What does Never Let Me Go mean?

Florence + the Machine: Never Let Me Go Meaning

Tagged: Suicide [suggest]
Album cover for Never Let Me Go album cover

Song Released: 2011


Never Let Me Go Lyrics

Looking out from underneath,
Fractured moonlight on the sea
Reflections still look the same to me,
As before I went under.

And it's peaceful in the deep,
Cathedral where you cannot breathe,
No need to pray, no need to speak
Now I am...

  1. anonymous
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    Sep 4th 2013 !⃝

    The mermaid intrepatation is closest....the movie is loosely based on Atlantis, no need to speak, because they were telepathic in Atlantis, and didn't need to talk with language the way we do.

  2. anonymous
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    Aug 29th 2013 !⃝

    I thought it may have been a tribute to the re-release of "Titanic" movie - 2010?. It describes well the horrors of the sinking; and what the passengers probably went through. They are now at peace.

  3. anonymous
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    Jun 11th 2013 !⃝

    She thought she found something peaceful or that she was free but she says reflection still looks the same to me she's saying her pain and her shame is still there as before she went under saying that her pain hasn't left.Then when she say's that its peacful in the deep she's saying she thinks that being dead is better and more peaceful.Then she found a place to rest her head AKA her pain .When she say's never let me go is either a silent call for help or a warning for her love not to let her go.Then the choice is hard to make seems the only way she can escape the pain.

  4. anonymous
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    Feb 3rd 2013 !⃝

    I can't help but hear religious overtones to it.

    Perhaps that's just my interpretation, but still, I find it comforting.

    And the ending of the song is just magical. I can't stop listening it.

  5. anonymous
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    Dec 12th 2012 !⃝

    Literally, it could be about suicide. But what's the point of listening to music just to find a LITERAL meaning?? A song comes from your own interpretation. It could be about baptism, being lost in emotion, etc. So no, I think you're the "dumbass" because you're telling others that their personal interpretation of a lyric is wrong. Lyrics are meant to have several meanings to fit several different people.

  6. anonymous
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    Nov 19th 2012 !⃝

    This is about the little mermaid people! ( The first version) If you watch the video, you'll see florence outside a glass door watching a man. I believe the glass door separates land and the ocean. She watches the man as he plays on arcade machines. I believe this is the prince and the mermaid sees what fun she can have on land. When the wet socks are shown, I believe that's her walking on land for the first time. The cleaner woman is definitely the sea witch, who cast the spell on her. She makes the water run down her face as a warning that she better hurry. As she enters the ice rink, the place the prince lives, she dances and he seems to fall for her too. As they dance throughout the video, the sea witch comes back to watch. If you look closely when the two are enbracing, you see that Flo is turning into foam already. The man finally lets her go and doesn't fa in love with her as planned. I love it when she looks at the sea witch like "ahh. You got me." She then turns into sea foam and dirty water again. The man isn't seen again and probably left before Flo mermaid started to die. The sea witch throws back on her hood because her work is done. She's the cleaner because she's the keeper of the ocean

    If its not about this then it's definatly about a suicide

  7. anonymous
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    Nov 2nd 2012 !⃝

    It's about drowning herself because she's done something that she can never forgive herself for and thinks that drowning herself will rid of her sins. Don't tell me I'm wrong because Flo said so herself.

  8. tinkerbell
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    Oct 28th 2012 !⃝

    The way I interpret it is that this song and the video is something of a recreation of "The Little Mermaid" not the soft Disney version but of the first versions.

    In the story, the little mermaid looks up to the world above her and falls in love with the prince. She eventually gets the sea witch to cast a spell on her to turn her human and walk on land to be with the prince. She is supposed to get the prince to fall in love with her, or else she will die. The prince never does and leaves her for someone else, and then the mermaid dies turning into sea foam.

    In the music video, when the girl was walking out of the rink, she was dripping water, perhaps proving she has just had the spell cast on her. The ice rink may represent the land the prince lives in. While the two dance for a while and share an intimate moment, he eventually leaves her. She starts to turn into foam even when she was dancing with the prince, but it pours out after he leaves her.

    The moral of that story is not to sacrifice everything you have for one person who may not even like you back.

  9. anonymous
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    Aug 4th 2012 !⃝

    this also could be about love

    they say a womans heart is like an ocean???

  10. anonymous
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    Aug 4th 2012 !⃝

    I think this is about depression and its overwhelming grasp it has on one person, dragging someone under.

    how anything good rushes and flows out from you and once at the lowest point it feels like the oceans all around you on its bed, its pressure, the dark times feeling like crashes of waves in a storm sometimes feeling good.

    Once in the darkest place you make the choice you cannot escape then submit and lay your head to rest and accept.

    How depression is not just one intense period but it hitting you over time and time again. Depression is not something that happens once that it can feel like it will never let you go

  11. anonymous
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    Aug 4th 2012 !⃝

    I think this is about depression or the overwhelming emotions one can feel about anything intense.

  12. anonymous
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    Jul 31st 2012 !⃝

    I think this song is about suicide, and how she is escaping a world that she didn't want to be a part of, and a finding a place where her body and soul can rest. The deep" to me sounds like heaven, and the "arms of the ocean carry me" sounds like the act of dying.

  13. anonymous
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    Jul 30th 2012 !⃝

    I think this song is ambiguous so each person can feel what they want or need to feel. To me, is about love. When I listened to it I understood the same as it was explained by Anonymus, April 29th, and just because that is what I want to understand.

  14. anonymous
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    Jul 2nd 2012 !⃝

    It is about a woman who has committed lots of bad things (sinner) and thinks her life is useless. So she kills herself in hope forgiveness. Agree?

  15. anonymous
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    Jun 4th 2012 !⃝

    I see the 'ocean' in this song as a metaphor for depression and the song is about the conflict that goes on in the head of someone contemplating suicide.

    "Reflections still look the same to me,
    As before I went under."

    After getting 'drowned' by the depression she still see's herself as worthless and not worth saving.

    "And it's peaceful in the deep,
    Cathedral where you cannot breathe,
    No need to pray, no need to speak
    Now I am under."

    In taking her life she doesn't want people to mourn her death as she will have found peace.

    "Never let me go, never let me go.
    Never let me go, never let me go."

    There is something in her life that still gives her a tiny spark and prevents her taking that final step. Family or Loved One etc. It's that spark that keeps her alive and she doesn't want that to Let her go.

    "And the arms of the ocean are carrying me,
    And all this devotion was rushing out of me,
    And the crashes are heaven, for a sinner like me,
    The arms of the ocean deliver me."

    The Depression carries her away from the good things and her love of life disappears. The crashes are the thoughts of suicide that will let her escape the depression and deliver her to peace (heaven).

    "Though the pressure's hard to take,
    It's the only way I can escape,
    It seems a heavy choice to make,
    Now I am under."

    In spite of the illogicality and finality of it, it feels like the suicide is the only way to escape.

    "And it's breaking over me,
    A thousand miles down to the sea bed,
    Found the place to rest my head."

    The depression may be overpowering the spark that keeps her from harming herself and the thought of escape becomes uncontrollable.

    "And it's over,
    And I'm going under,
    But I'm not giving up!
    I'm just giving in."

    She's not giving up on life, she's just giving into the depression.

    "Oh, slipping underneath.
    Oh, so cold, but so sweet."

    The thought of ending her life is cold and unfathomable, but yet the peace she will obtain will still be sweet.

    "Never let me go, never let me go.
    Never let me go, never let me go.

    Deliver me.

    Never let me go, never let me go.
    Never let me go, never let me go.

    Deliver me.

    Never let me go, never let me go.
    Never let me go, never let me go.

    Never let me go, never let me go.
    Never let me go, never let me go.

    And it's over,
    And I'm goin' under,
    But I'm not givin' up!
    I'm just givin' in.

    Oh, slipping underneath.
    Oh, so cold, but so sweet"

    The last contrasting lyrics sum up the immense confusion going through the head of someone suffering depression. They are torn between finding peace in death or living.




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