What does Closer mean?

Kings of Leon: Closer Meaning

Album cover for Closer album cover
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Closer Lyrics

Stranded in this spooky town,
Stoplights are swaying and the phone lines are down
Floor is crackling cold,
She took my heart, I think she took my soul
With the moon I run,
Far from the carnage of the fiery sun

Drivin' by the strangle of...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    nlr1984
    click a star to vote
    Nov 29th 2009 !⃝

    I belive this song is written about a struggle with addiction, a clue is in ever paragraph. When he talks about "she" i think this is him reffering to the drug. He wants out, he hates being stuck in addiction and he can see the end coming closer, possibly death but he cannot help himself he'll keep on doing it "Drivin' by the strangle of vain Showin' no mercy I'll do it again"

    He says certain words throughout the song that link to drug use bleed, bubbling, crackling, vain, chasing.

    I think he is singing a love song about his love for the drug, but the destruction that it has caused his life.
    Feels so good when i'm home, possibly meaning when he's clean. 2000 years of chasing taking it's toll, possibly meaning that it feels like a hell of a long time that he has been chasing drugs and it's taking it's toll on him.
    you shock my bones...made me feel amazing but feels alone in his love for the drug now when he says leaving me stranded all in love on my own.
    what do you think of me?...feels judged due to drug use.
    where am i now baby where do i sleep..often impacts on a person becoming homeless. This song came out when someone i knew died of a heroin overdose and the words just spoke to me and helped me understand in a way how he might of felt. The beginning of the song is spooky and you get a great feeling of lonliness and unhappiness that the person feels.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    ellierose17
    click a star to vote
    Jan 26th 2010 !⃝

    "Stranded in this spooky town
    stoplights are swaying and the phone lines are down
    snow is crackling cold"

    he (is a vampire) describes the sinister state of where he lives. He paints a scary description of where he lives

    "She took my heart
    I think she took my soul"

    he relates his heartbreak about a girl who left him with nothing else

    "with the moon I run
    far from the carnage of the fiery sun"

    shows the natural instinct of being a vampire, for example, being nocturnal and hiding from the sun

    "Driven by the strangle of vein
    showing no mercy I'd do it again
    Open up your eyes
    you keep on crying
    baby I'll bleed you dry"

    this is where I got the vampire part. He's kept alive by drinking people's and he feels no remorse doing it. He looks at his victims as meat

    "Skies are blinking at me
    i see a storm bubbling up from the seas
    and it's coming closer"

    i think this means he knows trouble is coming

    "you shimmy shook ny bones
    leaving me stranded
    all in love on my own
    do you think of me
    where am I now?
    baby, where do I sleep?
    Feels so good but I'm old
    2000 years of chasing taking its toll"

    he's longing for his lover (possibly another vampire)
    he wants to know if she still cares about him
    he wants to be alive, he loves to be alive
    but the fact that he's alone is wearing him down


    That is one lonely vampire

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    Missliteeyes
    click a star to vote
    Oct 24th 2015 !⃝

    This song is about drug abuse

    if anybody knows anything about the actual band members..they use to be a christian band then converted to mainstream..they were led towards drugs while going on tour & the lead singer actually went through a tough struggle with drugs..this song is completely about his drug abuse & him struggling through it! you can feel the pain through everything from the guitar to the emotion he has in his singing! The lyrics are beautiful but dark & hide what he's meaning very well

    "She took my heart i think she took my soul" is interpreting the drug as "she"
    "Feels so good but i'm old..2000 years & its taking it toll" is meaning it feels like hes been doing the drug forever & its starting to killing him slowly

    When i heard this song i was so drawn to it..listened to it on repeat many times..studied the lyrics & also the band..they are amazing & have such talent & a great story of pain & turning that pain into poetry & stunning music

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 30th !⃝

    Definitely escape from a toxic relationship.

    “She took my heart, I think she took my soul”.. it’s very similar to narcissistic abuse pattern.. and narcissist can also be referred to as vampires of this age… and the foot soldiers of darkness…

    Narcissistic pattern;

    Hovering:
    “Showing no remorse” Cause they have to…

    Abuse:
    “I’ll bleed you dry” Cause they have to, them first.

    The discarding phase (throwing them after you gotten your fix, or they have no further use at the moment, or they found something they think is better).
    “Leaving me stranded all in love on my own”.

    That is the true meaning. Read about narcissist pattern and it will resonate :)

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 14th 2023 !⃝

    My interpretation on this song is definitely about being a vampire. "She took my heart, I think she took my soul." This is where his human life was taken by a female vampire against his will. "With the moon I run. Far from the carnage of the fiery sun." Vampires can't go out in the sun,because they'll burn to ash's. Also search on YouTube, True Blood Closer-Kings of Leon. It's a awesome video and definitely fits with the song and lyrics.

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Apr 26th 2022 !⃝

    For me it's simply about shame, of drug use, porn addiction, a rape, etc. The lyrics are naturally coded to hide the specifics but the central theme is shame.
    For example porn use, the secrecy, chasing the lust, strangling the vein... We chase our shameful addictions and our shame feeds the addiction, and clearly it serves us somehow, but each must figure out how.

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 1st 2019 !⃝

    Just my interpretation.. I’ve probably listened to this song on repeat 250 times. Trying to figure out what he’s trying to portray in this song. I thought at first it was a tragic love song.. then thought it was about drug abuse(heroine) which does make more sense.. but thought about it some more and listened over and over.. I believe it’s about reincarnation.. but his soul just wanders till it is given another vessel to house his broken tired soul.. so my two theories are either drugs or reincarnation.

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 23rd 2019 !⃝

    Sounds to me like the song's referring to an imminent Second Coming. "She" is Jesus. (Ehm...I suppose won't like that exegesis.)

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 28th 2018 !⃝

    A love story most definitely an insecure man whos afraid to open up he as he has been hiding something very sinister inside a side to him he hasn't processed a side hes kept well hidden from everyone his own demon until then he fell in love with a good woman someone he's been waiting for someone he wants to hold on to for life but can never give her the best of him in fear that she will see this demon he's been hiding
    inside instead choses to
    run choses to shut her out from a woman who wants to help him and make him happy who chased him for years so desperately wanting to get close until one day she finally did then seen the truth and saw the monster inside he's vunerable at this point she is scared of what she sees now she's on the run and he's the one desperately trying to chase her to come back to him but at this point the woman is not coming back and he's too late the love died and now all he has left is to face his demon.. I think this is a situation for anyone woman who is in love with an insecure who is putting the woman through hell with mental physical or sexual abuse but a woman only wants to fix him all ways see the good in him choses to stay choses to chase but once a woman has had enough of chasing that's when all the true colours show and all demons come to the surface a wake up call for men that they need to let a good woman in or you will miss out on the good things she brings...

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 19th 2018 !⃝

    It's about being a vampire.I have always thought that from the first time I ever heard this song..to me it's very simple.i think people are going to say it has a different meaning.i think this song is whatever it makes you feel like.if we could ask Caleb he could tell us for sure what it means.. just let it be whatever it means to use.

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 6th 2016 !⃝

    The life of a vampire after being turned by a heartless female vampire whom he loved, but after she took his soul, she left him all alone to do the same to others, years later. He's immortal and the years of Loneliness and death has taken its toll. It could also be a reference to drug addiction. But usually writers are quite literal. So the vampire theory is probably accurate.

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 21st 2015 !⃝

    I'm 9 days clean off of methadone, and a former heroin addict and I know EXACTLY WHAT HE's talking about. He's just being metaphorical with the comparison of a very strong love for a girl to the commitment and love you have for the fix. This is not over analyzation, it takes personal experience to comprehend those lyrics.

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 14th 2014 !⃝

    I totally agree that it's about drugs. Just the way he sings it and the music, let alone the clear not just drug metaphors but drug words in there like chasing, it isn't like someone heartbroken it's like someone who is desperate for a fix. i would say the word chasing in there and just the pace of the song that it is specifically about heroin. And I work with people that are heroin addicts-getting them off drugs, and (the reason I'm anon) I've done heroin too, and it just reminds me of heroin. The guitars remind me of that feeling, and the way he sings 'and it's coming closer' just makes me think of someone with a needle in their arm waiting for that hit to knock them out of reality for a short while, whilst knowing at the same time it's killing them and that they will wake up feeling so much worse, and that it's aging them years by the second.

  14. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 11th 2014 !⃝

    Do you guys think maybe you're all taking this interpretation a little too far? lol It sounds pretty straight forward to me. The spooky town is the mind state the guys been left in. You know, like the one you're in after the girl who rips your heart out leaves you? It's an empty place with no hope.)

    With the moon I run Far from the carnage from the fiery sun. You can interpret this to mean a million things but essentially what he's saying is he's hiding. Whether that's from reality, her, the world whatever.

    The second part of the first verse is a little more mysterious. I think he might be singing from the perspective of the person who sucks you dry and leaves you hanging.

    The third verse, like the first half of the first verse, is pretty self explanatory. She rattled him and left him behind alone with love in his heart but nobody to share it with. "Do you think of me. Where am I know baby where do I sleep? This is text book, person who has been dumped, thought process lol you're always wondering if the other person is thinking about you."2000 years of chasing....." I have no idea what this line is referring to nor will I try and guess..

  15. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 9th 2014 !⃝

    A vampire who's addicted to sucking blood? Idk this song scares me

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  16. twinflame06
    click a star to vote
    Dec 9th 2013 !⃝

    Even though the songwriter may have written about his own experience, my interpretation is similar to when a guy feeling trapped in his own feelings from a love of a special girl in his life Twin flames are that way...they can't live without eah other and if they are disconnected the pain is excruciating. A rare type of love. Music is one way to express it. And that excruciating pain of loss is beautifully and artistically described in this song.

  17. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 9th 2013 !⃝

    This song is about vampires, but he is taking the vampire story as a metaphor for how he is living his life

    "Stranded in this spooky town
    Stoplight is swaying and the phone lines are down"

    Here he is describing how he feels now, and how hes scenario looks like.

    "This floor is crackling cold, she took my heart, I think she took my soul"

    This is how he mentions he becomes a vampire... technically a girl turned him into a vampire by taking his soul and heart

    "With the moon I run far from the carnage of the fiery sun"

    This is when he actually confirms he is a vampire... technically he lives in the night and when the sun comes up he goes back to his home no matter if hes with another girl or just alone.

    Driven by the strangle of vein showing no mercy I do it again,
    Open up your eye, you keep on crying baby, Ill bleed you dry

    Here he is saying that he knows its wrong but its the only keeping him going and he forgets about the girl vampire by doing the same to other girls


    Skies they blink at me, I see a storm bubbling up from the sea

    something feels off.. he feels something is gonna come and change his life

    And it's coming closer
    And it's coming closer

    You shimmy shook my bones leaving me stranded all in love on my own

    He has been affected and has turned into something that dictates his loneliness

    Do you think of me? Where am I now? Baby where do I sleep?

    He is thinking about the girl vampire and is asking if she is making those questions about him

    Feel so good but I'm old, 2000 years of chasing taking its toll

    Feels good to be free and technically do whatever he wants without being hurt, but its been a ridiculous amount of time chasing after the girl vampire and feels that it has started to take a hit on his life and future

    This is my interpretation of the lyrics. He has turned into a "vampire" because a girl vampire turned him into one.

  18. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Apr 15th 2013 !⃝

    it's about dealing with an awful-fitting pair of shoes, that's it.

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