Crown of Love

I had the same interpretation as noahbaumbach.

“They say it fades if you let it Love was made to forget it I carved your name across my eyelids You pray for rain, I pray for blindness”

He is reflecting on a relationship that has just ended. People (i.e. his mom) tell him that love is something that you can get over and forget; however, he feels that he will never love anyone other than this girl (carving = permanent). The girl believes that getting over him will be easy (i.e. she only WROTE his name across her eyelids, so it can simply be washed away by the rain). He believes it will be infinitely harder to get over her, as only blindness will rid him of his carving.

“If you still want me, please forgive me The crown of love has fallen from me If you still want me, please forgive me Because the spark is not within me”

These are actually the words of the girl; this is her “straight answer”. (This does not become clear until later in the song). Basically, she understands that he is still in love with her, but she admits that she is not in love with him anymore.

“I snuffed it out before my mom walked in my bedroom”

This line is misleading because you do not yet realize that the previous stanza is the girl speaking. So at first glance it seems to refer to “the spark” being snuffed out. In reality, it is referring to him snuffing out his “pains of love” so that his mom doesn’t see him cry. This is actually genius word choice, as he is able to mislead you and hide his feelings the same way that he hides them from his mom.

“The only thing that you keep changing Is your name, my love keeps growing Still the same, just like a cancer And you won't give me a straight answer”

He is remembering back to the end of their relationship when the girl could not decide if she loved him or not (thus, her name (or label) kept changing between ‘his lover’ and ‘not his lover’, for example). And while she could not decide if she still loved him, his love for her was growing.

“If you still want me, please forgive me The crown of love has fallen from me If you still want me, please forgive me Because your hands are not upon me”

Again, this is the girl’s “straight answer” that she does not love him anymore. When she says that “[his] hands are not upon [her]” she is saying that he cannot control or change her love for him.

“I shrugged them off before my mom walked in my bedroom”

As before, this line is misleading, as “shrugged them off” seems to refer to “hands”. In actuality, it refers to “the pains of love” that are referenced in the next line. Thus, once again, he is hiding his pain from his mom (and in effect, from the listener).

“The pains of love, and they keep growing In my heart there's flowers growing On the grave of our old love Since you gave me a straight answer

If you still want me, please forgive me The crown of love is not upon me If you still want me, please forgive me Because this crown is not within me It's not within me, it's not within me”

Now it becomes clear that the chorus is in fact the girl’s “straight answer” that she no longer loves him. He reveals that she ended the relationship (“grave of our old love” = relationship is dead) and that this is the cause of his anguish, as he still loves her. In fact, even though their relationship is over, his love for her continues to grow (i.e. flowers growing on the grave). It is also interesting to note that Regine sings the chorus with Win this time (whereas the previous two times he sang the chorus alone). This seems appropriate, as he has finally revealed that the chorus represents the girl’s words. Having Regine sing it with him verifies this.

“You got to be the one You got to be the way Your name is the only word that I can say

You got to be the one You got to be the way Your name is the only word The only word that I can say”

He continues to be convinced that this girl is “the one” for him, that she is the only girl that he will ever love, and that he will never get over her.

Very emotional and interesting lyrics like the rest of their songs. This one actually reminded me of Ocean Rain by Echo and the Bunnymen. That line "Screamin' from beneath the waves."

Different perspective here: Maybe the indiference isn't his but hers. The crown and spark are no longer within him because he is unable to shake her indifference towards him. And he's impotent to change her heart. Crowns are usually bestowed upon others (her love upon him) and sparks are exciting reactions that happen when two things contact each other unexpectedly. These things are gone so the pain is growing within him at the recollection of their former happiness:

"The pains of love, and they keep growin', in my heart there's flowers growin' on the grave of our old love, since you gave me a straight answer. "

Her 'straight answer' buried their love.

Then there is the "before my mom walked in my bedroom'" line that shows up twice. This seems to be a sort of reference to the secret lives of boys (as in the third harry potter movie). Wink wink But I imagine that the idea here is that he is thinking these things in his room just before his mother walks in and he pretends not to be emotional or in the middle of deep and painful thought. Hiding it just like most boys hide weakness (Boys don't Cry).

This song speaks to me deeply. Every part of it. I think it's about loving someone very deeply, to the point of losing yourself. Then having them leave you (even though they too loved you deeply - they just could not handle the insane closeness and intimacy and were scared - and you left picking up the pieces, knowing it was right.

They say it fades if you let it Love was made to forget it I carved your name across my eyelids You pray for rain, I pray for blindness (We had it in our hands, but your fear let it fade and tricked you into thinking we were forgettable. Now you're everywhere I look. You're a permanent part of who I am. You want the rain to wash down and cleanse you of your feelings so you can forget it ever happened. I'd rather be blind so I'm no longer tortured or haunted by you.)

If you still want me, please forgive me The crown of love has fallen from me If you still want me, please forgive me Because the spark is not within me (There were so many little things I did that may have bugged you, but nothing so big for you to walk away. Please forgive me for every little thing. I still want you, so if you want me, forgive me and come back. I've lost any spark inside me. All the color in my world is gone without you here. Everything is gray.)

I snuffed it out before my mom walked in my bedroom (I'm a great actress. No one knows I'm in this much pain...)

The only thing that you keep changing Is your name, my love keeps growing Still the same, just like a cancer And you won't give me a straight answer (You keep changing the rules on me. You told me you'd never hurt me, you'd never leave us, you'd always talk about things. Yet you walked out and vanished. You've changed your name so many times. I don't know who I'm talking to anymore. Yet I'm left here with this God-awful love you put in me, and even though I hate it, I don't want it, I want to cut it out, it makes me sick! - I still love you. In fact, I love you more now than I did before. It keeps growing. You loved me. You vanished. You won't give me any answers. I'm sick of you, this love...but there's no cure for this type of sickness.)

If you still want me, please forgive me The crown of love has fallen from me If you still want me, please forgive me Because your hands are not upon me (My God, to feel your hands upon me...what I wouldn't give. You took my crown of love, it's fallen.)

I shrugged them off before my mom walked in my bedroom

The pains of love, and they keep growing In my heart there's flowers growing On the grave of our old love Since you gave me a straight answer (I can't make anything better. It hurts in every cell of my body. And that hurt seems to only grow with time, never fading. I think if you would explain, I could look back more fondly. I could see our love as something that was necessary, a learning experience. I could think of you with "flowers" not pain.)

If you still want me, please forgive me The crown of love is not upon me If you still want me, please forgive me Because this crown is not within me It's not within me, it's not within me

You got to be the one You got to be the way Your name is the only word that I can say

You got to be the one You got to be the way Your name is the only word The only word that I can say (There is no one else. There never was. There never will be. You are the one, the way.)

I think it's about someone torn between love and indifference. They want to just let it fade, but their other half won't let them let go.
They don't have it in them to love, anymore.
The first and third verses are crazy clever.

Oh my god, this is THE most amazing song of 2004. The Arcade Fire are simply incredible.

"I carved your name across my eyelids, you pray for rain I pray for blindness."

I think this line is saying that the only person that he can see is the girl. There isn't any way to get rid of it either, even with his eyes closed the name shines through, and the only way to forget about her would be blindness.

My idea of the rest of the song is a little different from the previous ones. I think the reason that he’s asking for forgiveness is because he starting to give up on the love. His love for her keeps growing, and with it the pain keeps growing, but because she wont give a straight answer, he’s starting to lose hope. So he’s asking her to forgive him if she really does love him, because he’s losing hope.

The part about the mom walking in the bedroom I don’t think has anything to do with masturbation or sex, I think he is just trying to hide his feelings because that’s just what people do. Before these two parts he’s apologizing because he snuffed out the spark and shrugged off the hands before his mom walked in, which means he has finally given up.

Finally she gives the final answer, which is obviously that she no longer loves him, and he still apologizes for giving up hope on the love. He might think that his giving up hope was the reason for the loss of love, or it might just be that he doesn’t believe her when she gives him the final answer. Either way, he blames himself for the loss of love. That’s why the whole song is asking for forgiveness.

In the end, even though she gave the final straight answer of no, he wont believe her, so he shouts, “You gotta be the one, you gotta be the way, your name is the only word that I can say.” He doesn’t care what she says, and he doesn’t want the love to fade, even though the beginning of the song says that’s just how it happens. He wont accept it, that’s why he yells in the end.

This song about love. It's as simple as that... if you're overanalysing it you're ruining it! " You gotta be the one, you gotta be the way, your name is the only word, the only word that I can say!" that's so true. Being in love hurts like that, feels like that...

It sounds to me almost like a dialogue between two past lovers, one still in love with the other, the other ready to move on. The verses are the one in love, the chorus is the one saying im sorry, the spark of love is no longer within me.

i think i have it figured out.. but i could be very wrong haha.

"They say it fades if you let it, love was made to forget it. I carved your name across my eyelids, you pray for rain I pray for blindness."

this verse, in my opinion, is about how the singer keeps thinking only of one girl, and he wishes that he could stop thinking about her, but she is forever on his mind.

"If you still want me, please forgive me, the crown of love is fallen from me. If you still want me, please forgive me, because the spark is not within me.

i snuffed it out before my mom walked in my bedroom."

i think this means that he really wants her to love him back, he wants her back in his life, because he can't find a love like hers anymore, the crown of love has fallen from him. and i think that he "snuffed out" the spark because he was afraid to love and let it show, and that is why he lost her.

"The only thing that you keep changin' is your name, my love keeps growin' still the same, just like a cancer, and you won't give me a straight answer!"

This idea of changing names seems to be about his quest for a new love. He is trying to meet new people, but his love for HER is the only one that keeps growing, but still, she won't give him a straight answer, so he keeps trying to find new people to replace her.

"If you still want me, please forgive me, the crown of love has fallen from me. If you still want me please forgive me because your hands are not upon me.

I shrugged them off before my mom walked in my bedroom."

once again, he cannot find a love like her, and he is begging to have her back, but he lost her in the first place by "shrugging her hands off" so that no one would see because he was afraid to let love show.

"The pains of love, and they keep growin', in my heart there's flowers growin' on the grave of our old love, since you gave me a straight answer."

this is after she gives him a straight answer. and it's not the answer he wanted. their love is dead, and now it is definite, because she confirmed it. he still feels something for her (the flowers still grow), but along with that feeling comes the pain of a lost love.

"You gotta be the one, you gotta be the way, your name is the only word that I can say"

he's realizing, even after all this sorrow, that he really DOES need her, because the crown of love has fallen from him and he cannot find any other love.

I genereally agree with what God2005 said in his/her first post.

The one strange lyric is

'The only thing that you keep changing, is your name'

which inititally made me think that perhaps this is about more than one person, but about his tendency to fall in love with people he is unlikely to be with. That he keeps suffering the same pattern of infatuation and rejection over and over again.