Ellie Goulding: Lights Meaning
Lights Lyrics
I had a heart then but the queen has been overthrown
And I'm not sleeping now the dark is too hard to beat
And I'm not keeping now the strength I need to push me
You show the lights that stop me turn...
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1TOP RATED
anonymous Jan 27th 2012, 17:25 report
I feel that this speaks to the sexual abuse of children. I've read many opinions and they are all very thought provoking but this is the one that makes the most sense to me.
Here's my lyrical interpretation:
"I had a way then losing it all on my own
I had a heart then but the queen has been overthrown"
I think speaks to how her childhood was taken from her and how her heart was hardened.
"And I'm not sleeping now the dark is too hard to beat
And I'm not keeping now the strength I need to push me"
I think here she talks about how darkness is the enemy because that's when the abuse takes place and she's losing hope.
"You show the lights that stop me turn to stone
You shine It when I'm alone"
I think this talks about the abuse specifically. Her door opens and the light shines in. She turns to stone because she knows what's coming. And it only happens when she's alone.
"And so I tell myself that I'll be strong
And dreaming when they're gone"
Obviously is saying she's trying to be strong until the abuser leaves...or she does.
"'Cause they're calling, calling, calling me home"
I think she's talking about how the memories are haunting her and she doesn't want to deal with the emotional damage the abuse caused.
"Noises, I play within my head"
This is what I imagine a child does when something bad is happening (to them, around them, etc.) and they don't want to think about it.
"Touch my own skin and hope that I'm still breathing"
Maybe this means she's trying to comfort herself after the abuse has happened.
"And I think back to when my brother and my sister slept
in an unlocked place the only time I feel safe"
I think this speaks to when her siblings slept in a room close by hers but had no idea what was going on and the locking of a door was significant of her abuser.
This is obviously a very dark interpretation but I think it's relevant. I do love this song. I think Ellie is extraordinarily talented. -
2TOP RATED
anonymous Apr 15th 2012, 10:46 report
~€@£
"I had a way then losing it all on my own
I had a heart then but the queen has been overthrown"
The first line gives me the feeling that she used to be a certain person ("had a way then") but is now different and she had to change herself ("losing it all on my own"). The fact that she uses the word "losing" gives it a distasteful feeling. She doesn't like who she used to be. And when I hear the second line, the first thing that comes to mind is "Queen of Hearts". I guessed it was an idiom and looked it up. It said: "A woman who is pre-eminent in her area is a Queen of Hearts." She used to be kind of snooty and felt above others but, the "Queen of Hearts" within her has been dethroned. She has changed for the better.
"And I'm not sleeping now the dark is too hard to beat
And I'm not keeping now the strength I need to push me"
The darkness (or whatever awaits her in the darkness) is "to hard to beat". She is giving up ("not keeping now the strength I need to push me"). It seems that this is a battle frequently fought. She is tired and doesn't want to fight anymore; she can't "push" though.
You show the lights that stop me turn to stone
You shine It when I'm alone
And so I tell myself that I'll be strong
And dreaming when they're gone
Her savior shows the lights "that stop me turn to stone". The lights make her stop and think. It strengthens her resolve; "turn to stone". However it's still hard for her to fight with out that light/reprieve but, she has promised herself that she'll "be strong" until it returns as well as dreaming of the time when the light will be back.
"'Cause they're calling, calling, calling me home
Calling, calling, calling home
You show the lights that stop me turn to stone
You shine It when I'm alone"
Someone is calling her home. Whoever is calling obviously needs her. But you don't know who. Then it repeats the fact that someone will eventually be there to strengthen her resolve. But it adds something: "You shine It when I'm alone". So, now you know that when she is fending off the darkness she is alone until the light comes.
"Noises, I play within my head
Touch my own skin and hope that I'm still breathing"
At this point we don't know what she means by "noises… within my head". Unless she is going crazy and talking to herself. The second line makes me think that She has once again given up, the light is taking too long to come; she is dying.
"And I think back to when my brother and my sister slept
In an unlocked place the only time I feel safe"
She is thinking back (to help her wait for the light) to before she had to fight the dark off (alone or at all). She's remembering how her siblings USED to sleep in an unlocked place. If she had to go back to remember… I'm assuming it's no longer true. "And I think back to when… the only time I feel safe" She no longer feels safe enough to sleep with the door unlocked; to have her (younger) sibling sleep with the door unlocked. (It makes you wonder: 'Where are the parents?')
"You show the lights that stop me turn to stone
You shine it when I'm alone
And so I tell myself that I'll be strong
And dreaming when they're gone"
The light has finally arrived and, along with it, the sweet reprieve she has been needing for so long.
"'Cause they're calling, calling, calling me home
Calling, calling, calling home
You show the lights that stop me turn to stone
You shine it when I'm alone"
By now we know that the people calling, the people who need her, are her siblings. While she is keeping the dark away, her siblings call her to remind her that they are waiting for her and that they need her back home.
The light helps her fight off the dark so she can survive again and get back to her siblings.
I'm pretty sure that, a few lines ago, ("Noises, I play within my head") that she is probably thinking about her siblings voices and laughter when they aren't able to call to her, to help her through.
I started thinking, "why is she fighting off the dark?".
I realized that she is probably keeping the dark from her siblings. Then the dark would probably have to represent someone she doesn't want near the kids (their parents?), something that would taint their innocence, or bad dreams. The fourth stanza ("Touch my own skin and hope that I'm still breathing") might eliminate the nightmares and innocence-tainter since neither one can actually do her physical harm. Unlike her parents or other people. Though, identity of the light-bringer remains a mystery that is not explained so maybe not.
But, also in stanza four, I mentioned how she might be going crazy. Maybe she IS going crazy in the song. Maybe the light is her sanity or a medicine that gives her her sanity ( the "dreaming when they're gone" part could represent her longing for sanity or a withdrawal of the medicine). Fighting off the insanity (otherwise known as the darkness) leaves her tired and she thinks about her siblings. She worries she might hurt them so she has them sleep with their doors locked.
"You show the lights that stop me turn to stone
You shine it when I'm alone
And so I tell myself that I'll be strong
And dreaming when they're gone"
The light helps her through once again.
"'Cause they're calling, calling, calling me home
Calling, calling, calling home
You show the lights that stop me turn to stone
You shine it when I'm alone"
Her siblings still need her. -
3TOP RATED
anonymous Jan 3rd 2012, 12:14 report
This song is about abuse. She states that he shines the light that turns her to stone. She freezes in fear because she knows that he is coming to hurt her. She touches her own skin to see if she is still breathing and she thinks of where her brother and sister slept because that was her safe place.
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anonymous Mar 12th, 18:51 report
“Lights” by Ellie Goulding was inspired by her fear of the dark as a child.
-@UberFacts via Twitter -
anonymous Dec 24th 2012, 04:35 report
I heard a radio interview with Ellie Goulding and she said the song is about her fear of the dark.
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anonymous Dec 23rd 2012, 10:31 report
Yeah,it´s about being a Star Person, and normally star people see aliens.She is talking about seeing an alien, and remenbering where does she come from.
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anonymous Dec 9th 2012, 20:19 report
I think this is about her personality and peer pressure. As she grow up things are changing and not for the best and the strength she uses is the memory of the childhood she had was long lost.
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anonymous Dec 3rd 2012, 18:04 report
It´s about being a Star Person, and the time when the aliens connect to you. I totally understand what she is saying.
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anonymous Nov 17th 2012, 13:23 report
I also thought it was about abuse untill I saw this video where she says it's about not being able to sleep without light.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNYlue-JyHw -
anonymous Nov 8th 2012, 00:02 report
She is having nightmares/bad flashbacks.
'I had a way then losing it all on my own' must have meant like she was someone and she has bad memories of being that person.
'And I'm not sleeping now the dark is too hard to beat' these nightmares come to her at night, and she's scared to go to sleep because she knows that they are waiting for her.
'And I think back to when my brother and my sister slept' She's trying to think happy thoughts and thinks of her brother and sister.
The lights: I think that once her eyes go black, you know that your dream (or nightmare) begins when you see the first light. She doesn't want to see the light because it means the start of another nightmare.
The voices: The memories of her being a bad person are calling for her to change back to evil. -
anonymous Nov 2nd 2012, 21:35 report
It is about how she is scared of being in a shadow and it is better to be in spotlight.
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anonymous Oct 10th 2012, 16:39 report
she did a club banger song based on a molly and acid trip... duuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhh
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carnivoreandvoyeur Oct 7th 2012, 11:00 report
I can't believe people down rated the alien abduction interpretation. Close minded fucks. Only because you've experienced sexual abuse and try to make the song yours,everything else is cancelled out. Yeah, ok.
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anonymous Sep 28th 2012, 21:40 report
she is an abductdee...when the light flashes she knows they are coming to call her home..they come for them many times throughout her lifetime.most are abducted late night early mornings..family can be in the same house and never know it..she remembers a time before this happened a time when the doors never had to be locked to feel safe but locked doors dont stop them from calling her home ...this is classics of the lights an abductee sees right before they are taken..the term call home is from ET and it signifies that most abductees are hybrids and calling home is really where she is from..understand abduction before you comment and also understand that its a deception aliens..they are really demons..she is tormented by their arrival she vexes to stone..ever been so scared you cant move..this song is deep but i feel it is trying to desensitize us to think this is trendy like the ET song and the weird new age look artist are doing..anything that torments us or takes us out of our will is evil..she lives in fear of far more then the dark
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anonymous Sep 12th 2012, 23:06 report
Sometimes things are not as complicated as we want them to be. She is speaking to something most of us have gone through... falling in love, losing your heart to another, things sadly falling apart... Then wanting that love back, only to realize the safe place we thought our heart knew so well was lost.... Finally seeking solace in childhood memories. This song is not about abuse but the pain of heartbreak and its aftermath.
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anonymous Sep 3rd 2012, 04:47 report
It sounds crazy..but i think shes talking about conspiracy theory...like the illuminati. I was interested so I decided to dive into what everyone was saying about the illuminati being that it seemed interesting...true or not. The illuminati is said to be extremely entangled with the music and media industries. Thus the phrase "Sold my soul to the devil". The illuminati ( extreme elite people who run the economies, governments, health care, and most of the money in the world) are said to be satantists for the heinous things they do to the worlds societies without the citizens being aware. (Many documented cases from ex CIA, military, and federal agents talking and explaining in depth about the illuminati's existance from what I've read) but back to how this ties into Ellie:
"I had a way then, losing it all on my own"
Her soul? bargaining her soul WITHOUT the help of the illuminati for her fame? she didn't SELL her soul...she had a way of losing it without help.
"I had a heart then...but the queen has been overthrown"
If you lose your soul...you lose your heart. Without your "heart" you are cold and do not care about other people.
"The queen has been overthrown" is very interesting in the fact that the royal family is one of the most recognizable members of the illuminati
"and I'm not sleeping now the dark is too hard to beat"
Refers to many documents that state the time in the night in which the government plans to take you to a containment camp (also documented..go google it, for real!!!) "The dark" refering to evil and it being too hard to overcome.
"and im not keeping now...the strength I need to push me"
She's not keeping herself well and strong to get through whats to come and to keep telling people through her music what to prepare for economically and socially.
"You show the lights that stop me...turn to stone..you shine it when im alone"
Heres the interesting part. The illuminati has been spoken of for decades. Illuminati...or "lights" in the song stop her and scare her stone stiff. They come out when shes alone. Meaning they probably threaten her or manipulate her with threats of tabloid trauma that will destroy her career when people who arent part of it...arent around to witness it.
"and i tell myself that i'll be strong...dreaming of when they are gone. Cause they're calling, calling, calling me home"
She tells herself that it will be okay and eventually they wont be effecting her life any longer. They keep trying to keep her on the evil side but she realizes she made a huge mistake bargaining her soul for fame.
"Noises I play within my head...touch my own skin to see if im still breathing"
She feels lifeless with the decisions shes made...and the noises of her mistakes play over and over.
"And I think back to when my brother and my sister slept in an unlocked place the only time I feel safe"
She remembers a time when she was innocent and the world was an innocent (at least seemingly innocent) place. Those memories give her comfort.
You can think im crazy...creative..you can just plain think whatever you want. If you question my references research how i applied the song to what I've read and used in my comparison. I promise you will start reading about it...and you wont be able to stop. SOO INTERESTING! Caio <3 -
anonymous Sep 2nd 2012, 05:09 report
Wow, you people are reading wayyyyy too much into the meaning. Abuse, molestation...holy crap. Just check out her interview. It's about her childhood fear of the dark and how it was annoying to sleep with the light on.
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anonymous Sep 1st 2012, 02:45 report
I think shes talking about the running from the police because the lights make her turn to to stone - freeze ???
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anonymous Aug 4th 2012, 17:36 report
I think its about a rebellion and shes going into battle. She's trying to be strong and at the end she either dies or goes home beause it says, "cause they're calling calllin calling me home. ic ould be completly off but idk.
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anonymous Jul 30th 2012, 07:54 report
I think most of y'all are mental.....in her interview, she said its about being afraid of the dark....I think the people that think its about abuse need to see a psychiatrist.....seriously......
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anonymous Jul 29th 2012, 23:19 report
The interview on YouTube with Ellie says the song simply talks about how she was scared to sleep in the dark
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anonymous Jul 28th 2012, 00:21 report
about growing up, letting out your vulnerabilities and learning boundaries of who to be safe with and learning the lessons of life. wanting things to be as easy as they are when you are young - going thru difficult times and finding strength within.... how being strong (stone) within is as simple as seeing the light within and being strong regardless! your heart is on your shoulder but keeping it closer than you ever thought it needed/ had to be than you ever thought.... yet having peace with where you are now. strength is not easy when going thru obstacles.... maintain and believe in yourself.
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