Louder than silence
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And hotter than hell
"This is about when there's that electricity between you, and a boy, and it's completely unspoken. When they're standing in front of you and you can't breathe, can't think, can't do anything properly. I'm really geeky - if I like someone, I just become incapable. I remember with my first boyfriend, walking past the window of a pub, seeing he was in there and literally throwing myself on the ground and crawling on the floor because I was so scared! I feel things quite intensely, which is probably why the music is quite intense. If I really like someone, I like someone; I'm sad, I'm sad. I was listening to a lot of hip hop and I wanted to make something that had that kind of beat to it. To me it's the most forward-thinking music around. No one else is moving forward at such pace! Again, it's really Gothic imagery - fairy tales and Edgar Allen Poe stories. I'd read a lot of Gothic horror when I was a kid."
- FlorenceI like the imagery here. Of course, as a Christian I dont actually believe that the desire expressed in the song is 'sweeter than heaven and hotter than hell', but the idea is there. The intensity of the emotions described is powerful, not just in the words used but in the way the words are forcefully thrown out.
Im not going into the whole thing about what is love and what role does emotion play in it, but I think at least judging from what we see in tumblr all the time, this kind of emotions are rather abundant amongst the teens, and I think the way Florence expresses it is wayyy better than all those emo tumblr posts.
I love the metaphor used, the drumming sound, which has a kind of tribal feel to it, is used to describe the heartbeat. The whole prevalence of the idea of loudness in this song is pretty cool.
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Lay me down
Let the only sound
Be the overflow
Pockets full of stones
"It's a song for the water, because in music and art what I'm really interested in are the things that are overwhelming. The ocean seems to me to be nature's great overwhelmer. When I was writing this song I was thinking a lot about all those people who've lost their lives in vain attempts to save their loved ones from drowning. It's about water in all forms and all bodies. It's about a lot of things; Virginia Woolf creeps into it, and of course Frida Kahlo, whose painfully beautiful painting gave me the title."
- Florence
Well for this song, I'll just let the critics speak:
"Powerful concept, explosion of musical joy in the closing minutes, Florence Welch's engaging, ethereal vocals and the Haunting words (lyrics)...the trademark elements of Florence and the Machine music are here with ethereal vocals, harps, and the ghost of British folk-rock. However, there is a soulful power here that carries the music even deeper.Gospel-edged organ and trilling guitars provide instrumental interest in What the Water Gave Me that gives it an aural depth rare in today's mainstream pop music. The lyrics leave a great deal open to interpretation, but the constant references to "pockets full of stones" and the connection of the words to the story of Virginia Woolf's death in which she walked into the water with her pockets filled with stones lend a sense of dread that constantly threatens to drown the listener. What the Water Gave Me breaks down into a near a capella chorus approximately three minutes into the song in gorgeous fashion, but it is only a foreshadowing of what is to come. For the final two minutes of the song restraint is abandoned and Florence and the Machine unleash something that sounds simply like revelatory joy...If there is justice in the US pop music world, "What the Water Gave Me" will be the next Rolling In the Deep. It is a recording that shows us just how emotionally powerful and engaging a pop song can be."
And I agree. Its a brilliant song.
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