A Perfect Circle: Gravity Meaning
Gravity Lyrics
Broken and weary
Unable to find my way
Tail in hand
Dizzy and clearly unable to
Just let this go
I am surrendering to the gravity and the unknown
Catch me heal me lift me back up to the sun
I choose to live
I fell...
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I personally don't think this is about drug addiction. Knowing Maynard's previous and present work.
I think it's about enlightenment and the struggle of letting things of the previous life go. Then opening ones self to a new way of thinking and seeing. The awaking if you will. "The gravity of the unknown" to me is letting go and embarking on the journey of intellectual evolution. Evolving ones mind to understand and be at peace with themselves and the world around them. Being lost again is the point where one becomes distracted by the world they are attempting to leave behind and getting sucked back into that world and mindset by some possible traumatic
experience. -
Beautiful, inspiring song about the power of choice and choosing life free of the horrors of substance abuse. Surrendering to gravity conjurs an image of giving up the drug-high (I picture a person in the outer reaches of the atmosphere falling back to earth) and coming back to reality, to being grounded and authentic (which drug use can strip away from a users life that it has become "the unknown." Life in a clean state (drug free) is the unknown. All this is choosing to live, returning to state of life where there is happiness and hope (like the rays of sunshine lighting up what was dark and dreary existence. To me the beauty of the lyrics are someone who is struggling but still hopeful they can live and return to state of happiness
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I actually want to share my own personal interpretation of the song, as it relates to my own situation.
I've been involved with 12 step groups myself, but my application of at least most of the lyrics of the song is actually something that goes further down into the core causes of what may cause an addiction in any of its destructive forms.
For me, it's getting to the place of being able to breakthrough to freedom from the effect of a very painful abusive past (childhood - emotional, physical, and verbally abused).
I've been at this place a few times, but for whatever reason I haven't been able to break through the barrier that would lead to freedom from the effects of the pain of all my abuse, which has greatly hindered my ability to Truly Live (a much more healthy and productive life than what I have up to this point).
So, whenever I sing along with this song, I think of how I have failed to break through (up to this point), and how I need to surrender and let go. But it's been hard, and I feel lost and unable to stand on my own sometimes, because it's been a battle to be able to truly let go. And when ever I sing the Chorus, I'm kinda making it a Mantra of sorts to help me to surrender and let go, and asking the Universe to Catch Me, and heal me....as I choose to Live (a Better and Healthier Life).
Praying for the strength and courage to let go, and asking to be released from the ill effects of the pain, to be able to find Healing, to move forward with the rest of my life.
This is coming from one who has had a drug addiction which I've overcome, but addictions come in more forms (such as food for instance with the result of being morbidly obese...this is another addiction that I'm still dealing with).
So..this song is like a prayer, to me....and, I will keep saying to myself ~ I choose to Live....I choose to Live. -
Considering the entire album of Thirteenth Step probably alludes to the twelve-step programs and sexual, exploiting nature of "thirteenth-stepping", it's safe to say that "Gravity" can most definitely be considered a song centered on a chronic drug addiction, like many, if not all, of the other tracks on this album. What's special about this one in particular is the spiritual connotation the song gives off by using celestial diction and a lot of dream-like imagery. The result leaves a great deal of open-ended interpretation to its readers based on whatever they are experiencing. For my own contribution, I'm going to use heroin as the basis for my opinion.
For the first stanza, being "lost again/broken and weary" and "unable to let this go" could be an addict referring to their inability to quit and just leave dope alone. If you listen to the soft, ethereal sound of Maynard's voice, the tone is set--there is a sense of desperation and obvious helplessness, as if the addict has been beaten relentlessly and they are fatigued by disappointment and emotional pain from heroin abuse. The addict is so spiritually disconnected, most likely from guilt that they feel as if they cannot identify with any higher being or even the souls around them. They are lost, unable to help themselves and lacking any sort of direction whatsoever in their lives.
For the second set of lyrics talking about surrender and "choosing to live", from a heroin addict's perspective, "living" is actually referring to using the drug. After awhile of being addicted, heroin no longer becomes a want, but a need. There is a physical dependence on the opiate as well as a powerful psychological attachment. "I am surrendering to gravity and the unknown" could point at the abuser giving into their addiction and getting high. The euphoric, dream-like state users feel, the floating effect, can be the reason Maynard chose to sing words like "gravity" and "unknown". The dope user is giving in to the metaphysical, with the sun being symbolic for energy and a life provider; therefore, the addict is rejuvenated and alive again after heroin.
The third part shows how the person relapses and is struggling to lead a normal life. "Like a baby unable to stand on my own" reinforces the helplessness of the abuser. The line and the line after is a cry for help. Right after this, the lyrics resort back to talking about using again to relieve the fight, the long and exhausting battle of resisting heroin use.
"Calm these hands before they
Snare another pill and
Drive another nail down another
Needy hole please release me."
The stanza depicts a person who is consumed by their addiction and no longer has control of being able to stop. The lyrics switch over to another cry for help, asking someone to "release" them from their sins.
Ending the song is a repeat of the chorus.
The reason I chose a different approach of interpretation is because the title of the song is called, "Gravity". Now, not all titles necessarily pinpoint the theme of a work; however, the word gravity denotes a weight--from a metaphoric standpoint, a listener could conclude the title is symbolic of heroin use and its ability to drag people down. -
I believe this song is talking about how he is tired of having this human experience and wants to go back into his real home place and that is the Pleidian star system where he came from and he chose to come to this planet to awaken himself and the rest of the human race but the task is too hard and he wants to leave and live his real life. when he says "Catch me heal me lift me back up to the sun
I choose to live" he is asking "god" to lift him back into the universe and asking him to heal him from his tainted human mind so he can be a pure Pleidian again. -
to me this song is about the steps one takes before they start any recover program. IT is not the twelve steps program, but a person who is in addiction, knows it and is trying to get out.
Gravity is about finally hitting bottom. DO you choose to stay at the bottom? or do you want to live? Then you take the first step to recovery.
The whole album is about twelve steps down , thirteen being the bottom. -
i think that maynard's lyrics are always written in a way that they can be taking from multiple angles. i feel that this song is a more spiritual approach, and that the terms "gravity" and "the sun" are metaphors for what they really are. gravity is what holds us down, and can be metaphorically talking about addictions, ailments, problems, or anything that may keep a person from soaring at their highest potential. submitting to gravity and the unknown is accepting the cards you have been dealt. but then the song states that he is seeking help, and wants to be brought back into the light. to see the cup as half full. the thought of giving up is the main motivation, but then the voice of reason reminds us all to stand up, and be a man about our problems.
this album has tons of metaphors in it, and i think the main point is that (like any scripture) it is all in the eye of the beholder. -
Twelve-step program (+1)
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To me this songs is about drugs and the struggle within when trying to get clean.
Churchill - the lyric is not meaty hole, its needy hole. I am not saying your interpretation is wrong, just wanted to let you know. -
This song is about addiction "I am surrendering to the gravity and the unknown Catch me heal me lift me back up to the sun I choose to live" and they want to overcome their addiction and they are reaching out for help. Then they relapse "I fell again Like a baby unable to stand on my own
Tail in hand Dizzy and clearly unable to just let this go" but they still want someone to help them get better."Calm these hands before they Snare another pill and Drive another nail down." -
I pretty much agree with the above interpretation. I've never gotten anything about suicide from it, but what I get instead is that he's put himself on this self-destructive path that he wants to leave, but can't. He's "surrendering to gravity and the unknown" because he's just throwing himself out there and hoping that he comes through alright.
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It is my personal belief that this song is about a person who is contemplating suicide and feels like they are
metaphorically being crucified. Because a good portion of Thirteenth Step is about suicide this is the climatic song at the end that is describing a persons struggle with dying.
The reason I say metaphorically being crucified is because if it were really about a person being nailed to a cross it really wouldn't fit the rest of the album in my opinion.
The song uses great imagery of someone hanging on a cross when it says
"I am surrendering to the gravity and the unknown"
You can almost see a person suspended in air on a cross trying to raise themselves up to breath and just giving up due to exhaustion and embracing death.
This person is conflicted with living or dying however. As soon as they surrender they are wanting help from the outside
"Catch me heal me lift me back up to the sun
I choose to live"
As soon as they ask for help however, they fall again and the cycle continues...
"I fell again"
I get my metaphorical crucification theory from later in the song...
"Calm these hands before they
Snare another pill and
Drive another nail down another
Meaty hole please release me"
Chances are this person is ending it with pills they are looking for help but just like in the song "Blue" people just sit and watch as this person dies.
I think that with the end of the song the person decides they do not want to die with "I choose to live" repeated a few times but they are too late because they have already taken the pills and end up dying.
This is what I hear when I listen to gravity, I really want to know what everyone else thinks...
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