What does Photograph mean?

Ed Sheeran: Photograph Meaning

Album cover for Photograph album cover

Photograph Lyrics

When I'm away, I will remember how you kissed me
Under the lamppost back on Sixth street
Hearing you whisper through the phone,
"Wait for me to come home."




  1. anonymous
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    Nov 18th 2015 !⃝

    I just recently lost my baby at 7 months. Parts of this song reminds me of the loss and how I will keep it forever close to me in my heart and soul and that one day we would meet.

  2. anonymous
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    Nov 17th 2015 !⃝

    This song is about Ed's relationshop with his mum.
    'So you can keep me inside your pocket of your ripped jeans' She keeps a picture of him inside her pocket of her jeans and when she's missing him when he's on tour she can just look at the pitcure.

    'Holdin me closer till our eyes meet' she is holding the pitcure close to her untill she sees him again so she could him even closer in real life.

    'And if you hurt me thats ok baby only words bleed' even if he gets mad at his mum he doesn't care but if she says something that'll hurt him it will sting.

    'Inside these pages you just hold me' when he was on tour his mum was looking at old baby pitcures or pitcures before he was famous.

    'Wait for me to come home' he wants his mum to wait for him untill he gets home so they could catch up on things that they missed and hold each other before his next tour.

    'When i'm away i will remember how you kissed me under the lampost back on 6th street'he'll remember how his mum kissed him before he went to bed.

    'Hearing you wisper through the phone wait for me to come home' He can't wait untll he's back home with his family.

    This is my favorite song because it talks about how important his family his to him and I think that we should all be like that, for all of you that still have your parents be glad/happy because I will do anything to have that my dad left me when I was only 2 months old and my mum doesn't care about me so it's just me and my brother.

  3. anonymous
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    Nov 14th 2015 !⃝

    I feel it is about family. Maybe somebody died and he is saying,"I will love you. You will love me." I think he ment the last time he was kissing his family member, he didn't feel like he was home. Then when he or she died he felt sad.

  4. anonymous
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    Nov 8th 2015 !⃝

    All of those who answered family makes sense but j WILL NOT take the meaning that way!!! THIS SONG IS DEAD ON TO WHAT IM GOING THROUGH with my girlfriend!! I neverrrr thought i would want to find or even come close to the woman i would happily spend the rest of my life with!! SHE IS MILES AND MILES AWAY!!! The first time i heard this song we were fighting!!! When we fight its out of frustration because of how far apart we are and we are waiting until the day i move to her which is in a couple of months. I am a very picky person when it comes to lyrics that mean something to me taken from a song, esp these days with the garbage talent!! But when he he telling her love can be hard it was exactly what i was thinkin before the song came on and all i was ever doin was promising her that it will be easier when i get there. And he is assuring her that he issss coming back and dont doubt it or move on because he wont let her go!! The ripped ieans, come on ed wouldnt say his family is wearing ripped jeans but his gf should would with the new style and my girlfriend always wears that style so it was almost as if that song came on for me that day becz i was close to giving up. But that song inspired me to call my girlfriend and fix what was wrong. It took alot of work because it was her that was fading away and giving up on me... But I we worked it out. I am goin to sing this song to her when I marry her. And i get very emotional and miss her sooo much better when i hear it. Ed nailed it for me. Take the meaning whichever way you choose but i have it the way i want it! It saved my relationship and i would love if he knew that

  5. anonymous
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    Nov 1st 2015 !⃝

    I think that this song really shows how you would love someone, and that even though their gone, you will always keep them in your heart and all the memories treasured.

  6. anonymous
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    Oct 22nd 2015 !⃝

    To me it signifies a relationship with his relatives..since the video is showing childhood. The part about love hurts love heals...to me means that he was disappointed that trust was broken possibly within his family and he looks at the photographs now so that he can see only the good that was snapped in a brief moment of time....frozen forever. The photos don't show how the words bleed your heart ...the photo memories will always show him love....and that is the part he will cherish..

  7. anonymous
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    Oct 11th 2015 !⃝

    This song is about how u feel wen the person you love most isn't around. That feeling in your heart that make you want to scream and shout for your lover to come back,it feels like pain and torture at first. But when he or she comes back into your arms, that feeling is probably the best thing that has ever happened to you. "Wait for me to come home" Implying that the person is indeed going to be home. If it's for a day or a week or a year, it's going to feel like forever because you love him or her. When your away and you think about your significant lover, all you think about is that last kiss, that last hug before they left. And when s/he comes back, you will make more memories for the next time they are away. Next Time YOU WILL HAVE More Than ONE THING To THING about. Photographs and videos are all the things u look at on your free time because you are in love with your significant other. And if this sing is about family, it's the same feeling in your heart. You can not live without your family in peace. For those of you who are distant from family,give them a call your going to forget about all of ur pain and problems.because all u need is love.

  8. anonymous
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    Oct 9th 2015 !⃝

    My husband left a month ago for the Army. He will be in the Middle East for a year. I miss him so much and all I have to hold on to is photos. We've been married over 13 years and everyday I love him more than the day before. He's my soulmate and this song makes me long for the day he returns home. When he does, I plan to stop at the corner of 6th street, under a lamppost and kiss him. ☺❤❤❤

  9. bighouse58
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    Sep 29th 2015 !⃝

    This song portrays to my a long distance relationship from a liver/partner who for whatever reason has to be seperated from eash other. They reminisce about the kiss they had and the photograph and memories is all they have to cherish in which they will die with unless they're reunited. This some affects me personally as my boyfriend and I are separted by long distance, hopefully only for a short time, but this song keeps my hope.

  10. anonymous
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    Sep 21st 2015 !⃝

    The interpretation of this song is I really greatful for photograph .. this song make them proud of photographer ... that is the important one... besides if u hurt because of love then love can heal everything.

  11. Barley7979
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    Sep 15th 2015 !⃝

    My interpretation is of Photgraph is simply thinking of someone very dear and much loved who has died. The snapshots we all have, hopefully, were of moments lived together, whether it be with now absent parents, lovers, friends, pets....any living soul who has left earth and whom is missed and thought of often. In those real, or mind snapshots, we are back in treasured moments when all was well and our souls were happy. The words, "Wait for me to come home" represent the arrival, I,feel, on the next plane and could be uttered by the living or the dead - both who will be overjoyed to be in the presence of the the other once again. The emotions experienced after death could easily represent anger and the words, "only words bleed" . Words mean nothing really because love is stronger than the meanest words. Photograph is simply the sages of death and the grief we can expect to experience with loss.

  12. anonymous
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    Sep 4th 2015 !⃝

    I believe it's actually about losing someone to death. "where our eyes are never closing" meaning you live forever in a photograph. Same with keeping the picture in a necklace, close to their heart. And "til our eyes meet" meaning when you see each other again in Heaven. Just my thoughts, since it looked like a grandma was in his official video as well :)

  13. anonymous
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    Sep 1st 2015 !⃝

    All very nice interpretations and all but the song is really about Nina Nesbitt.
    He himself said it in an interview. The interviewer asked him about the song "Nina" and if that was a real girl. Ed responded yes, and that there were two songs about her in the album, he later said the other was "Photograph".
    It makes sense, "Nina" is all about their relationship and how they broke up because he was never home. "Photograph" is just the song that had a little more hope in their relationship.
    * "Photograph" seems to be written before their relationship ended right?
    Well, Ed also said that he had written both Photograph and Nina while they were still together and that he also played them to her. Thanks to her, he's making millions.

  14. anonymous
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    Aug 17th 2015 !⃝

    You people are so dumb ed never made this song when ed was younger he was in Mansfield tx and had a friend named michael. Michael made photograph and ed asked if he could play it mike said sure not once did ed say this was made by my brother if you look it up you will never find it cause ed does not want anyone to know someone elses song became a huge hit better than almost all ofmhis songs and it was only 1 mike made and mike made it about his girlfriend ed did not know cause when my brother was a freshman ed was leaving that year so ed never knew

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  15. anonymous
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    Aug 8th 2015 !⃝

    This song to me seems like a love song, but not of loss or mending a relationship with his mother like the other posts suggest. This song seems to me like a soldier going off to war and having to temporarily (and maybe permanently) leave all of his friends, family, and, loved ones behind. The words "wait for me to come home" are talking about when his tour is over and he can return to the ones he cares the most about. The lines "holding me closer til our eyes meet, you won't ever be alone" talks about her holding the photograph of him waiting for his return. This line also talks about how she won't ever be alone which would seem a little off if they're just mending the relationship. At the end of the song after he repeats "wait for me to come home" there's a different tone. For example, he says "inside the necklace... Next to your heartbeat where I should be, keep it deep within your soul" the fact that his picture is now in a necklace shows he's been gone for a while. He also says that he should be in her heart and asks her to keep him deep within her soul, which varies from just asking her to wait. I think this change marks the death of the soldier and he's asking for her to always remember him. Another thing that relates to this is that his final stanza is a flashback of the first time they kissed, Which shows how much he truly cared and how much she meant. The fading voice of the final line "wait for me to come home..." Shows the dying will of the soldier who just wanted to make it back to see the woman he loved.




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