The Lumineers: Ho Hey Meaning

Song Released: 2012

Ho Hey Lyrics

Ho Hey
Ho Hey
I’ve been trying to do it right
I’ve been living a lonely life
I’ve been sleeping here instead
I’ve been sleeping in my bed
Sleeping in my bed
So show me family
All the blood that I would bleed
I don’t know where I...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   May 21st 2013 !⃝

   No it's been said this is about him leaving New York for Denver. The Sweetheart is the city itself.
   
   Canal and Bowery meet in Chinatown in New York. It's also known for it's out of town buss stops as it is at the end of the Manhattan Bridge and allows easy access out of the city. If you were going to leave New York, via Airport and didn't want to deal with the Jersey you would head there.
   
   When he talks about what might have been this is his regrets about what he might have done in the city and that even as he is leaving she is (the city) standing next to him.
   
   New York is famous for being a lonely place as it is so massive and that the "grind" of sleeping in the bed and getting up to face the city is taxing.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   jenacie

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   Nov 4th 2012 !⃝

   Song is about A relationship he had,she is with someone new and he is thinking about what it could have been and basically they are meant to be together, referring to her as sweetheart
3. anonymous

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   May 2nd 2022 !⃝

   I think it’s funny how twice in the song it says “ your my sweet ho!” Is he saying whore for short ho? You have to see the lyrics as they sing the song to catch it ...
4. anonymous

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   Apr 9th 2020 !⃝

   I think its about two people w who loved each other but are not together due to one reason or the other..but whatever happens they'll always be there for each other
5. anonymous

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   Oct 16th 2019 !⃝

   I believe that he had a fantastic relationship and he stuff things up like it says I have been trying to do it right I have been living a lonely life as he has been trying to do the right things but he stuff up and now he's living a lonely life

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6. anonymous

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   Jun 29th 2019 !⃝

   I believe the song is about depression or mental illness, which can lead to a lonely life. They want to try, but meds can make anyone sleep all day.
   Broken promises, mood swings, manic behavior, and failure due to a real inability to try can drive a family nuts or away; ‘the blood that I will bleed’. They don’t understand who they are, where they are, and feel like they don’t fit in. Very often mentally ill people believe that they have written songs that they have heard on the radio.
   They easily imagine themselves being in relationships with people they barely know. Maybe they are told it will never be and he’s not right for you.
   Sometimes they decide to leave town and run away.
   
   I've been trying to do it right
   I've been living a lonely life
   I've been sleeping here instead
   I've been sleeping in my bed,
   Sleeping in my bed
   So show me family
   All the blood that I would bleed
   I don't know where I belong
   I don't know where I went wrong
   But I can write a song
   
   I don't think you're right for him.
   Look at what it might have been if you
   took a bus to China Town.
   I'd be standing on Canal
   and Bowery.
   And she'd be standing next to me.
   

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7. anonymous

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   Feb 16th 2019 !⃝

   I believe the lyrics refers to the adoption of a abondoned Chinese baby girl by a U.S. family. This refers to the baby” I’ve been trying to do it right, I’ve been living a lonely life” which also refers to the baby in a crowded room of baby beds, “I’ve been sleeping here instead,so show me family”. “I don’t know where I went wrong. I don’t know where I belong” which refers again to the baby. Then a picture of China’s ruler comes on the screen with the lyrics,”I don’t think you’re right for him”, think what it might have been”, finally, referring to the baby’s adoption, “ I belong with you, you belong with me, you’re my sweetheart. The lyrics are perfect to the adoption of a beautiful Chinese baby girl.

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8. anonymous

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   Feb 10th 2017 !⃝

   I feel that perhaps after his breakup with his "Sweetheart", he felt that there was nothing keeping him there anymore, and he is leaving. He comments on what might have happened if she met him at that bus station.
9. anonymous

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   Apr 7th 2014 !⃝

   It says "I don't think you're right for him" - so I believe it's about a relationship he had and lost and saying that they belong with each other.
10. anonymous

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    Mar 24th 2013 !⃝

    In the video you can clearly see that the female singer says "in my sweetHOME" it's a lot different the way your lips move when pronouncing the M.
11. anonymous

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    Feb 1st 2013 !⃝

    I had read somewhere that Canal and Bowery street was a place to purchase engagement rings and having a few relatives about to get married, the conversation of the origins of "Here Comes the Bride" song had me looking at wikipedia.
    
    The play in which the song was first introduced in opera Lohengrin and was performed on Bowery street in NYC so it makes me wonder if this song was inspired by that. If not, the parallels are interesting.
    
    There is also a Canal street in New Orleans in that it so happens that my
    Uncle proposed to my aunt.

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12. anonymous

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    Jan 15th 2013 !⃝

    Canal and Bowery is where the fung wah bus line drops off passengers from Boston. I know I have met my girl there many times
13. anonymous

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    Dec 14th 2012 !⃝

    "...the devil is the master deceiver, he may sound nice but when hes smashin his horn into your butthole, well you'll be fucked. literally".
    
    Well, things don't really have to be or end this way. You can trick the devil into prolonging his niceness. Some people can pull this off. Or you can simply tell yourself that devil does not exist.

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14. anonymous

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    Dec 14th 2012 !⃝

    "... the devil is the master deceiver, he may sound nice but when hes smashin his horn into your butthole, well you'll be fucked. literally".
    
    
    Well, things don't really have to be or end that way. You can trick the devil into prolonging his niceness!

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15. anonymous

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    Nov 24th 2012 !⃝

    This reminds of the movie "Contact" where her first chance blew up, and another opportunity arose for her to meet who she was searching for in another location.
    
    I think it' be really great, if these two could meet in that spot in NO, since it's right by the French Quarter or Little France so he doesn't have to go to France by himself this time. They can just both experience it right there and then, and they don't even need those wedding bands from Canal St in Chinatown NY. Wedding bands is an obsolete tradition anyway, and they can just spend all the money on their second encounter.
    
    This is truly amazing! The universe is so mysterious! Everything seems to be interconnected in some way. You would think it's nothing but a coincidence, but there's got to be a connection between these coincidences. Beautiful!

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16. anonymous

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    Nov 23rd 2012 !⃝

    There is another spot just like the one mentioned in the song (Canal St and Bowery St) in New Orleans, LA. New Orleans, just like New York has Canal St and Dutch Alley right by the French Quarter.
    
    That's where they should meet, either by accident if there is indeed fate, or by some kind of arrangement.
    
    Isn't it interesting that both New York and New Orleans start with the word "New", and they both contain the word
    "Or" meaning either or is fine.
    
    All the variables pertaining to that encounter are present in both locations: Canal st, "Dutch"St, French (France), New

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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