Rise Against: Wait for Me Meaning
Song Released: 2012
Wait for Me Lyrics
Do you see the world in black and gray?
Alone in your thoughts
How many others have stood where you stand
Where you stand today?
I've stood where you stand
But all, can you...
Wait for me...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:I think this song is about a person in the army writing to their love to wait for them to come home. It's about them explaining how lost and caught up in the military's system they've become and that times have changed as have the ways of the military and that all their dreams of what fighting for their country should have been like have failed them or have been lost. But still they ask the other to wait for them; to accept all they've done and all they've seen and to love them still. This is a sad love song about war, patience and lost dreams.
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2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:" Do you see the world in different colours?
Do you see the world in black and gray? "
-He's saying that this person is different than himself, but he's also trying to get to know them.
"But oh can you wait for me now, and take off this crown, to break off these flowers, dont you know? "
-He want's to get closer to the person but it'll take time, thus " wait for me ", and in saying to take off the crown, the crown could represent a difference in level, like romeo and juliet where juliet was considered not to stoop as low as Romeo. The flowers, flowers have roots, roots restrict you from doing things -- either way you're breaking the restrictions.
"A promise of setting free of the lever,
But the ocean is wider than I first guessed
With roads disappeared, I follow the rivers
But somehow get in over my head
So deeper I'll take it"
- He promises to make an attempt, but it's going to be harder than he thought. He aimlessly tries to get to that point where they can be together, but he gets lost along the way.
"I've lost dreams of what could have been
How to set fire on a tangled whip
The key turns, define the locks all day
In time to hear the backdoor slam
A sound that to this day I can't forget
The colors stray to black and gray"
- While lost along the way he's lost all hope, he used to think he could " set fire on a tangled whip" as in break the system, but he was restrained by those who "define the locks". He can never forget how close he was, and now he's in the same situation as the person he wanted to be with. He is without hope, which leads to the thought that maybe the person he tried to get to had tried to get to someone else before, and that's why they saw black and gray.
Sorry if I'm wrong but that's my interpretation. -
To me this song is about depression / suicide thoughts.
"Wait for me" is encouragement to go on, and I am supporting you to be happy. Wait for me, until you realize that I am on your side. -
I think it has less to do with human relationships and more about how screwed up our country is. Often Rise Against songs are more about a general idea rather than an individual. Tim is not one to write a song about what he himself is feeling but rather a condition or state of a country. Which I think he is doing in this song. I think this song is about America and how messed up we are. While a "good" group of people calls out to America to come back the "good" people trapped in America are calling out to the others "wait for me". That's just my political take on the song.
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"Do you see the world in different colors?
Do you see the world in black and gray?
Alone in your thoughts how many others
Have stood where you stand, where you stand today
I've stood where you stand."
He met this girl, she was just like him. They both thought and felt the same way.
"But oh can you wait for me now?
And take off this crown
To break all this vows"
The boy is far away from the girl because of some commitment he made, a duty he had to fulfill. He tells her to wait for him until he comes home.
"The promise of safe return undelivered
But the ocean is wider than I first guessed"
He wanted to come home, but it wasn't possible... the "ocean is wider than I first guessed", meaning the duty he had to fulfill was more complicated than he first expected.
"When roads disappeared, I followed the rivers
But somehow got in over my head
So deep I felt taken (in some versions, it sounds like "so a deep breath I'm taking)"
He felt lost, he never expected it to be this way.
"Wait for me now
And take off this crown
To break all these vows
Don't you know?
Wait for me
Air is running out
Wait for me, wait for me,
wait for me, wait for me... now."
He is begging and pleading her to wait for him. He is growing desperate.
"A lost dream of what could have been
A house on fire a tangled web
The key turns to find the locks have changed
In time to hear the back door slam
A sound that to this day I can't forget"
describes the trauma he felt (presumably as a child or younger).
"The colors drain to black and gray"
It was then that he felt angry at the world, when he began seeing everything as bleak, thus the term "black and grey". I think this is also where he and the girls meets their mind, as they both "see the world in different colors".
"The key turns, to find the locks have changed"
I think he's afraid that when he comes back, the girl won't be waiting for him anymore (e.g. finding another lover). He's afraid to be opening his front door, just to see that it's locked and he's not allowed in.
-----------------------------------------
Some of the other interpretations state that this is about a soldier who tells his wife to wait for him until he comes back from war.
This might be true, but then again, this man could also be a spy, a businessman, or just a teenager who had to commit to some after school activity.
Also, the girl can also be a wife, a daughter, a girlfriend, or just maybe just a friend (who the man definitely has feelings for).
I love how Rise Against makes a song so complicated and yet awesome to have more than one meaning possible.
Basically, it's about a boy who is committed to a duty he can't turn down. He tells his girl to wait for him until he comes home. He is so far away, he tries to get back to her after some time, but the commitment he's in gets more complicated, and he finds it impossible to leave. He pleads her to wait for him still. He fears that she will stray away to some other boy while he's away.
In the end, he keeps pleading her to always wait for him, wait for him, wait for him. -
I kind of see it as someone dying. The whole colors bit could be that when you die, and recap your life you see what made you, well you. "Wait for me now To take off this crown To break all these vows Don't you know?" That could mean someone in Death could be "higher" than someone who's still alive. Breaking vows could be "till death do us part", again enforcing the death meaning. The next stanza could be the person walking through their past life and noticing what has changed throughout the years. Next stanza talks about a house on fire and locks changing. I see this as our person's death scene. He could have not been able to escape out the front door in time, and then someone leaves through the back door during this chaotic time. He can't forget that sound because it's the last sound the person hears before dying. The colors then drained to black and gray...death.
This is just what I think it means. I could be wrong, and Tim could be trying to track me down and beat me up for being so wrong! But really, this is just my opinion and nothing else. -
also, ive seen someone type that the "crown" hes talking about is how people treat soldier. (like heros) so he taking off the crown because he knows its not true
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1st thing, beautiful song.
as many others stated, its about a soldier telling a love one to wait for him, but the and the military has changed, so basically hes saying "ive done all this for nothing, and im trying to come home. im sorry for the way my had me fight. please wait for me. But as "roads dissapeared", he "followed the rivers" but "somehow got in over (his) head" meaning that he cant come home because the military wont let him, and the song finishes with another "wait for me now". that's him saying please dont give up. wait for me -
It doesn't give off any sort of feeling to me that it's about anything with another girl. I think this is something that's going on in his head and can be interpreted in many different ways, there's only one way to him, and only he knows that...take it how it means to you...but don't interpret what hes trying to say to you cuz its nothing, it's only for himself.
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The military meaning I think is right. Tim Mcilrath has made several songs about war. Survivor Guilt is another example to the trauma to soldiers in war. He asks someon to wait for him to return and he fights to get back. Even straying from the path and following rivers. But the ocean was wider than he guessed so it took longer than expected. He kept asking "how long can you wait for me now?" because of the time it was taking him to get back and ultimately when he got home the locks were changed and it was a puzzle to get inside and right when he did get inside he heard the peson leaving through the back door and that was the end of it. The world became dull and meaningless at that point.
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I think it's about a soldier who is fighting in a war, and before he goes off to fight he ask's his girlfriend or wife to wait for them. But while in duty, his girlfriend/wife cheats on him behind his back. Hence "The key turns to find the locks have changed
In time to hear the back door slam
A sound that to this day I can't forget"
Meaning obviously that the soldier has heard his partner's secret lover flee fromm the scene through the back door. -
I think its a soldier writing to his family while hes across seas. He says how he promised before that he would come home safe but now he realizes how far he is and how hard it is to get out. He says how he imagined himself as a great warrior but now he just wants to leave. He mentions a key, which I assume is a contract he made with the military and now the locks have changed meaning they changed the rules and now he cant leave. I'm not sure what the black door represents but basically that was the final verdict that he couldn't leave. (Maybe a door to a truck that he was supposed to go home on but left without him)
The crown in the chorus is probably the pride they falsly place on soldiers to make them feel invinsible. The vows are the commands given by the commanding officers that he has to follow.
Hes asking for his family to wait for him to come home and not give up hope. -
i dont know about the rest of the song but i think that
A lost dream of what could have been
A house on fire, a tangled web
The key turns to find the locks have changed
In time to hear the back door slam
A sound that to this day I can't forget
The colors drained to black and gray
Oh...
Refers to domestic issues a house on fire coud be a house thats arguing all the time and a tangled web coud be a problem thant cant be sulved -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Could it be about a relationship/marriage?
'I’ve stood where you stand' means he’s been there before and 'but can you wait for me now' means the same thing is happening again.
‘To take of this crown' could mean to stop being selfish or big-headed.
'Break all these vows' could be marriage vows and he isn’t doing a good job at keeping them.
'The ocean is wider than I first guessed' means it (marriage) is gonna be hard than he thought.
'When roads disappear, I'll follow the rivers' when on a road you know where you’re going or if you don’t know where, you still know you’re going somewhere; when following a river its mostly hope because a river could lead somewhere but it might not.
'Somehow got in over my head' (again) referring to how hard it is the keep a relationship going.
'Deep breath I'm taking' means that even though it’s tough he's gonna try.
'A lost dream of what could have been' is probably referring to them giving up and stop working to keep them together.
'The key turns to find the locks have changed, in time to hear the back door slam' is referring to him getting kicked out of their house.
'The colours drained to black and gray' gray is a depressing colour so he’s saying that he stopped being happy then.
But that’s just what I think. -
The song is about a soldier coming home from war. Possibly (probably) with war injuries. Personally, I think this song deals heavily with PTSD.
The "crown" is in reference to the way the American public treats soldiers. Following rivers, safe return delivered (btw, it's "I delivered" - not UNdelivered. Some of these lyrics are wrong) - this is his fight, his struggle to make it home alive.
The homecoming portion, (I think) deals with the struggles newly returned soldiers and their families deal with. When you have a soldier with PTSD, and it's left untreated, it can rip a family apart. I think the second part of this song deals with the falling apart of a marriage/family after that homecoming. It's so, SO common here in the military. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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