he's thinking of other ways to please her like the trick he's just showed her.

"Why are you so far away?" she said
"Why won't you ever know that I'm in love with you?
That I'm in love with you?"
And then this, Seems like he's always going away - On tour.
And because of this, she can't really show him just how in love she is.

'Daylight licked me into shape
I must have been asleep for days
And moving lips to breathe her name
I opened up my eyes
And found myself alone
Alone
Alone above a raging sea
That stole the only girl I loved
And drowned her deep inside of me'
This part seems to be, he's come home from tour - exhausted.
So he's slept for what seems like days, he wakes up and she isn't there.
She's left him because of how often he was away.
And little did she know, he was really in love with her too.

But I don't know, Just how I see it :)

Like usual, Robert takes a pretty sad topic and turns it into a happy sounding pop masterpiece... To me, this song seems to be about a guy that has a girl in his life who loves him more than anything ("I'll run away with you..." "why are you so far away, she said, why wont you ever know that Im in love with you...") but the guy is too caught up in his own depression (represented by the "raging sea") to even realize that she is in love with him... and by the time he realizes that she loves him, it's too late... and he finds himself alone, with her love for him gone do to his own fault ("drowned her deep inside of me...") This song is so beautiful, but pretty sad at the same time. And maybe im just interpretting it like this because thats the way my last relationship went in my life... who knows. No matter what, this song is beautiful, and if you are looking this up just cuz its one of their hits, you need to get into more Cure because they are such an incredible band...