Adele: Set Fire to the Rain Meaning
Song Released: 2011
Set Fire to the Rain Lyrics
I let it fall, my heart,
And as it fell, you rose to claim it,
It was dark and I was over,
Until you kissed my lips and you saved me,
My hands, they were strong, but my knees were far too weak,
To stand in your...
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all of her songs are amazing and this is another great example of how heart break feels. when she set fire to rain it was like her doing the impossible by finally getting rid of this man that caused her so much pain even though she loved him with all her heart. she knew it was something that had to be done, but that still doesnt take the pain nor the feelings away hence "set fire to the rain, watched it pour as i touched your face, well it burned while i cried 'cause i heard it screaming out your name". and when she is with him she forgets about all of the deceit and lies because it feels so right when she is with him; " When laying with you I could stay there, Close my eyes, feel you here forever, You and me together, nothing is better, cause there's a side to you that i never knew..." and by the end of the song she throws them(the relationship)into the flames because she knew that would be the only way to end the relationship for good and she knew would never be with him again; "well it burned while i cried cause i knew that was the last time" but she still admits that she wakes up thinking about him and still longs for him even though the relationship is over, she can't help the feelings that are still there but she knows that ending the relationship is whats best because he will never be the guy she pictured him to be. and the way the song ends while echoing and fading out represents that remnants of the relationship still haunt her."Sometimes I wake up by the door, That heart you caught, must be waiting for you, Even now when we're already over, I can't help myself from looking for you,I set fire to the rain,
Watched it pour as I touch your face,
Well, it burned while I cried,'Cause I heard it screaming out your name,your name
I set fire to the rain, And I threw us into the flames,Well, I felt something die,
'Cause I knew that that was the last time, the last time, oh,Oh, no,Let it burn, oh,
Let it burn,Let it burn. -
She has just gotten out of a relationship she is hurt and really need dependence from somebody. She begins to trust and fall for someone who shows her affection and support to pick the pieces of her heart. As the time processes she starts to see how the person she fell for was not as good as he/she claimed. (Setting Fire To The Rain) it basically means that she is setting fire to her emotion breakdown she is angry but sad at the same time she is throwing the memories of the person she fell in love with in to a fire and the rain is a symbol of her tears as the fire is burning.
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As I see it, the rain is her tears, and the fire is her anger.
So when she says she sets fire to the rain it means her willing to cry has been taken over by the anger she feels for what this guy did to her. -
An ill-fated rebound romance. 'My hands were strong, but my knees were weak' = a strong desire to love and be loved and 'hang on' and a resultant inability to stand on her own two feet.
This song celebrates and laments the end of this relationship which is sad, but ultimately catharctically positive- now she can stand on her own two feet and be her own person. Thus, she is in a better position to be herself and love again should the opportunity arise. -
Being let down by one guy.
Led straight into falling for another.
Feeling strong but in reality being aware of being quite vulnerable
Becoming intimate emotionally with this guy was always difficult as he continuosly pushed her away, played games & was indirect about his feelings. (for whatever they were)
Having strong feelings for this guy but having to draw a close to it/ end it for good in subconscious
How much it hurts for her to do this.
How she cant help to think and dream of him even after she knows there is no going back -
The part of 'her arms being strong but her knees far too weak to stand in your arms without falling to your feet' to me might refer to the unequal relationship between her and her new partner. He holds her up while she can only fall to his feet (she is still so vulnerable after breaking up her former relationship, she can only admire him/his strength). Because of this she is not able to see the negative sides of her partner. She is blinded by love. This can only go wrong and she finds out the hard way.
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During an interview about the meaning behind the songs Adele described this song as "burning the pain and getting rid of it and demolishing it...and its sort of like a liberating song because you know when you break up and the other person who you've left or who has left you knows how much you love them and they try and make your life hell and make it so that you can never get over them by constantly being in touch...its kind of like that and its about taking it into your own hands and just saying go away f*** off"
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The impossible love
It seemed impossible for her to continue the relationship with her ex, when,eventually he showed her his true colours.
So her love for him= strong and painful like a fire
Him being the destroyer= the rain
The rain kept(him) destroying the fire flame(her love)so when She realised he was not worth her love and adoration, she ended it all. How painful and strong at the same time -
to me, setting fire to the rain, i like to take from one of the above interpretation,
that the rain is the tears she shed n fire is her anger.
to me, she cried and cried, n finally decided to use the reason she cry to be angry. and confront the reason n urge herself to move on.
it is impossible to set fire to the rain. but to change it symbolically is not right? -
i heave a man who i love so deeply but im just begining to realise it is a game for him why have i realised this because of this song..it fits so well in to our relationship it could be about us it could be us. but i cant break it i cant walk away i cant live without him i just cant
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Occasionally we meet someone in our lives...well some of us do that we are so infatuated by that we lose ourselves in them and stop being who we are. She talks about how she fell in love and the deeper she fell, the more vunerable she was with him, and he knew this and used it to control her. But...in the prechorus she talks about discovering things about him that she could not tollerate anymore, and how she realized she had to leave and KILL the relationship. The Fire is about purging and the rain is about pain. She purges the pain...and in the course she just lets it all go. The second chorus she adds a little more to it and says she tossed the entire experience into the fire, and watched it burn. My feeling is that she burned everything she had of his. She is still torn with memories of him. The impact he had on her seems to be lasting and haunting. She seems to need to revisit the purge several times and may still be dealing with that relationship. She talks alot about this relationship in her songs...it was obviously very intense and very deep for her to be this moved to write and sing these types of songs.
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This is how I see the sentence 'set fire to the rain': 'the rain' are her tears she cries and she wants to burn them. But you can't burn water. So it means she wants to do something that can't be done. She wants to make an end at all her crying but it's not possible.
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Song starts off with her just ending a relationship. After making that transition from being with someone to being alone, she's deeply broken. Within the timeline of losing herself, she met someone else. And this lover safes her from her lonesome. But her new love isn't who they promised they'd be. They took control of the whole relationship. So as they broke up she set fire to the rain, meaning that the relationship was so bad that she was drowning that she set fire to let go. And it hurt cause she cried of course. Long story short the last break up we devistating because she gave her all to her lover. And to get over them it was difficult because she fell hard for them and all the memories and all that they accomplished was over. Break ups are horrible!
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This song is about falling, getting up, letting go, and moving on.
In the beginning of the song she says that “[she] let it fall, [her] heart” for a person and it clearly was broken and in a “dark” place and she was “over” – in a sense “dead” – until he “kissed [her] lips and saved [her]” – He helped her bring her heart back from pieces and love again. She loved this new man so much that she was “too weak” to stand on her own two feet and instead adored him so much she was down on her knees and worshiped him “falling to [his] feet” and would do anything for him.
This man was obviously this man had a different side to him and lied. He probably told her he loved her and that he would never do her wrong and would never hurt her like the last man hurt her --- but “all the things [he] say, they were never true, never true.” He probably did her wrong and over and over he would say “Sorry” or brought her flowers and that she would fall for it and forgive him – and “[he] would always win.” He would always win because she let him get away with him, hence going back to when she says she is weak in her knees for him that she will turn a blind eye to the bad things he is doing to her.
But she realized that she was just being hurt again and to end all the tears – the “rain” – and the storm of a relationship – she has to set “fire” to it to dissolve it. She had to end it – “it burned” as in it was so painful ending the bad relationship to a man she loved but treated her wrong that it “burned while [she] cried” – cried cause she has to leave it. When we leave a person we love so much – it hurts to recognize and accept that it is over and that it is not meant to be specially when you gave a lot of faith to a person.
She still reminisces by thinking that she could “lay with [him] and [she] could stay there and close [her] eyes and feel [him] forever.” And that that ideally in her heart ‘[him] and [her], nothing is better.” She is looking back at these feeling she felt and that he made her feel when the relationship was new and before he showed his true colors.
“But, [she] set fire to the rain.” It hurts that she has to end it, let it go, and move on. When she sings that she ‘heart it screaming out your name” – she is saying that while she is setting “fire” to finish this relationship, she still hears in her heart the screams of her love for him, but she had to “throw [them] into the flames” – this means that whatever she and him had together had to be burned and dissolved. Once she did this and realized that there was nothing she could do, “[she] felt something die” because once you burn something, it is gone forever – and she burned this relationship – and in turn she let the love die.
She may have let it go and ended the relationship, but she still thinks of him sometimes. She still longs for him, but she has to let it go and just let that feeling burn and die off. -
This is a woman who was vulnerable, met a man who she fell deeply in love with and then saw him for who he really was. She ended the relationship and is moving through all the stages of healing. Surprise, extreme hurt, anger. She knows it is over but still thinks about the way he made her feel.
This is an amazing song. Why is it not played on the radio? Not only does Adele have a wonderful voice she is a tremendous song writer. So talented, so young.....
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