Imagine Dragons: Demons Meaning
Song Released: 2013
Covered By: Jasmine Thompson
Demons Lyrics
And the cards all fold
And the saints we see
Are all made of gold
When your dreams all fail
And the ones we hail
Are the worst of all
And the blood’s run stale
I want to hide the truth
I want to shelter you
But...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:*slaps hands together* Time to interpret one of my favourite songs!
First, allow me to highlight a few lyrics:
-"I want to hide the truth. I want to shelter you."
-"Don’t want to let you down, but I am hell bound."
-"Your eyes, they shine so bright. I want to save their light."
These lyrics seem to have a protective feeling, like a parent talking to their son or daughter. It's as if they are trying to tell their son/daughter that the world isn't all good and that there are so many ways to lose innocence. Innocence is such a precious thing, but modern society has made it so easy to lose our childish perspective of a fairy tale.
More lyrics point out how corrupted the world can be:
-"... The ones we hail are the worst of all."
(We seem to twist our values.)
-"There’s nowhere we can hide."
(No matter how hard you try, you can never avoid the truth of a broken reality.)
-"And the masquerade will come calling out at the mess you made."
(This line could refer to depression and how they may feel like they never tried hard enough to help those around them - As if everything is their fault.)
Even the parent can't say that they are completely good with the lyrics, "Don’t get too close. It’s dark inside. It’s where my demons hide."
While the song, in general, appears to be dark, pay attention to this line:
"I can't escape this now unless you show me how."
Earlier, I stated that this song could be a parent talking to a son or daughter, and while most older people would be expected to state that they know better because they are older, this parent is ASKING FOR ADVICE FROM A CHILD. Yes, at first it seems like a silly idea, but an innocent child could represent hope for a future generation. That parent is hoping for their child to bring back all the good in the world. -
2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:i found this on another site:
"when the days are cold" - things are dark and depressing
"the cards all fold" - everyone has given up
"the saints we see are all made of gold" - there isn't anyone truly good left
"when your dreams all fail" - life is getting hard and things aren't happening for people
"and the ones we hail are the worst of all" - the people who have the most influence are the people are are the worst influences (famous musicians, etc.)
"the bloods fun stale" - nobody has passion anymore
"I wanna hide the truth, I wanna shelter you" - he wants to hide the terrible world from someone he loves
"but with the beast inside, there's nowhere we can hide" - the things that make man fallen are inside of him, so he could cut her off completely from bad people and she would still have a beast inside her
"no matter what we breed, we still are made of greed" - same idea...man's fallen traits are engrained in him, and you can't make them go away
"this is my kingdom come" - this is my reality, i realize that now, and this is as good as it's getting
"when you feel my heat look into my eyes, it's where my demons hide" - I may seem like a better person on the outside, but in reality I'm just as bad as everyone else on the inside, I've got problems too
"don't get too close, it's dark inside" - you're too innocent for me
"when the curtain call is the last of all" - the show's over, now you see who the people really are, but they've still got smiles on their faces
"when the lights fade out all the sinners crawl" - but when your not looking anymore, the people are just humble sinners on their hands and knees just like everyone else
"so they dug your grave" - everyone is just waiting for you to fall too, because they know you will
"and the masquerade" - like I said before, everyone is just a fake
"will come calling out at the mess you made" - even though they're just fakes, they are just looking for their chance to criticize you and pull you down, which s why they've dug your grave
'don't wanna let you down, but I am hell-bound" - I really don't want to hurt you, but even though I know you trust in my, I'm gonna have to burst your bubble cuz I'm as bad as everyone else
"don't wanna hide the truth, know this is all for you" - he wanted to hide he truth earlier, but now he knows he can't keep deluding her, she needs to know who he really is, who people all really are, and it may hurt her but it's all for her in the end
"they say it's what you make, I say it's up to fate" - some people say that what you do and how hard you work determines the outcome of life our a relationship, but he thinks it't just gonna happen like it happens and there's nothing he can do to change it: people will always have demons inside them
"it's woven in my soul" - his demons are a part of him, he's never going to shake them
"I need to let you go" - she's innocent, and he doesn't want to ruin that and since he's stuck with his demons forever, he needs to separate himself from her
"your eyes they shine so bright, I want to save that light" - again, he wants to preserve her innocence
"I can't escape this now" - again, he thinks he's stuck with his demons forever
"unless you show me how" - here's the note of hope in this song. He thinks he's pretty much stuck like he is forever, but whoever he is talking to is so innocent and 'her eyes shine so bright' that he thinks just maybe possibly she might be able to show him the way out -
3TOP RATED
#3 top rated interpretation:The 'top rated' from April 3rd is on to it...but its not a man speaking to a woman. Its parent speaking to a child about the realities of the world we live in...the realities the child will face going into the world. The parent (and the parent's generation) failed...and unless the child and his/her generation can 'show me how', then the days will be over. But overcoming the same demons will be very hard, especially b/c of inherent greed along with all the fake people in the world who are just waiting for the child to fail, like everyone else has so far.
-
bluds v crips, and yusef syed(leader of the crips) has a 1v1 with brandon(leader of the bluds) and loses horribly then goes home and cries to baba.
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The person wants to be able to protect his loved ones from his inner self. It shows that he could be depressed-"So they dug your grave and the mas-quer-ade will come calling out at the mess you've made"this shows some sight of depression. He is scared of showing the bad side of him. "i wanna hide the truth, I wanna shelter you" shows how protective he is.He feels like he is a bad person and that when someone gets close to him, he feels like he is gonna hurt them or for them to know hiis feelings, i have no other ideas
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To me, this song is about personal mental illness and the internal conversations we have with ourselves. It seems as though he is talking with another person in the song, but he is talking with himself. He is trying to shelter the vulnerable side of himself. Like if we were to go back in time and try to give advice to our younger selves, he is trying to protect and give warnings to the more innocent and pure version of himself. His Kingdom Come is the personal and inner world where both versions of himself live and struggle. It’s a pep talk to oneself to continue finding the light to move forward despite the continuous fight with the demons. He needs the more grounded version of himself to show him how to escape his own depression.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Might sound weird but I think this song is about two people who are watching the world collapse, and one of them isn’t as good as the other thinks... So person 2 is trying to get person 1 to destroy them before they destroy it all. But person 1 still thinks that there is good in everyone. Then they realize that maybe they are in love and maybe they can fix each other. Than person 2’s demons come out and they realize every body has demons???
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This song means we are all battling with our own inner demon. Determining whether what is right or wrong. And to be careful with that decision.
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I think the song is talking about a guy who has a friend or girlfriend who is going through a hard time, hence "When the days are cold", "So they dug your grave", "Will come calling out at the mess you made" The guy wants to help him/her, but he might be depressed and doesn't trust himself to help him/her without hurting them, or he has done bad things in the past, which is shown in, "But with the beast inside, there's nowhere we can hide", "It's woven in my soul, I need to let you go.", "You're eyes they shine so bright, I want to save their light."
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Could be better but I get what I need out of it so it cant really be that bad.
-
It reminds me of this conversation I had with Dan Reynolds at a park in orem like 7-8 years ago... Idk I'd say it's pretty easy to see that Tyler Robinson inspired the song.
-
This song is not what you think. A lot of you are thinking suicide, mental illness, girlfriends, depression, yadda yadda yadda. Actually, this song was for Tyler Robinson, who died of cancer at 18. It says in the music video, In loving memory of Tyler Robinson, who showed BRAVERY as he battled cancer. Yep, look for yourself. Robinson was good friends with the band, and Dan must have felt like a part of his soul was missing with the loss of Tyler. To note, Robinson’s favourite line in the song “It’s Time” was “ the path to heaven runs through miles of clouded hell,” so basically that all connects together. So what was that about girlfriends again? Makes no sense. Oh, and if you need proof that Tyler is real or you just would like a website to look at if you’re interested, here you go: https://www.trf.org/about/
-
when the days are cold" - things are dark and depressing
"the cards all fold" - everyone has given up
"the saints we see are all made of gold" - there isn't anyone truly good left
"when your dreams all fail" - life is getting hard and things aren't happening for people
"and the ones we hail are the worst of all" - the people who have the most influence are the people are are the worst influences (famous musicians, etc.)
"the bloods fun stale" - nobody has passion anymore
"I wanna hide the truth, I wanna shelter you" - he wants to hide the terrible world from someone he loves
"but with the beast inside, there's nowhere we can hide" - the things that make man fallen are inside of him, so he could cut her off completely from bad people and she would still have a beast inside her
"no matter what we breed, we still are made of greed" - same idea...man's fallen traits are engrained in him, and you can't make them go away
"this is my kingdom come" - this is my reality, i realize that now, and this is as good as it's getting
"when you feel my heat look into my eyes, it's where my demons hide" - I may seem like a better person on the outside, but in reality I'm just as bad as everyone else on the inside, I've got problems too
"don't get too close, it's dark inside" - you're too innocent for me
"when the curtain call is the last of all" - the show's over, now you see who the people really are, but they've still got smiles on their faces
"when the lights fade out all the sinners crawl" - but when your not looking anymore, the people are just humble sinners on their hands and knees just like everyone else
"so they dug your grave" - everyone is just waiting for you to fall too, because they know you will
"and the masquerade" - like I said before, everyone is just a fake
"will come calling out at the mess you made" - even though they're just fakes, they are just looking for their chance to criticize you and pull you down, which s why they've dug your grave
'don't wanna let you down, but I am hell-bound" - I really don't want to hurt you, but even though I know you trust in my, I'm gonna have to burst your bubble cuz I'm as bad as everyone else
"don't wanna hide the truth, know this is all for you" - he wanted to hide he truth earlier, but now he knows he can't keep deluding her, she needs to know who he really is, who people all really are, and it may hurt her but it's all for her in the end
"they say it's what you make, I say it's up to fate" - some people say that what you do and how hard you work determines the outcome of life our a relationship, but he thinks it't just gonna happen like it happens and there's nothing he can do to change it: people will always have demons inside them
"it's woven in my soul" - his demons are a part of him, he's never going to shake them
"I need to let you go" - she's innocent, and he doesn't want to ruin that and since he's stuck with his demons forever, he needs to separate himself from her
"your eyes they shine so bright, I want to save that light" - again, he wants to preserve her innocence
"I can't escape this now" - again, he thinks he's stuck with his demons forever
"unless you show me how" - here's the note of hope in this song. He thinks he's pretty much stuck like he is forever, but whoever he is talking to is so innocent and 'her eyes shine so bright' that he thinks just maybe possibly she might be able to show him the way out
A man speaking to a Child about the real world -
Two people in love. One has a mental illness, and tries to protect the other person from themself. They finally realize that they can’t save themselves without their partner’s help (like the “unless you show me how” line). Kind of a weird way of thinking about it, but that’s just how I feel.
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I think it's about the singer having depression or some other type of darkness within him. If you pay attention to the speech he gave at a concert before he sang that song, he mentioned how he was diagnosed with depression a long time ago and how so many people are dealing with the same thing and see it as a weakness but it's not. A bunch of stuff like that. But the singer is talking about trying to hide it from someone in the song.
"Dont get to close. It's dark inside. It's where my demons hide. Its where my demons hide"
They want to tell them the truth but also don't at the same time. He wants them to know what's going on but doesn't want to hurt them or put them in a bad mood too. I can kinda understand that.
"Your eyes they shine so bright. I want to save that light."
That's at least what I wanna think it's about because I can relate so much.
(Sorry for any spelling mistakes) -
I feel this song could also be about two people maybe parent and child. The child is either evil or has done something bad and the parent knows or is part of it. The parent wants to get the truth out because its eating at them but they want to shelter their kid too. They also want to free the child from the lie because at the end of the day the truth will come out. The part talking about the mess they made is the part that describes the truth being uncovered and people seeing the truth come out. ??? Idk just my thouhts.
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I believe this song is saying that tough stuff will happen,'when your dreams all fail and the ones we hail are the worst of all...' but are we gonna let our demons out?? Or are we gonna be who we've said we where??
Are we gonna fight it out and stand our ground?? Or are we gonna be like the others who are fake?? We should stay who we are through thick and thin, we shouldn't act like someone we're not.
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