Damien Rice: Volcano Meaning
Song Released: 2003
Volcano Lyrics
You'll hurt your knees
I kissed your mouth and back
That's all I need
Don't build your world around
Volcanoes melt you down
And what I am to you
Is not real
And what I am to you
You do not need
And what I...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:I have read a lot of interpretation of this song and find some of them amusing. I tend to believe this song is about one man who is telling his young lover not to fall so deeply in love with him because she doesn't understand what true love is yet. He wants for something much deeper than she can give and he doesn't want to ruin her. I believe the mountains she is giving him represent the love she has for him. They peak real high and all he wants is something deep like the sea. He basically tells her she is too young to understand real love or cure her of this because she hasn't lived or loved enough yet. When she tells him not to throw her love around, I believe she thinks she knows what love is but the reality is she is just a young woman who tends to think she knows everything. She holds him is such a regard that he is more than what he is. He tells her what I am to you is not real. She is building him up to be a volcano. And when it erupts, she is going to get burned down. Her passion is so hot and strong and he is the vessel that carries it. But he does not think she loves him the way he needs.
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This song makes me think of my previous relationship. We're both writers and saved all of our emotions for the page. Although there was some sort of connection between us, we both realised that it was not the type of love that can last because we both wanted very different things from life. Our writing built each other up to be something that wasn't real.
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The album is 4.38 long. 38 is our number. And the number of Luke. And Mary. And our love. And I am crazy. So don't listen to me.
Anyway, mountains are sometimes wild with sides. But the sea sails ships, with wind filled sails. That need the wind to blow it forth.
Hence the blowers daughter.
I am not too young, he is not too old. Age is irrelevant, if you're going to be 38. -
I'm not exactly sure what I think the lyrics mean but I have a sad feeling listening to it so I imagine the lyrics must mean something sad too. When the guy sings he shows concern for the girl hurting her knees (I can imagine why she was on her knees) showing he probably feels guilt. Volcanoes build up and blow...then the aftermath of the eruption melts her. Similar to climax, the passion builds, erupts and for him it's over, that's all he needed...but for her its very emotional. It melts her down. He even warns her not to build her life around the physical passion between them. More guilt I'm thinking.
In the chorus he's trying to tell her that what she believes is between them is not reality. He's telling her she doesn't need him even though she thinks she does. The relationship is explosive and passionate... On fire! Like a new disease that has no cure yet, nothing can fix this... Nothing can squelch this passion she feels know matter what reality is... There's no treatment or vaccination for it!
When the girl sings she's telling him not to drag her love around and she concurs that what he is to her she does not need because the passion and then lets down afterwards melts her down. She breaks down. She gives him mountains and mountains, meaning more and more but he wants the sea. She can't fill his void. His void is as big as the Sea.
He also says that this relationship is only showing him want he doesn't want...and he's still searching for the perfect partner. This is just a stepping stone to the real thing for the guy. He's trying to tell her he doesn't love her in a committed way and she's telling him to stop playing around with her heart. He tells her that he's living in the here and now and that's all he can give her so she doesn't need him even if she thinks she does! Soo sad, but at least he's trying to tell her! She should've had more of a commitment before she gave herself to someone that didn't have anything to give back!
That's my take on it. -
I think it has to do with a girl that is still a minor and though he really wants her, she's too young. It hurts him to have to reject her and hurt her. "You'll give me mountains" means she'll do everything for him but "the sea" ultimately is sex, which is taboo for him.
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I think the song is pertaining to the fact that he's not into her like she's into him. She loves him and to him it might just be infatuation. She loves him so much she gives him mountains but hes asking for the sea which is endless and no matter what she gives him, it will never be enough. And the fact that she is young and not ready to experience what real love is or maybe it is just lust and its all a physical attraction. All it takes is a kiss and she falls back right into him. And even though he enjoys it, he knows its not a good situation. She needs more than what he is giving her. He's just with her because its convenient but he knows what he needs and its not her.
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I agree with the other interpretation, but I think there's another interpretation of the lyric "You give me miles and miles of mountains And I ask for the sea". I think the mountains represent an emotional roller coaster and the sea is the calm. The girl who's in love with him represent the mountains but he needs someone who represents the sea.
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agree with the other interpretation, but I don't think "the sea" is another woman, the sea is selfishness... she gives "mountains and mountains" and he "asks for the sea" She gives and he takes...
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My interpretation of this song is that he is talking a girl that is deeply in love with him but he doesn't love her in the same way. He tells her that kissing her mouth and back is all he needs, so basically the only reason he is still with her is because of the physical aspect. She is so deeply in love that she is building her world around him. She's a young girl, and she doesn't understand the whole concept of love yet. She tells him that he's the one, that she needs him because she is desperately in love, but he tells her repeatedly that she doesn't need him. He's in love with someone else, so while she is giving him "miles and miles of mountains" he doesn't want what is right in front of him, he wants what he can't have, which is the sea (Another girl)
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