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I feel stupid, What is Sirens About?

jbalicki10jbalicki10 Posts: 517
edited September 2013 in The Porch
I understand it is a love song, but what the heck are the sirens? (Police Sirens? Tornado Sirens? Greek mythology Sirens?)

Sorry just really confused...
Post edited by Unknown User on
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  • RE4790RE4790 Posts: 809
    jbalicki10 wrote:
    I understand it is a love song, but what the heck are the sirens? (Police Sirens? Tornado Sirens? Greek mythology Sirens?)

    Sorry just really confused...

    I interpreted the word as "warning signs" in his relationships, meaning the song is about the fear he feels at potentially losing the connections with those he loves. It's not a straight up love song in that sense, but more like he is reassuring himself that love will win out.
  • DevonPearlDevonPearl Posts: 284
    Mike sayd he wrote "Sirens" and that it was inspired by seeing Roger Waters live in concert. Ed wrote the lyrics after staying up all night in LA and listening to the sirens in the streets.
  • dimitrispearljamdimitrispearljam Posts: 139,721
    jbalicki10 wrote:
    I understand it is a love song, but what the heck are the sirens? (Police Sirens? Tornado Sirens? Greek mythology Sirens?)

    Sorry just really confused...
    ok,if..if...Eddie put this tittle,cos has in mind Greek Mythology Sirens i would be very impressed with the metaphor he try to create...
    cos then,the meaning of the songs,will take another brilliant turn..
    thinking of what Sirens were, Beautiful deceptive women that lured sailors to their deaths in stormy waters,

    then this part,maybe have a different meaning..

    "It’s a fragile thing, this life we lead, if I think too much, I can get over-
    Whelmed by the grace, by which we live our lives with death over our shoulders"


    shit,this song is brilliant any way u feel and understand it

    for me,,,by Sirens is the "voices inside my head" that play mind games about love got lost,the mislead of taking love for granted ..and finally love somehow will make it and win..

    and at some point..i get the feeling of want to have the "last words" before the end,even in a way of an apology..
    "...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
    "..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
    “..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
  • sparky_frysparky_fry Posts: 760
    edited September 2013
    Thats the beauty of music everyone has their own interpretation.

    I feel the first half of the song is about getting older:

    "I could take your hand, and feel your breath
    For fear that someday we'll be over...
    I danced in laughter with the ever after
    But, all things change, let this remain"

    Coming to terms with getting older and eventually death.

    The second half it seems tragedy has hit his wife, and the sirens represent an ambulance (i believe anyway"

    "Hear the sirens… covering distance in the night
    The sound, echoing closer, will they come for me next time"

    He's getting older as well so the next ambulance may be for him.

    "To send you in the arms of another man
    And if you choose to stay, I’ll wait, I’ll understand"

    I've read here that someone thinks the other man is God, but it could also be a doctor/ambulance driver for that matter.

    "death over our shoulders"

    and

    "I studied your face, the fear goes away"

    Could be that the wife is in the hospital and he's looking at her face or she has passed and he's looking at old pictures.


    Again theres no right answer, music is about how it makes you feel personally.



    "The fear goes away"
    Post edited by sparky_fry on
  • Pushin Forward BackPushin Forward Back Posts: 890
    running from police... living in the hood.
  • dimitrispearljamdimitrispearljam Posts: 139,721
    sparky_fry wrote:
    Thats the beauty of music everyone has their own interpretation.

    I feel the first half of the song is about getting older:

    "I could take your hand, and feel your breath
    For fear that someday we'll be over...
    I danced in laughter with the ever after
    But, all things change, let this remain"

    Coming to terms with getting older and eventually death.

    The second half it seems tragedy has hit his wife, and the sirens represent an ambulance (i believe anyway"

    "Hear the sirens… covering distance in the night
    The sound, echoing closer, will they come for me next time"

    He's getting older as well so the next ambulance may be for him.

    "To send you in the arms of another man
    And if you choose to stay, I’ll wait, I’ll understand"

    I've read here that someone thinks the other man is God, but it could also be a doctor/ambulance driver for that matter.

    "death over our shoulders"

    and

    "I studied your face, the fear goes away"

    Could be that the wife is in the hospital and he's looking at her face or she has passed and he's looking at old pictures.


    Again theres no right answer, music is about how it makes you feel personally.



    The fear goes away"
    love this..and yes..death is anoither way to understand,explain this..

    we really need Eddie talks about this song..
    "...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
    "..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
    “..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
  • Soulfire42Soulfire42 Posts: 404
    The best interpretation I've yet heard is that it's about Michael Jackson and little children. Listen to the lyrics that that in mind and the sirens take on a whole new meaning. Hahah
  • KimmiebyromKimmiebyrom Posts: 1,832
    Right on, Dimi. I FEEL this song! So many emotions...
    Yesterday I felt something deep, and today it's gone even deeper.
    I love your statement about the mythological Sirens...wow that REALLY does bring a new perspective.
    One that I love.
    2003 Dallas
    2013 Wrigley
    2013 Dallas
    2013 Oklahoma City
    2013 Seattle

    How I choose to feel is how I am.
    There's just one word I still believe...and it's LOVE.
    "Take care of one another..." -EV
  • Force Of NatureForce Of Nature York, England Posts: 1,113
    Its a love song. About how you are so in love that it haunts your life, you cant enjoy the good times because you're so worried about what might happen if you lose her. The sirens represent everyday life and how we lose people everyday, it could be any one of us. The only way you can get forget this worried feeling or ignore the sirens is to 'study your face, the fear goes away'.
  • dimitrispearljamdimitrispearljam Posts: 139,721
    Force Of Nature wrote:
    Its a love song. About how you are so in love that it haunts your life, you cant enjoy the good times because you're so worried about what might happen if you lose her. The sirens represent everyday life and how we lose people everyday, it could be any one of us. The only way you can get forget this worried feeling or ignore the sirens is to 'study your face, the fear goes away'.
    very very nice...
    "...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
    "..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
    “..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
  • Force Of NatureForce Of Nature York, England Posts: 1,113
    dimitrispearljam wrote:
    Force Of Nature wrote:
    Its a love song. About how you are so in love that it haunts your life, you cant enjoy the good times because you're so worried about what might happen if you lose her. The sirens represent everyday life and how we lose people everyday, it could be any one of us. The only way you can get forget this worried feeling or ignore the sirens is to 'study your face, the fear goes away'.
    very very nice...
    Thanks, the song just brought that feeling out of me, thats the beauty of music, especially anything by these guys
  • fortyshadesfortyshades Posts: 1,834
    RE4790 wrote:
    jbalicki10 wrote:
    I understand it is a love song, but what the heck are the sirens? (Police Sirens? Tornado Sirens? Greek mythology Sirens?)

    Sorry just really confused...

    I interpreted the word as "warning signs" in his relationships, meaning the song is about the fear he feels at potentially losing the connections with those he loves. It's not a straight up love song in that sense, but more like he is reassuring himself that love will win out.

    I like this intepretation... Combining it with Dimitris: maybe love itself, or the realization of love, is deadly.
  • dimitrispearljamdimitrispearljam Posts: 139,721
    copy paste,conversation of facebook with friends - 2 different post..

    "
    "In terms of the lyrics of the song I love the feeling of it, how it combines love and the existential fear of death. I can imagine a man lying in a bed one arm over his loved one who is asleep and he hears a siren and than all of these thoughts come up and without even noticing his arm is holding his loved one tighter and tighter. that's what came up for me when I listened to it... and I normally HATE love songs."
    "For me as a cancer survivor it describes exactly how much I now appreciate loved ones, and also how hard it is to live a life of grace with death always sitting right on my shoulder. He articulates it so well, it made me cry"
    "...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
    "..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
    “..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
  • dimitrispearljamdimitrispearljam Posts: 139,721
    Brilliant!!!
    Life is fragile, stop thinking, stop being fearful and start living & loving before you start dying.. Ah ah oh oh ah ah oh oh..
    "...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
    "..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
    “..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
  • fortyshadesfortyshades Posts: 1,834
    dimitrispearljam wrote:
    copy paste,conversation of facebook with friends - 2 different post..

    "
    "In terms of the lyrics of the song I love the feeling of it, how it combines love and the existential fear of death. I can imagine a man lying in a bed one arm over his loved one who is asleep and he hears a siren and than all of these thoughts come up and without even noticing his arm is holding his loved one tighter and tighter. that's what came up for me when I listened to it... and I normally HATE love songs."
    "For me as a cancer survivor it describes exactly how much I now appreciate loved ones, and also how hard it is to live a life of grace with death always sitting right on my shoulder. He articulates it so well, it made me cry"

    :thumbup: Beautiful...
  • slightofjeffslightofjeff Posts: 7,762
    edited September 2013
    I think the sirens are literal sirens. Emergency sirens. Blaring in the night and interrupting sleep.

    When the narrator of this here song (we'll call him "Ed") hears the sirens, it leads him to reflect on the fragility of life, how everything we hold near and dear to us can be gone or wrecked or otherwise permanently altered in a heartbeat.

    Every morning when we wake up, there are 1,000 ways our lives can come completely unraveled. One false move, and everything goes up in smoke. If we really dwell upon how fragile life is, it would lead to total paralysis.

    It is a song, primarily, about fear and how love affects that fear.
    Post edited by slightofjeff on
    everybody wants the most they can possibly get
    for the least they could possibly do
  • fortyshadesfortyshades Posts: 1,834
    slightofjeff wrote:
    I think the sirens are literal sirens. Emergency sirens. Blaring in the night and interrupting sleep.

    When the narrator of this here song (we'll call him "Ed") hears the sirens, it leads him to reflect on the fragility of life, how everything we hold near and dear to us can be gone or wrecked or otherwise permanently altered can be gone in a heartbeat.

    Every morning when we wake up, there are 1,000 ways our lives can come completely unraveled. One false move, and everything goes up in smoke. If we really dwell upon how fragile life is, it would lead to total paralysis.

    It is a song, primarily, about fear and how love affects that fear.

    Can do nothing else than :clap: . This is also my sense of the song.
  • dimitrispearljamdimitrispearljam Posts: 139,721
    slightofjeff wrote:
    I think the sirens are literal sirens. Emergency sirens. Blaring in the night and interrupting sleep.

    When the narrator of this here song (we'll call him "Ed") hears the sirens, it leads him to reflect on the fragility of life, how everything we hold near and dear to us can be gone or wrecked or otherwise permanently altered in a heartbeat.

    Every morning when we wake up, there are 1,000 ways our lives can come completely unraveled. One false move, and everything goes up in smoke. If we really dwell upon how fragile life is, it would lead to total paralysis.

    It is a song, primarily, about fear and how love affects that fear.
    thats awesome!
    "...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
    "..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
    “..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
  • slightofjeffslightofjeff Posts: 7,762
    What's interesting to me, according to the song, is that love can affect that fear in conflicting ways.

    At first, love makes you MORE fearful. Before love, our narrator ("Ed") didn't feel like he had that much to lose. Death was not as scary. "I danced in laughter with the everafter" (MY GAWD, what an awesome line, by the way).

    But by the end of the song, love is the thing that chases the fear away. "I study your face, and the fear goes away."
    everybody wants the most they can possibly get
    for the least they could possibly do
  • fortyshadesfortyshades Posts: 1,834
    slightofjeff wrote:
    What's interesting to me, according to the song, is that love can affect that fear in conflicting ways.

    At first, love makes you MORE fearful. Before love, our narrator ("Ed") didn't feel like he had that much to lose. Death was not as scary. "I danced in laughter with the everafter" (MY GAWD, what an awesome line, by the way).

    But by the end of the song, love is the thing that chases the fear away. "I study your face, and the fear goes away."

    Well, that is the complexity of adult love, though, isn't it? Especially, if you have children. The more you love, the more intense the sense of mortality gets. But it is this same love that equates the fear.
  • slightofjeffslightofjeff Posts: 7,762
    fortyshades wrote:
    slightofjeff wrote:
    What's interesting to me, according to the song, is that love can affect that fear in conflicting ways.

    At first, love makes you MORE fearful. Before love, our narrator ("Ed") didn't feel like he had that much to lose. Death was not as scary. "I danced in laughter with the everafter" (MY GAWD, what an awesome line, by the way).

    But by the end of the song, love is the thing that chases the fear away. "I study your face, and the fear goes away."

    Well, that is the complexity of adult love, though, isn't it? Especially, if you have children. The more you love, the more intense the sense of mortality gets. But it is this same love that equates the fear.

    Yes, exactly. Love simultaneously keeps us safe (to borrow a line from Force of Nature) but it also makes us feel more endangered.
    everybody wants the most they can possibly get
    for the least they could possibly do
  • dimitrispearljamdimitrispearljam Posts: 139,721
    slightofjeff wrote:
    fortyshades wrote:
    slightofjeff wrote:
    What's interesting to me, according to the song, is that love can affect that fear in conflicting ways.

    At first, love makes you MORE fearful. Before love, our narrator ("Ed") didn't feel like he had that much to lose. Death was not as scary. "I danced in laughter with the everafter" (MY GAWD, what an awesome line, by the way).

    But by the end of the song, love is the thing that chases the fear away. "I study your face, and the fear goes away."

    Well, that is the complexity of adult love, though, isn't it? Especially, if you have children. The more you love, the more intense the sense of mortality gets. But it is this same love that equates the fear.

    Yes, exactly. Love simultaneously keeps us safe (to borrow a line from Force of Nature) but it also makes us feel more endangered.
    you two need to keep going the conversation..i love it!! :thumbup: :clap:
    "...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
    "..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
    “..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
  • fortyshadesfortyshades Posts: 1,834
    slightofjeff wrote:
    fortyshades wrote:

    Well, that is the complexity of adult love, though, isn't it? Especially, if you have children. The more you love, the more intense the sense of mortality gets. But it is this same love that equates the fear.

    Yes, exactly. Love simultaneously keeps us safe (to borrow a line from Force of Nature) but it also makes us feel more endangered.

    True. That is why, in my opinion at least, that love appeals to two of our primordial fears: fear of abondement and fear of commitment (which is in essence also a fear of abondement). I would even go as far as to say, that to tackle these fears, is partly what growing up, and having a solid relationship is all about.

    But maybe I get a bit to psychological and philosophical now. But what is interesting about this song, is that it addresses both these issues.
  • teskeincteskeinc Posts: 1,784
    Heres my take for what its worth...

    Sirens = warnings
    Circus = Eds life/craziness of it all
    more and more in this here town = warnings from home, about doing crazy things

    Taking a minute to "reach across the bed" grateful for the positive changes brought to his life, wife, kids etc and being safe at this moment, but the fearing he could lose it someday. Before marriage, he did a lot of crazy/risky things that could have put his life at risk (stage diving, swinging from lights, surfing, nearly dying) and he laughed at the thought of being killed. But now he has everything to lose. All things change, but hes now content so let this remain.

    The choices and risks were not planned just living the life he always has and not made to drive her away or to another man by way of frustration or death. But to know that if something ever does happen he always loved her, and by studying her face he has no fear of the end.

    ... something like that, I could be way off base
  • CreedDiseaseCreedDisease Posts: 241
    I haven't studied the song much at all yet.... But, before it came out I was wondering if there was a Kurt Vonnegut reference as in the sirens of Titan.... I read this book after Ed gave me a copy of a man without a country... The richest guy on the planet traveled the universe searching for the meaning of life... The meaning of life was “A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.”
    ― Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan
    It's been a while since I read it, but just a thought...
  • sparky_frysparky_fry Posts: 760
    Some good views and discussions here. It just proves the depth of the song and hopefully the whole album
  • dimitrispearljamdimitrispearljam Posts: 139,721
    sparky_fry wrote:
    Some good views and discussions here. It just proves the depth of the song and hopefully the whole album
    yes!
    "...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
    "..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
    “..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
  • evsgjammevsgjamm Posts: 2,108
    jbalicki10 wrote:
    I understand it is a love song, but what the heck are the sirens? (Police Sirens? Tornado Sirens? Greek mythology Sirens?)

    Sorry just really confused...

    really? I intentionally went over to the most appropriately labeled part of the forum to start this topic up yesterday. Sorry to be a crank, but why not talk about what the songs mean to you in the "Words and Music...Communication" index, which appropriately says "What do the songs mean to you? Pearl Jam's lyrics and interpretations here."

    I've got 3 replies on that and I'm hijacking this thread :lol: ya bunch of bastards :lol:

    viewtopic.php?f=6&t=217638
    Vancouver '03, Paramount Theatre '05, Saskatoon '05, Calgary '05, Edmonton '05, Saskatoon '11, Calgary '11, Calgary '13

    2010 WATCH IT GO TO FIRE!!
  • fortyshadesfortyshades Posts: 1,834
    Before I was going off the psychological and philosophical deep end (that is always and indication that you should go to bed), I realized this morning that this theme of course has been used in Just Breathe too. But not with the urgency and symbolism of this song. JB was more straightforward; which made sense, for it was a straightforward, stripped down, get to the basics kind of ballad; this song is not. So not just the lyrics symbolise the theme, it is also symbolized in the music itself.

    Ps: I truly wonder how this song intersect with the other songs on the album thematically. More and more I think that this album is about self-realization.
  • SpagsSpags Leigh-on-Sea, UK Posts: 3,054
    I think this one is clearly lyrically about mortality, but also a lot to do with his daughters. Especially the end - the fear goes away bit and the holding you high above bit. Its incredible how many times this can be listened to without it getting old, perfect radio song.
    Nature drunk and High
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