Of Monsters and Men: Little Talks Meaning
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Song Released: 2011
Little Talks Lyrics
(Hey!)
(Hey!)
I don't like walking around this old and empty house
So hold my hand I'll walk with you my dear
The stairs creak as you sleep it's keeping me awake
It's the house telling you to close your eyes
Somedays I can't even...
-
1TOP RATED
anonymous Jan 12th, 2016 1:22pm report
My wife passed away two and a half years ago and I can't hear this song without at least welling up. There is no doubt in my mind that the song tells the story of a woman who's lost her husband and who was broken as a result. She can't move past the experience, can't figure out how to live what's left of her life, and feels like she has only one thing to look forward to: her death and the reunion with her husband. It's as clear as day to me.
-
2TOP RATED
anonymous Jun 8th, 2017 6:28am report
Oddly enough I don't feel like little talks is about the dead and living or even two different entities. I always interpreted it as the woman who sings being a more frail and depressed version while the male sings as the original encouraging the other to endure. It's as if the male's response to the female version is to comfort her and it hurts the logical part to see this deterioration of mental self. I feel this song is about one person's internal battle to stay sane. Although it seems unclear if this person is haunted by memory or delusion.
I don't like walking around this old and empty house
(Her feeling uneasy possibly afraid)
So hold my hand I'll walk with you my dear
(Trying to comfort)
The stairs creek as you sleep it's keeping me awake
(Her being afraid, possibly paranoid)
It's the house telling you to close your eyes
(Trying to convince her there's nothing to be afraid of)
Some days I can't even dress myself
(Her feeling depressed and losing her will)
It's killing me to see you this way
(Finding it tragic to see her so down)
And though the truth may vary this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore
(Not being able to tell reality from their mind either version finding it inevitable thar it will kill them)
Don't listen to a word I say
(Knowing they're not being logical and unable to help it)
The screams all sound the same
(Memories/delusion)
And though the truth may vary this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore
(See above)
You're gone gone gone away I watched you disappear all that's left is the ghost of you
(Reference to completely losing ones former self and becoming a shell/byproduct or ghost of that person)
Now were torn torn torn apart there's nothing we can do just let me go we'll mee again soon
(Accepting this new version as a permanent one)
Now wait wait wait for me please hang around I'll see you when I fall asleep
(Encoraging her not to give up hope of becoming who she once was$ -
3TOP RATED
anonymous Jun 9th, 2012 6:16pm report
I thought this song was different than those interpretations, but i think you guys might be right.
"I don't like walking around this old and empty house"
( I thought it was a widow who's husband died recently, she feels the house is empty w/o him )
"So hold my hand I'll walk with you my dear"
( I thought this might be like his ghost talking to her )
"The stairs creak as you sleep it's keeping me awake"
( More of him being a ghost )
"It's the house telling you to close your eyes"
( He's telling her to go to sleep )
"Somedays I can't even trust myself"
( Just her not knowing what to do w/o him )
"'Cause though the truth may vary
This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore"
( Like they are eventually going to meet again )
"Well tell her that I miss our little talks"
( Him just missing her )
"Soon it will be over and buried with our past"
( Foreshadowing )
"We used to play outside when we were young and full of life and full of love"
( Nostalgia )
"Your mind is playing tricks on you my dear"
( Her seeing his ghost )
"You're gone, gone, gone away
I watched you disappear
All that's left is a ghost of you"
( Cus he's dead..)
"Now we're torn, torn, torn apart
There's nothing we can do
Just let me go, we'll meet again soon"
( This might be farfetched but i thought she was trying to end her life because she wanted him to let her die so they will 'meet again soon' )
"Now wait, wait, wait for me
Please hang around"
( He doesn't want her to die )
"I'll see you when I fall asleep"
( Like she seems him when she sleeps, so they can be together in her dreams )
And thats what i thought...maybe a little out there, but if you listen to the song, you can seriously picture this scenario...and when it plays the "Hey!" happy parts i feel like she is remembering happy memories of them together doing things...sorry i think of this in terms of a music video haha -
anonymous Apr 27th, 2019 4:43pm report
I also heard issues of mental illness with this song but the other thing I heard was perhaps someone struggling with end stage cancer and struggling to keep her mind and her body, working through acceptance.
-
anonymous Jan 9th, 2019 1:17pm report
It's about a girl with schizophrenia and her lover helping her through it
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anonymous Nov 25th, 2018 11:26pm report
My friends and I have decided on this explaination. The song, we think, is about mental illness, a couple who are both mentally deteriorating and how they use the metaphor of “Having a mental illness is like being trapped in a house in the middle of the ocean”. For instance, the girl said there is a voice in her head holding her back, and the guy says he misses when he used to be able to talk to her without the voice. The “ship will carry our bodies safe to shore” in our interpretation means that death will one day save them from the island they are (metaphorically) trapped on.
-
anonymous Aug 13th, 2018 8:04pm report
First of all, I love how my interpretation differs from my friend's interpretation which differs from the meaning that the band has confirmed, and how ALL of these feel right to me.
I think it's about trauma. We use the word "traumatic" to describe that embarrassing thing that we can't seem to get over, or that time when someone hurt our feelings so bad that we believed we were worthless. They call this kind "little-t" trauma. The song could absolutely be about that.
But maybe it's about someone processing Capital-T Trauma, a kind of terrified, wake up in the middle of the night screaming, kind of trauma. I read that a house could be a metaphor for your body, in song lyrics or poetry. So maybe someone hasn't been aware of their body because it's too intense to feel the sensations that come up when they're triggered. Someone so out of touch with themselves that they don't trust themselves anymore, someone who simultaneously wants comfort but doesn't want to bother someone because their screams all sound the same.
Someone who's working through it in therapy, and who trusts that they can get through the "dark nights of the soul" on the way to recovery (I think I'm quoting or paraphrasing Bessel van der kolk in that last statement, so credit to him for his wonderfully-written book on trauma.) -
anonymous Jul 17th, 2018 7:13pm report
i think it's a girl with depression and a guy trying to comfort her and keep her from suicide, until she does.
-
MikeOrtiz Jun 7th, 2018 6:48am report
I have read great interpretations of this song. Ever since I listened to it for the first time I thought about sadness and depression. It seems to me that the female voice is the struggle (whether the person is a man or a woman), the male voice is the logic that is trying to overcome the illness. That female voice could be all the emotional issues going on and the male voice could represent also friends or close ones who are worried about the one who is depressed. The empty house is the sense of loneliness. The truth that varies is the decision to look for help or let that depression take over, the ship is life per se. Maybe the person feels he/she is drifting.
-
anonymous Dec 9th, 2017 12:58pm report
According to Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, the song describes two loving people talking past each other and implies one is recently deceased, saying "maybe one person isn't really hearing the other one." wiki
- under wraps dec 9, 2017 -
ErinTheGuineaPig Dec 9th, 2017 12:32am report
A different interpretation could be that she has a mental illness, and he’s tried to help, but there’s nothing he can do. They are old anyway, so he decides to be alive in the moment and believe that life will take them to the end. At the end one of them died, and the line “go away and we’ll meet again soon” means the other is nearing the end of their life too. A sad and beautiful song about life and death.
-
ErinTheGuineaPig Dec 9th, 2017 12:27am report
A woman and her husband are getting old. She’s scared that they’ll die soon, but he comforts her. The truth may vary, but this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore probably means that their lives will take them to the end (shore) and they will be happy.
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anonymous Sep 29th, 2017 9:49pm report
I think this song is about dementia triumphing over the logical side of a woman's mind. The logical side of her mind is competing with the dementia that is overpowering it, and the woman is trying to make sense of who to trust; the logical side or the dementia. She is currently in an asylum, which is what the song means when it says "house," and "ship." Here is what I see in this song:
Hey! Hey! Hey!
I don't like walking around this old and empty house (Asylum)
Dementia: So hold my hand, I'll walk with you my dear
The stairs creak as I sleep,
It's keeping me awake
Dementia: It's the house (asylum) telling you to close your eyes
And some days I can't even trust myself (The dementia is overpowering her mind)
Dementia: It's killing me to see you this way
'Cause though the truth may vary
This ship (asylum) will carry our bodies safe to shore (probably wishful thinking)
Hey! Hey! Hey!
There's an old voice in my head
That's holding me back (She is referring to the dementia)
Dementia: Well tell her that I miss our little talks (referring to when the dementia was still struggling to overpower the logic)
Soon it will all be over, and buried with our past (when she dies - which would be her only escape from the disease)
We used to play outside when we were young
And full of life and full of love
Some days I don't know if I am wrong or right. (The effects of Alzheimer's on her brain)
Logic: Your mind is playing tricks on you my dear
'Cause though the truth may vary
This ship (asylum) will carry our bodies safe to shore (probably wishful thinking)
Hey!
Logic: Don't listen to a word I say (explaining that she shouldn't trust the dementia that seems to be speaking for it)
Hey!
The screams all sound the same (the patients of the asylum are screaming)
Hey!
Though the truth may vary
This ship (asylum) will carry our bodies safe to shore (probably wishful thinking)
You're gone, gone, gone away,
I watched you disappear (referring to her sanity)
All that's left is a ghost of you (again, her waning sanity)
Now we're torn, torn, torn apart,
there's nothing we can do, (self-explanatory)
Just let me go, we'll meet again soon (Even in her more lucid moments, she knows she'll slip back into it and be a victim of this fog again.)
Now wait, wait, wait for me, please hang around
I'll see you when I fall asleep
Hey!
Logic: Don't listen to a word I say
Hey!
The screams all sound the same (asylum patients)
Hey!
Though the truth may vary
this ship (asylum) will carry our bodies safe to shore (probably wishful thinking)
Hey!
Logic: Don't listen to a word I say
Hey!
The screams all sound the same (asylum patients)
Hey!
Though the truth may vary
This ship (asylum) will carry our bodies safe to shore (probably wishful thinking)
Though the truth may vary
This ship (asylum) will carry our bodies safe to shore (probably wishful thinking)
Though the truth may vary
This ship (asylum) will carry our bodies safe to shore (probably wishful thinking) -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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anonymous Apr 18th, 2017 4:06pm report
I always thought the song was about the depression and eventually the suicide of the female singer. She references an "old voice in my head that's holding me back" and I interpreted that as her depression holding her back. When the male singer sings "It's killing me to see you this way." it could mean he doesn't know how to help her. And the line "you're gone, gone, gone away, I watched you disappear" would mean the male singer watched her depression get worse until she commited suicide.
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Billyboy Jan 31st, 2017 1:54pm report
Hey! Hey! Hey!
I don't like walking (WALKING = THINKING) around this old and empty (EMPTY STRUGGLING) house (HOUSE = HER MIND)
(*I HATE BEING IN MY OWN MIND)
So hold my hand,(I LOVE YOU) I'll walk with you my dear (I CARE SO MUCH FOR YOU)
The stairs (STAIRS = part of a house ) creak (CREAK = NOT WORKING PROPERLY) as I sleep (EVEN WHEN SHE SLEEPS THINGS ARE'NT BETTER)
It's keeping me awake. (SHE'S NOT ACTUALLY SLEEPING ) (*SHE'S ASLEEP BUT AWAKE)
It's the house (HOUSE = MIND )telling you to close your eyes ( HE IS SAYING YOU ARE OVER THINKING AND YOUR MIND IS SAYING GO TO SLEEP)
Some days I can't even trust myself
(FEELING SUICIDAL)
It's killing me to see you this way
(HE WANTS TO HELP BUT CAN'T AND IT'S HURTING HIM)
Cause though the truth may vary
(THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE OF OPINION BETWEEN THEM)
This ship (SHIP = LIFE) will carry our bodies (bodies meaning just their bodies not there minds) safe to shore (SHORE = HEAVEN ? )
Hey! Hey! Hey!
There's an old (OLD = KEEP THINKING THE SAME THING ) voice ( VOICE = HER MIND IS REPLAYING) in my head
That's holding me back (HOLDING ME BACK = STRUGGLING TO COPE. WITH THE PAST)
Well tell her that I miss our little talks
(HE MISSES THEY WAY THEY WERE/USED TO BE)
Soon it will all be over and buried with our past (SHE CAN'T COPE ANYMORE )
We used to play outside when we were young (THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING TOGETHER ANYMORE)
And full of life and full of love
(WANTS HERE TO THINK HOW THEY USED TO BE AT THE BEGINING WHEN THINGS WERE GOOD)
Some days I don't know if I am wrong or righT
(SHE'S COMING TO TERMS WITH HER MENATL ILLNESS)
Your mind is playing tricks on you my dear
(HE DOESN'T WANT TO COME TO TERMS WITH THE FACT HER MENTAL HEALTH IS WORSENING )
Cause though the truth may vary
This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore
[Chorus]
Hey!
(SUNG TOGETHER NOW SO BOTH FEELING THE SAME)
Don't listen to a word I say (DONT LISTEN = WHAT THEY ARE BOTH NOW SAYING IS IN NOW IN ANGER AND NOT WHAT THEY REALLY THINK) (I THINK THE SITAUTION HAS MADE THEM BOTH MENTALLY ILL)
Hey!
The screams all sound the same
Hey!(THEY ARGUE ABOUT THE SAME THINGS OVER AND OVER )
Though the truth may vary
This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore
You're gone, gone, gone away (THEY'VE SPLIT UP)
I watched you disappear (KNEW IT WAS HAPPENING BUT COULDNT CHANGE IT)
All that's left is a ghost of you (MENTAL HEALTH PROMBLEMS HAVE TAKEN OVER)
Now we're torn, torn, torn apart
There's nothing we can do (BOTH SO HURTING THAT ITS OVER )
Just let me go, we'll meet again soon.
(GOT TO PART FOE THE BEST FOR BOTH OF THEM)
Now wait, wait, wait for me, please hang around
I'll see you when I fall asleep. ( DON'T BE WITH ANYONE ELSE AND WE'LL BE TOGETHER IN HEAVEN)
Hey!
Don't listen to a word I say
Hey!
The screams all sound the same
Hey!
Though the truth may vary
This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore
Hey!
Don't listen to a word I say
Hey!
The screams all sound the same
Hey!
Though the truth may vary
This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore -
anonymous Jan 26th, 2017 1:54pm report
I don't like walking around this old and empty house (She might be a widow)
So hold my hand, I'll walk with you my dear (A male voice that may be her boyfriend comforts her)
The stairs creak as I sleep,
It's keeping me awake (She shows again that she is lonely and uncomfortable)
It's the house telling you to close your eyes (Her boyfriend continues to try to make the situation seem better. This raises a question of why is she still lonely if she has a boyfriend. She seems like a widow so is the boyfriend actually deceased)
And some days I can't even trust myself (Why is this so? It likely points to the fact that she has mental problems. This means that her boyfriend talking to her right now may be a figment of her imagination)
It's killing me to see you this way (He implies that she was not like this once before. Her mental uncertainty must have recently arisen. He also shows that her cares about her, furthering the point that they were in a relationship)
'Cause though the truth may vary (Because of her mental problems)
This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore (This is the only thing that she is certain of. What is the ship and the shore?
There's an old voice in my head (Because of her mental problems)
That's holding me back (What is she getting held back from doing)
Well tell her that I miss our little talks (More evidence that they were once together)
Soon it will all be over, and buried with our past (Why will it be over? Is she going to kill herself)
We used to play outside when we were young (They may have aged supporting the inference that she is an old widow)
And full of life and full of love (Nostalgia and they had a close relationship)
Some days I don't know if I am wrong or right. (Wrong or right about what?)
Your mind is playing tricks on you my dear (Because of her mental problems)
'Cause though the truth may vary (Because of her mental problems)
This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore (This ship and shore must be important because it is repeatedly mentioned at the climax)
Don't listen to a word I say (Why? Is he currently a figment of her imagination)
The screams all sound the same (What are these screams he is referring too? Is he talking about her mental characters?)
Though the truth may vary (Because of her mental problems)
This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore (This ship and shore must be important because it is repeatedly mentioned at the climax)
You're gone, gone, gone away, (He must have died because he cares for her so he did not break up with her)
I watched you disappear (That must have been traumatic and may have contributed to her mental problems)
All that's left is a ghost of you (So yes, he did die)
Now we're torn, torn, torn apart, (By death)
there's nothing we can do, (Because they are separated by the boundary between life and death)
Just let me go, we'll meet again soon (I guess she is going to kill herself to be with him again)
Now wait, wait, wait for me, please hang around (He does not want her to do it)
I'll see you when I fall asleep (This seems like something the girl should say)
Don't listen to a word I say
The screams all sound the same
Though the truth may vary
this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore
Don't listen to a word I say
The screams all sound the same
Though the truth may vary
This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore (He repeats this)
Though the truth may vary
This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore
Though the truth may vary
This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore (She repeats these lines back to him)
The story that seems to be implied by the lyrics seems to be that the woman's husband has died. The woman suffers from a mental breakdown and imagines that her deceased husband is talking to her. She feels lonely, and tells her husband all her problems. She reasons that she can reunite with her husband through suicide as she would join her husband in death.
The lyric seem to be a sad story, but the tune is energetic and happy. So the listener must reconsider the lyrics as something that is good. How can this story of suicide be good? Well, let us look at this situation from the woman’s perspective. The woman is lonely, uncomfortable, and troubled at the beginning since she is not with the man the she loves most. All of those problems disappear when she kills herself. -
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