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Absolute Lyrics

I've seen this one before, the girl she gets away
Everybody knows it but no one tries to stop it
Cause she barely even knows him but if she could see inside
Everything is quiet as she waits to tell him who she is

Is this all we get to be absolute

Quiet but I'm sure there is something here
Tell me everything cause I want to hear

It's a kiss sits upon on her lips that waits for planes and battle ships
She wants to be a dancer and he has got a picture
On his wall and it's a sailor in a new port every night
Yet man was born to trouble like sparks fly upwards innocent

Is this all we get to be absolute

Quiet but I'm sure there is something here
Tell me everything cause I want to hear

All we are and all we want
40 years come and gone
All we are in photographs
Will never be taken

Quiet but I'm sure there is something here
Tell me everything cause I want you here
Quiet but I'm sure there is something here
Tell me everything cause I want to hear
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Cover art for Absolute lyrics by Fray, The

I'm almost tempted to put this in a Christian perspective, though it can be interpreted a bunch of ways. I would only do so on the basis that Isaac Slade grew up as a minister's son and he and Joe King both went to Faith Christian Academy, as well as on the basis of the Biblical quote: "Man was born to trouble like sparks fly upward." (Job 5:7)

Anyway, if you do take this from a Christian/religious perspective, it could be about the futility of a Godless life, the emptiness ("Is this all we get to be") and searching for the "something" that is there even in the "quiet", referring to God, and about the narrator's wish to be closer to God ("Tell me everything cause I want You here.")

Of course, to be fair, this is easily translated otherwise as well. This could be about a guy who is too timid in his relationship, and the girl who just wants to know him better ("Cause she barely even knows him but if she could see inside") and who wants him to know her better ("Everything is quiet as she waits to tell him who she is") but who is put off by his introverted lifestyle ("The girl, she gets away"). The "photographs [that] will never be taken" could be those from the dates they never had, the memories they never made, etc.

Another possible translation: Perhaps he is in the military, and she waits for him to come home ("It's a kiss sits upon on her lips that waits for planes and battleships"). Maybe he never came home, and this is what Slade is referring to with the Job reference. Maybe the photographs never taken were of their lives had he come home.

There's a few ideas. I'm not really sure which I like best.

Cover art for Absolute lyrics by Fray, The

I've seen this one before, the girl she gets away Everybody knows it but no one tries to stop it I've seen it too, a lot lately in fact. Meet a girl and hang out a few times, but she has problems letting people in so she runs away.

Cause she barely even knows him but if she could see inside She assumes what she know about him means he would end up hurting her, but if she could see who he is inside things might be different.

Everything is quiet as she waits to tell him who she is She wants to really connect with him but she's holding back, maybe until she feels she can trust him.

Is this all we get to be absolute Is there no way to change ourselves and be more open and accepting, to get over our past?

Quiet but I'm sure there is something here Tell me everything cause I want to hear He see shes holding back, but he's is interested in knowing who she is.

It's a kiss that sits upon on her lips, that waits for planes and battle ships He's battling his own demons from previous relationships, and she would rather wait for him to finish the fight than get involved and possibly get hurt.

She wants to be a dancer She know what she wants, or possibly she wants to be in the spotlight of his life

and he has got a picture on his wall and it's a sailor in a new port every night He can't seem to stay in one place (with one girl), because of the fight he's fighting

Yet man was born to trouble like sparks fly upwards innocent This is from the bible, but here I think it means that we create our own problems by being afraid of getting hurt again, being closed minded, etc.

Is this all we get to be absolute Can we better ourselves, or is it our fate to be burdened with what we have become?

Quiet but I'm sure there is something here Tell me everything cause I want to hear

All we are and all we want, 40 years come and gone If we don't learn to open our minds, to accept pain maybe possible, our lives will race by, and we will come regret it when its too late.

All we are in photographs, Will never be taken All we are, on the inside, is not visible in a photograph when it is taken

My Interpretation

@silvaros I think the Bible reference "Man was born to trouble, like sparks fly upwards" refers to Job, as in he feels like he is being punished for no reason – he is "innocent," and yet he's had to struggle so much in his life.

Cover art for Absolute lyrics by Fray, The

To me, this song is clearly about a relationship in which they want to be with each other, but sacrifice their dreams in order to do so. He wants to be a sailor, she wants to be a dancer, but they change in order to make the relationship work. They are two people that are very different from each other and were never truly meant to be together, but yet they want or need to be.

"All we are and all we want 40 years come and gone All we are in photographs Will never be taken "

The photos will never be taken because they never followed their dreams.

"Quiet but I'm sure there is something here Tell me everything cause I want you here"

Yet they are sure that it is worth giving up their dreams to be with eachother.

Song Meaning

You took the words right out of my mind. I was literally Just about to write this exact same thing. Awesome interpretation.

Not Valid
Cover art for Absolute lyrics by Fray, The

There is a movie called As Good As It Gets, the main character at one point asks a group of depressed psychiatric patients "What if this is as good as it gets?" As I listen to the song I get the same feel when they sing "Is this all we get to be absolute"

Maybe I am wrong, wouldn't be the first, but the way I imagine things play out with the song is that A guy fell in love with a girl but she the girl who 'got away' and she fell in love with another man leaving the first guy upset. In the next verse it's talking about her and the man she ended up with. They might have been in love but the relationship is either breaking apart or it might be possible he was in the military and died, I'm not sure. Anyways it leaves the girl alone and upset.

"All we are and all we want 40 years come and gone All we are in photographs Will never be taken" We all have an image of how things are going to be, but how we see things in our mind and how things actually work out usually are different. The first guy imagined he'd end up with a girl, but she fell in love with another. The girl though she'd always be with the guy she loved but for whatever reason she is not.

So the question we all ask: "Is this all we get to be absolute?" We want an answer so we search everywhere to get one. When it is sung, "Quiet but I'm sure there is something here Tell me everything cause I want to hear” I think he is referring to God, because if we don’t have the answer and no one else we know does, then the only person we can turn to and ask the question to is God, but of course even he won't give us a direct answer. So we are just left wondering.

Cover art for Absolute lyrics by Fray, The

Cool beans.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Absolute lyrics by Fray, The

What an awesome song.

I love the line "Is this all we get to be absolute".

Very...philosophical thought provoking.

Cover art for Absolute lyrics by Fray, The

I think this song is about a boy and a girl who are too afraid to tell each other what they feel for each other. They don't know each other well, and they have different interests and lead different lives, but they feel something there. She walks away because he never tells her what he feels and they both have lives to live, and that's the end of relationship that never happened and the pictures that were never taken. The suspicion of reciprocal feelings is all they get.

Cover art for Absolute lyrics by Fray, The

I agree with berekeley88, this song to me explains the thoughts of a boy and girl who have feelings for each other that they never express due to fear, unsureness, and not knowing what the other thinks. And because their lives took them on different paths, they never will be. There are no photographs of them, only thoughts of what could have and should have been.

It makes me think, I need to do something, to say something soon. Because this guy will be leaving for the other side of the country in a couple months, and I need to know if the odd looks, awkward conversations, and running into him everywhere were just mere coincidence.

I interpret the song in this way too! It kinda makes me think like the guy is bad or something but I interpret into my own life as I like this guy but we don't really know each other too well but I'm afraid to tell him who I really am or become close to him because he's a bad person so I just let it be and I know I can't really get involved with him.

Not Valid
Cover art for Absolute lyrics by Fray, The

i think its just about missed oppurtunities. i think the war references may be personal, but the "waiting for planes and battleships" refers to waiting for the fireworks and big bangs but nothing happens. and i just think the references to him as a sailor shows how she is still on his mind, and how they are seperated, as if they wont see each other again and they wont get their opportunity again.

Cover art for Absolute lyrics by Fray, The

I think this song is about the relationship between a soldier and his young wife, as her feelings for him dwindle while he's away at war. By the time he comes back he's a different person, and the distance and the time have severely impaired her attraction to him. She confesses her desire to move on, and forty years later the soldier remembers her and what life might have been like had they stayed together.