What does Cannonball mean?

Damien Rice: Cannonball Meaning

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Album cover for Cannonball album cover

Song Released: 2004


Cannonball Lyrics

there's still a little bit of your taste
in my mouth
there's still a litle bit of you laced
with my doubt
it's still a little hard to say
..what's going on

there's still a little bit of your ghost
your weakness
there's still a little...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Oct 23rd 2011 !⃝

    ok..i think that he is not over his past relationship,he is remembering her..her taste when they kissed..longing to kiss her face..to hear her sing her song..to hear her voice and words..it seems that he learned everything the hard way..as he is using opposites.." stones taught to me to fly,love taught me lie/cry,life taught me to die"
    he doesn't knw whats goin on...he doesn't understand..everything is hard..and wrong..his past relationship caused him to suffer from love..to cry and lie..his life..made him wanna die..then he mocked "courage" tellin it to teach him to be shy..he is saying that its very easy to fall in everything..when u are as heavy as a cannon ball..but in the end..it's easy to move in life and in love..when u knw.. that u dont know where this road will lead to..when u dont knw anything

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 10th 2012 !⃝

    It's about someone who led a hard life, and experienced a lot of pain from other people (perhaps someone broke his heart, perhaps someone abused him). But all of the sudden, he falls in love with someone, and it surprised him a bit, that he manages to find someone who he wants to be close to, who he wants to open up to him. someone he agrees to trust.

    Still a little bit of your taste in my mouth
    Still a little bit of you laced with my doubt
    Still a little hard to say what's going on

    Still a little bit of your ghost your witness
    Still a little piece of your face i haven't kissed
    You step a little closer to me
    Still i can't see what's going on

    these lines describes the process of falling in love ("you step a little closer to me"), but the songwriter still has his doubts, he's still not sure if it's really happening or not, if he's really falling in love, and if he really agrees to put himself in such a vulnerable position such as being in love. ("still i can't see what's going on").

    Stones taught me to fly
    Love taught me to lie
    Life taught me to die
    So it's not hard to fall
    When you float like a cannonball

    these lines represent the hardships in his life. he's using cynicism in these lines. (for example, he saya "stones taught me to fly", although stones are heavy objects, and are therefor the worst "teacher" to have when "learning to fly"). these lines suggest that the writer had poor examples to follow in his life, hard experiences, that made him a cynic, a sad person, a doubtful person.


    Stones taught me to fly
    Love taught me to cry
    So come on courage!
    Teach me to be shy
    'Cause it's not hard to fall
    And i don't want to scare her
    It's not hard to fall
    And i don't want to lose
    It's not hard to grow
    When you know that you just don't know

    the writer continues his cynicism ("so come on courage! teach me to be shy", which expresses the writers will to confess his love to her, but he's so ready to be let down by something, to be dissappointed by something). he continues to express his sad view on life, and somewhere deep inside, he's so sad and doubtful and cynic that he doesn't believe in love. but on the other hand, he expresses a will to hang on to his love - "and i dont want to scare her", "i dont want to lose". the writer has an inner conflict between his realistic, melancholic view about life, and his optimism and hope, his will to hang on to his love. on one line he says "it's not hard to fall", and immidiatly on the next one "and i don't want to scare her". as if there are two voices speaking from within him, each expressing different views.

    Eventually, the writer says "It's not hard to grow, When you know that you just don't know". finally, at the end, after the inner conflict, the writer comes to a conclusion he just doesn't know. he doesn't know if he's in love or not, he doesn't know if he really wants it or not, he doesn't know if it's good for him or not.

    All he knows, is that he doesn't know anything.

  3. anonymous
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    Jul 30th 2019 !⃝

    I think he lost someone close and this is from that perspective "love taught me to lie" meaning the person lied to the people/person they loved about how ill they actually were. Or he lied about knowing how ill they were. It's all about missing the person, not being able to touch/feel/taste(kiss?) them anymore. My son loved this song, while he was dying with brain tumours, so we played it at his funeral. (2008 age 15+)

  4. anonymous
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    Mar 28th 2019 !⃝

    Loss of a love one most likely from death and/or a loss of a mate.

  5. anonymous
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    Dec 3rd 2017 !⃝

    Scratch that, they broke up three years after this song was written. It was probably inspired by her though.

  6. anonymous
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    Dec 3rd 2017 !⃝

    I think he regrets kicking Lisa Hannigan out of his life.

  7. anonymous
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    Nov 20th 2012 !⃝

    ~ Seek the beauty of the rose, for there too an Angel’s near. ~

  8. anonymous
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    Nov 9th 2012 !⃝

    The meaning of the song is realized love. It's about someone falling in love with someone else and the attraction is growing. "you step a little closer each day...and I don't know what's going on..." and "it's not hard to fall when you're floatng like a cannonball"

    The cannonball represents how hard you fall in love with a person. You've got such a heavy feeling of love for another person. And the rest of the song pretty much exemplifies that you can't explain how you love this person so much with every passing day, you just do. That's why it also has "..and I don't know what's going on..."


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