What do you think Sing for Absolution means?

Muse: Sing for Absolution Meaning

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Album cover for Sing for Absolution album cover

Sing for Absolution Lyrics

Lips are turning blue
a kiss that can't renew
I only dream of you
my beautiful

Tiptoe to your room
a starlight in the gloom
I only dream of you
and you never knew

Sing for Absolution
I will be singing
and falling from your...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Feb 8th 2011 !⃝

    I think it's about murder (yea)

    In the first verse "lips are turning blue, a kiss that can't renew" is like the beloved one is dead and he can't do nothing, and it's driving him crazy "i only dream of you my beautiful"

    In the second verse he says he had walked into her room at night "tiptoe to your room, a starlight in the gloom", and more suffering "i oonly dream of you, and you never knew"

    The chorus tells that he killed her "sing for absolution, i will be singing" but he is filled with regret "and falling from your grace" (like he can't reach anymore her)

    After the chorus he admits he has a terrible secret and is running away because of it "there's nowhere left to hide, and no one to confide, the trith burns deep inside, and will never die" (The secret is killing him, and he will never forget is)

    And at the last verse says everything in plural, as if he joined her (killed himself) "Our wrongs remain unrectified, and our souls won't be exhumed"

    Yey, that makes sense to me

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    Suma
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    Nov 20th 2009 !⃝

    I think this song is in need of an interpretation.
    The music video while impressive and truly ''kinda'' fitting, doesn't really help me in understanding what this song is about actually.

    I interpreted this song as a love song, like most muse songs are love songs, or ''anti'' love songs if you will.

    from the verse ''I only dream of you, my beautiful'' I imediately thought this as a love song, so yeah. Just to support my assumption.

    ''I only dream of you, and you never knew'' So, he's in love, but she never really notices this, or doesn't care/mind/think about him and then :
    ''Sing for Absolution, I will be singing and falling from your grace, yeah'' So it might be something like this : Her grace is so high, that he, the lover of this individual, can't reach her kinda.
    Having Absolution is like being blameless or freed of sins, so he might be saying, her sin or blame of putting him in such a state, should be what she has to get rid of....

    Argh. Help me guys.

  3. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 24th 2019 !⃝

    Here's the answer direct from the artists / band members.

    According to Matt: "This song is completely different from the rest, there is something oppressive inside of it, with a gothic sound"[2]

    According to Matt: "The verses speak somewhat of a dead relationship or something like that.There was a great part of improvisation. Making music or singing is for me an act of seeking absolution. In fact, this is my personal way to find a manner to understand myself, understand all these elements confusing on me, those things that scare me and that arise in this song [2]

    According to Dominic Howard, this song is about writing music,[3] singing[4] and the finding of non-religious absolution through both.[3][4] He described the process of song writing as starting with things one does not understand and the result as feeling better about them.[4]

    An acoustic version was released on the Butterflies & Hurricanes single. Live, the song was played from 2003 through 2005 and occasionally in 2007

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 7th 2019 !⃝

    You are all away with the fairies. The song is about our planet after the human race destroys it. The absolution means the human race is sorry for what they did to our planet. "Lips are turning blue...ICE AGE!"Only thinking of You, my beautiful...THE BEAUTIFUL WORLD ONCE EXISTED!!!

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 6th 2018 !⃝

    I think this song is about begging forgiveness for a (father/daughter or some other) illegal or immoral relationship. He has or wants to have sex with her, but knows it’s wrong. He secretly goes to her room. It’s night, and dark. He can only dream of her because it would be wrong to do more. "My beautiful" sounds like a strong term of endearment, like for a daughter. He sings for absolution (forgiveness)... maybe praying and forcing himself not to give in to this "wrong" action (like incest).
    Sinisterly in the beginning I get the feeling she’s dead. Maybe he lost control and killed her, or she killed herself and he blames himself. He sings for the forgiveness he can’t have. He’s fallen and still falling from her grace because she is pure and forevermore unreachable.
    Maybe he’s talking himself out of doing a very bad thing he has imagined doing to this girl. "Sing for absolution" crying out to God (and the girl) to forgive him and take away his sin. Or, more hopefully, calling out to God to stop him and save him from doing this deed which will make him fall from her grace... he can never make it up to her.
    The fact that he’s falling from her grace makes me think that he is or was at one time very high in her graces, like a beloved parent.
    Just my thoughts, only the author knows.
    It’s dark. It’s a great piece of music.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 29th 2018 !⃝

    Honestly, I believe instead of the obvious murder, it could be in a persons point of view singing about a loved one that is incapable of doing things, or is held back from happier things. it is also a feeling of guilt that the person in perspective is feeling, and they want to show and have interpreted that they want to be freed of this said guilt. Of course, this feeling is not recognized by the loved one and they have to know the thought for the one expressing these feelings hence "The truth burns deep inside" or, that quote could mean that the person feeling these emotions, in their point of view is not realizing that it isn't a temporary feeling, and they are having trouble expressing their unconditional love for a person with any sort of disability and you can't re-new them.

  7. anonymous
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    Aug 27th 2016 !⃝

    Murder is almost too obvious... when I heard the song the first time I thought it was about someone loving a person they couldn't have who passed, I actually immagined for some reason it was a father who loved his daughter "tip toe to your room" so in a house in another room, most people sleep in the same room as their spouse, and if she didn't know he loved her they wouldn't be together, so I don't think the subject is actually his 'lover' but someone he 'loved'. There's a lot of symbolism about general life and loss, but I'm still searching for what they could mean...

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 9th 2012 !⃝

    I think its about the guilt of abortion (agreeing with other sites interpretations) maybe hes dreaming of what would happen if he didn't make the mistake of abortion.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 10th 2012 !⃝

    I believe it's about he himself dieing alone and not being able to express his love to his loved one, so he's singing for absolution because he wants to tell her, sorta like in the movies where people dieing say "tell my wife I love her" except hes alone. kinda makes sense to me, idk I could be wrong I LOVE THIS SONG GETS ME SO EMOTIONAL

  10. anonymous
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    Feb 23rd 2012 !⃝

    Well, my view on it is this:
    The lyrics sing about "I only dream of you, My beautiful"...it's obviously a love song, but not specifically a person. I think it's a love song for imagination. For color, and fire, and just purely raw music.
    The whole thing about "lips turning blue, kiss that can't renew", it's about how the world is losing it's true inspiration of music. Now all music is turning to sex, violence, more sex, and a honkin' lot of depressing junk that I don't wanna think about. I believe that Muse was lamenting the loss of pure music in this increasingly unimaginative world.
    The song is gorgeous. It's meaning is truly deep and encouraging, and I pray that the music industry will soon come to its senses.

  11. anonymous
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    Feb 4th 2012 !⃝

    This is an inherently sad, desperate song. I agree, I think it's about a murder. Worse, I think it's about a murder and a suicide.
    "Lips are turning blue
    A kiss that can't renew" - her lips are turning blue, because she is a corpse. A kiss that can't renew; the kiss of death, which you only ever have once.


    "Tiptoe to your room
    A starlight in the gloom" - This is the actual murder. He crept lightly to her room to kill her, and there was a single light.


    "Sing for Absolution
    I will be singing
    and falling from your grace" - He wants her to go to heaven.

    "There's nowhere left to hide
    in no one to confide
    the truth burns deep inside
    and will never die" - He feels guilty. This is where he commits suicide.


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