What does Bittersweet Symphony mean?

The Verve: Bittersweet Symphony Meaning

Tagged: Poverty [suggest]
Album cover for Bittersweet Symphony album cover

Song Released: 1997


Bittersweet Symphony Lyrics

'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life
Trying to make ends meet
You're a slave to money then you die
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places
where all the veins meet...

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  1. anonymous
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     Mar 1st 2012 !⃝

    I have part of this song tattoed on me and to me it means that sometimes to get the good you have to take the bad. Helped me through a break-up, might be heartbroken but it's better than never having loved.

  2. anonymous
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     Dec 20th 2011 !⃝

    Thank you for giving me this opportunity to express my views anonymously. Creating accounts is a headache. No I shall give you the real meaning of this song.

    Someone said that this song is about life. Yes, this song is in fact about the reality of life. People who want to keep earning more and more money are the obvious slaves; however, so is everybody else. Those with less money have to work two or three lower paying jobs to earn money. So even when you are poor, you are a slave to money because you cannot follow your dreams when all you are doing is trying to survive. Then there is the concept of being "here in my mould". This refers to how dull and uncreative people become when they become adults. People are trained to respect authority and obey. People are so used to taking orders and using little of their own thinking that they cannot break the dull monotony of their lives and so are stuck in their moulds, unable to ever escape. Finally, a young person who tries to break out and lead a good nice, fulfilling and spirited existence despairs as all his attempts to escape the prison fail: he becomes just another cog in the machine : he becomes meat for the grinder. He says, horrified and desperate, as though in a nightmare, "I can't change". This is a song about human beings; they are allowed freedom when they are young; but they are converted into wage-slaves when they are adults. This is your future young boys and girls. Welcome to the nightmare!

  3. anonymous
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     Sep 15th 2011 !⃝

    I think personally, there are many different ways that this song could be interpretated. I agree that the song is definatley about life as the title 'Bittersweet Symphony' is a metaphor which conveys the ups and downs which we experience in life. The song is about the struggles that we go through in life and how we have to constantly work hard, otherwise we would keep going down a never-ending road which would take us nowhere. As well as the theme of life, human nature is also a theme as the chorus talks about how stubborn we are as people as we like to make out that we can change our ways, but in reality it's not so simple. The song gives us a few home truths about the lives which we all lead but at times, possibly take for granted. The song is filled with irony as it paints the perfect picture of what life really is, a 'Bittersweet Symphony.' With every smile, a tear follows and with every laugh, a pang of agonizing pain is only seconds away....

  4. dominicd
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     Jul 6th 2011 !⃝

    Life is a struggle; life is a journey; Life? It is what it is no matter how much one wants to change it or one's self, and the road traveled? It's that which is contrived if not pre-destined altogether. IMO this particular video captures a fleeting essense thereof, I suppose.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufOAF3M1-KE&playnext=1&list=PL0E359EDB3C809593

  5. anonymous
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     Apr 29th 2011 !⃝

    It is about a person having a chronic pain or chronic problem that they may die from, they cannot change their body, "Their mold" "I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down" possibly pain.

    But I'm a million different people from one day to the next. How they are different people is because of the pain, Pain makes most of us feel many emotions, Anger, Fear, Sadness.

    "Well, I've never prayed,
    But tonight I'm on my knees, yeah
    I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me" I let the melody shine it cleanse my mind, I feel free now..

    And how the person is looking over their life feeling that life is hard because you work so hard in life just to end up dieing anyway when your not ready.And worse so if you are younger,

    It's just sex, violence, melody and silence (meaning death) could possibly just indicate what this person felt life was like for them in very short form.

    Have you ever been down? Indicating that have you ever been down the same road...chronic pain or chronic problem.

  6. Nike
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     Apr 20th 2011 !⃝

    The song primarily describes the life of man in general, and is much like a prayer with a hint of disdain for all the people (the video also suggests the same), in a nutshell.
    The man singing actually depicts every person suffering from pain, not a physical pain but in his mind. He is thinking of how many people live a sad life (slave to money and die) and how He needs someone to share his pain.
    This is why He is praying, and the fact that He never prays (line 15) but now has no option but to fall on His knees shows the amount of pain he is in.

    *I suppose every human being in any point of his life suffers this kind of "pain".
    The stronger ones hold survive, others go down...

  7. g
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     Jan 11th 2011 !⃝

    This song does represent our overall view of life, but seen through a capitalist perspective. Growing up in a capitalist society, success is measured by the amount of wealth and prestige one has been able to attain. "Try to make ends meet , you're a slave to the money then you die." This line suggests that capitalists are so consumed by work that this addiction becomes our sole purpose in life. In a capitalist society the yearning for success often pushes other important things like religion to the back seat.

    "Well I've never prayed,
    But tonight I'm on my knees, yeah.
    I need to hear some sounds that recognise the pain in me, yeah.
    I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind , I feel free now.
    But the airwaves are clean and there's nobody singing to me now."

    This shows that this person is finally escaping from the confines of capitalism and has a sense of freedom from the pain that has dwelt within them. "The airwaves are clean and there's nobody singing to me now," suggests that this person is free from the propaganda that has infected people's minds and for that moment their goal of pursuing the American dream is forgotten.

    "Cause it's a bitter sweet symphony this life..."

    The reason they used the word bittersweet was because capitalism as a whole has flaws but also advantages, its bittersweet. Capitalism provides people with the opprtunity to better their lives financially which is sweet, but also bitter when they become consumed with this lifestyle. The "symphony" consists of the people that exist within this system that all play a different role in the running of a society.

  8. anonymous
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     Dec 8th 2010 !⃝

    The heart is where all the veins meet. Brilliant lyrics.

  9. lars
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     Dec 11th 2009 !⃝

    I feel that the lyrics represent the lyricist's existential crisis.

  10. anonymous
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     Oct 15th 2009 !⃝

    This song is about life, the title 'Bittersweet Symphony' refers to the ups and downs of life. The song deffinately has a great sense of irony about it, the lyrics, 'try to make ends meet, your a slave to money till you die' have a message of inevitablitiy about them.

    The song furthers this idea of the inevitability of life with the lyrics, I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down, you know the one that takes you to the places where all of ends meet yeah'. The 'places' in this case are the end of life or the end of the road in the metaphorical sense the song uses.

    The 'Bittersweet' aspect can also be see in the lyrics, the singer often expresses hope citing music as an important factor in this 'I let the melody shine let it clense my mind I feel free now'. However the 'bitter' aspect is always shown straight afterwards 'but the airways are clean and theres nobody singing to me now'.

    Essentially 'Bittersweet Symphony' is about the realisation that all life will end at some point and uses the metaphor of a road to express this.

  11. heather143
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     Aug 23rd 2009 !⃝

    It's about life. Nothing more nothing less. For example... We are all slaves to money weather we like it or not. Even when we choose to be homeless and live without the means that society wants us to we still have to eat to live eating requires money even it isn't your own. We all change in small ways to be different people depending on the situation and on some level we are still one person but many - in that we have a lot in common with a lot of people. At some point trying to change our selves is really just creating a different version of our self. Is it about positive or negative - you can choose which ever for your self however I don't feel its that simple. because life is in and of itself a series of both. Good or bad isn't what the author is going for but more ... bitter sweet...

  12. shoveitin
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     Aug 11th 2009 !⃝

    this is nothing to do with anything optimistic at all you idiot. if anything its about what you would be thinking the sec before committing suicide or in horrible state of withdrawl. "vein" "have you ever been down" "pain in me". its pretty desperate. speaks for itself

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  13. anonymous
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     Jul 7th 2008 !⃝

    I think Bittersweet symphony is about life and all the things you do during it but eventually you just die and who knows what life is really is all about?

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  14. anonymous
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     Nov 21st 2007 !⃝

    I don't really agree...The title "bittersweet symphony" already says something about the song...In my eyes it's about how bitter or sweet life can be..I think he also means the irony of life....how things change in one second to another and it's just bittersweet...The title already discovers the whole song...the flow of life...just thinking about life and all its beautiful or desperate moments...It really makes you think about people and their destinies or even your own destiny..

  15. SOADfreak
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     Oct 3rd 2007 !⃝

    This song is about how you go through life like an ordinary person. He saying he can change if he wants but he doesn't because he's already in a comfortable life.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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