Florence + the Machine: Blinding Meaning

Blinding Lyrics

Seems that I have been held, in some dreaming state
A tourist in the waking world, never quite awake
No kiss, no gentle word could wake me from this slumber
Until I realise that it was you who held me under

Felt it in my fist, in my feet,...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Apr 26th 2012 !⃝

   I think this is about a girl whose boyfriend died. She had lost herself in her grief, and the song is her realizing that she has to move on with her life. "No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone" means that she's been letting his memory take over her dreams. "No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden" tells us that the song's about a death, not just a breakup.
2. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jul 23rd 2016 !⃝

   You, guys, have it all wrong !
   This song is Florence's dedication to T. S. Eliot !
   Indeed, as you can notice, the song is a reference to his well-known poem The Waste Land:
   • The Waste Land is no love but desire and the " girl so in love " is " in the wrong world ", the " tourist ".
   • The " Unreal City " which refers to London in the poem with " King William Street " may be echoing as the " dreaming state " of the tourist " in the waking world, never quite awake " (known and yet called unreal).
   • The poem is a conceit of death and so is the song : " No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone ". Furthermore, the " body in the garden " is a straight reference to the poem " That corpse you planted last year in your garden " just after the first reference to the Unreal City ! Coincidence ? I think not !
   • Last but not least, Florence mentions the thunder " And I could hear the thunder and see the lightning crack " which is both, in the song and in the poem, a reification of social over interactions. The fifth part of T.S Eliot's poem is called " What the thunder said ".
   
   That's it !
3. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Aug 16th 2014 !⃝

   I think its about snow white. Read the lyrics with that in mind and you might see it too
4. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Aug 9th 2013 !⃝

   I think it's about death. She's lost someone (aka the boy), but it was a long time ago, and she's been angry and depressed about it since. She's even been having dreams that he's still alive, been putting herself through this fantasy that he's still with her. She's almost gone insane because of it. It's pretty much eating up her entire life, and once she realizes what she's letting happen to her, she vows to forget having such terrible emotions because of her loss. She's tired of it controlling her life, so she throws it out. Just as well, though, it could be something else.
5. Awaken

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Apr 9th 2013 !⃝

   I feel it means that we are waking up. Out of this disillusion that the master of deception within each and every one of us has tricked us into believing is real. By using FEAR as the core energy power. If you want to WAKE UP, let go of fear and embrace pure love. Meditation and seeking the pure light of GOD is within each of us. This is how we wake up and cause others to as well.
6. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Nov 2nd 2012 !⃝

   I think its about a girl waking up to reality,but she had one rude awakening.I think she woke up after she realized her loved one is gone and won't be coming back.
7. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jul 3rd 2012 !⃝

   Breaking away from a religion one has been indoctrinated into
8. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Apr 3rd 2012 !⃝

   i think it means that she was in love with the wrong person and finally relized that he wasnt good for her and she kind of wakes up to reality and is kind of brain dead.
9. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Dec 13th 2011 !⃝

   i think it could be about snow white, and how her prince charming died, and she had decided to herself she has to move on.
10. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Dec 12th 2011 !⃝

    Something bad has happened to her in her past which has caused her to close off and hide from reality. She's been in denial about it but she's finally shaking herself awake and making herself move on from it. She's willing herself to pull away from the bad things she's been holding onto and she's starting to feel again.
11. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Nov 28th 2011 !⃝

    i think its about a girl thats in love with a boy and is living her life in a fairy tale then one day when he decides to leave her she wakes up and snaps back to reality only to realize that she cant go on by herself
12. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Jul 8th 2011 !⃝

    i think its about someone who realizes they have been living in an illusion. and finially wakes up due to a situaiton or person that made them start living in reality

Latest Articles

• 
  Anime to watch for the soundtracks… and other reasons you’re undateable
• 
  Dolly, we need you
• 
  The Stranger Things Effect: How new media is drawing Gen Z and Alpha's attention to aging media
• 
  The most underrated soundtrack of the early 2000s
• 
  Buy the Soundtrack, Skip the Movie: Brainscan (1994)
• 
  Let’s Go to the Hop - Ignore That Door’s Four Bunnies and a Beatbox