Thread: Seal's "Kiss From a Rose"

There’s this song I like that Seal sang a while back.
[video:vtlapwzh]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW-GbjXGsWY[/video:vtlapwzh]
I’m used to the fact that most of today's songs’ lyrics are vague at best; I don’t even get what Russian singers sing about more often than not. This one bears the mark of those that are vague but a slight hope remains that it has too deep a meaning I’m just incapable of getting to the bottom of, being not bright enough. Please disappoint me one way or the other.

"Kiss From A Rose"

There used to be a graying tower alone on the sea.
You became the light on the dark side of me.
Love remained a drug that's the high and not the pill.
But did you know,
That when it snows,
My eyes become large and
The light that you shine can be seen.
Baby,
I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray.
Ooh,
The more I get of you,
The stranger it feels, yeah.
And now that your rose is in bloom.
A light hits the gloom on the gray.
There is so much a man can tell you,
So much he can say.
You remain,
My power, my pleasure, my pain, baby
To me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny.
Won't you tell me is that healthy, baby?
But did you know,
That when it snows,
My eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen.
Baby,
I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray.
Ooh, the more I get of you
The stranger it feels, yeah
Now that your rose is in bloom.
A light hits the gloom on the gray,
I've been kissed by a rose on the gray,
I've been kissed by a rose
I've been kissed by a rose on the gray,
...And if I should fall along the way
I've been kissed by a rose
...been kissed by a rose on the gray.
There is so much a man can tell you,
So much he can say.
You remain
My power, my pleasure, my pain.
To me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny, yeah
Won't you tell me is that healthy, baby.
But did you know,
That when it snows,
My eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen.

It means he is in love.

Alex,

There are different camps as to what this song is about.
One, is it is completely about drug addiction.
Two, is it is about love.
Lastly, it is a mixture of both.

Here is a link to the piano song sheet which I hope has the correct lyrics:
http://modernpianomusic.com/wp-conte...rom_a_rose.pdf
There was only one Major change that I found. "....shine CAN'T be seen" let me know if I missed any others.

I believe there are many metaphors used in the song. Here is this one romantic female's take on the song. Please let me know if anything I have suggested as a possible meaning, just seems too out of place or far fetched for you.

There used to be a greying tower alone on the sea.
You became the light on the dark side of me.

= He is the greying tower, like a lighthouse. A lighthouse has a dark side and a light side depending upon when the light rotates. So, he was alone at sea and she came to him and found him on the dark side.

Love remained a drug that's the high and not the pill

= That love is a drug that can provide very highs; but, it is not a pill and you cannot control it as you can with other drugs. And when you are first in love (remember how that felt?) you are on a very big high that can be more powerful than any pill.

But did you know, That when it snows, My eyes become large and the light that you shine CAN'T be seen

= This is where people differ a great deal about the song, the "snow" can be cocaine and if he were high on it, well... he would not be able to see her.

OR

= Staying with the metaphor of the lighthouse, when it snows (when things are stormy and bad in his life), he would not be able to see as well (the light just bounces back off the snow) and he can not see her light, her love for him.

Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray.

= Sweetheart, honey, sugar... (take your pick here), he compares her soft kiss to that of the softness of rose petals (minus the thorns) on the gray (the gray, meaning the darkness of life and also another metaphor for the darkness of the water that surrounds the lighthouse, think choppy stormy gusty wind blown sea).

Ooh, The more I get of you, The stranger it feels, yeah.

= He is just not use to this tenderness and brightness in his life. The more she gives, the more, almost uncomfortable he feels as he is used to being alone, in solitude (he is a lighthouse, an island unto himself).

And now that your rose is in bloom.

= Now that she is completely in love and it shows, as only a woman in true love can (you know that glow, that light that radiates from within) she is like a rose in full bloom.

A light hits the gloom on the gray.

=Her light radiates and hits him completely. It almost overpowers him and it shines brightly on the darkness of his life, the grayness of the waters and the dark side of him. Once again, the "gloom" is not only of his life, but that of the surrounding area of his life, and she brightens it up for him.

There is so much a man can tell you, So much he can say. You remain,

= Most men can't express what they want to say, let alone a lonely desolate lighthouse, and when they do, they usually mess it up.... yet, she remains there, she is reliable.

My power, my pleasure, my pain, baby

= back to drug side, you get all three from drugs.
OR
She is everything rolled into one. As with most relationships, she provides him with power, pleasure and also pain (Will she leave him? Will she disappoint him? Will she hurt him is some way?)

To me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny.

= Back to a drug reference here, he is becoming addicted to her. He needs to have her "light." No matter if they are having a good time, a bad time or just a so-so time. He thinks about her all the time and needs her like a drug and he cannot deny these feelings that he is now having for her. She is not just “some” girl.

Won't you tell me is that healthy, baby?

= He is begging her to tell him that this is normal, which in love or any powerful relationship...yeah it is.

Funny you should ask: Seal wrote the following paragraph in his liner notes to the album with that song, explaining why he doesn't print the lyrics to his songs:

"Well, the answer to that is that quite often my songs mean one thing to me and another to the listener. But that's ok because I think it's the general vibe of what I'm saying that is important and not the exact literal translation. How many times have you fallen in love with a lyric that you though went, 'show me a day with Hilda Ogden and I'll despair', only to find that it went 'show me a way to solve your problems and I'll be there'. I guess what I'm saying is that the song is always larger in the listeners mind because with it they attach imagery which is relative to their own personal experience. So it is your perception of what I'm saying rather than what I actually say that is the key."

(Reading the lyrics you posted was a surprise to me: I'd always heard "I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the GRAVE," among other differences.)

Hi Jazz, glad you are back.
If Seal, as Lynn pointed out, said this:
“So it is your perception of what I'm saying rather than what I actually say that is the key”,
I am in the second camp. I’d go with the snow being “when things are stormy and bad in his life” but not cocaine, which would ruin the atmosphere the song is supposed to relate.
In I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray I had doubts about the on the gray part. Many hear rather understandable grave there, but much more than many and your piano song sheet prefer gray, which made it all odd to me until you offered that the gray means the darkness of life, which brings back the grave sense and common sense along.
The CAN’T correction in My eyes become large and the light that you shine CAN'T be seen robs the story of logic I think. If he is so passionate about her and the light emanating from her eyes why can’t he see it even with his eyes becoming large? So I hope Seal would forgive me when I let him see the light in the snow.
Thanks for the detailed explanation

Originally Posted by alexB

Hi Jazz, glad you are back.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by alexB

In I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray I had doubts about the on the gray part. Many hear rather understandable grave there

There are many people, like Lynn, who hear GRAVE and others who hear GREY. Which was why I went hunting for a copy of the song sheet hoping that it would have the "correct" lyrics as they are copyrighted somewhere. This was the first one I found online that was free.

Originally Posted by alexB

The CAN’T correction in My eyes become large and the light that you shine CAN'T be seen robs the story of logic I think. If he is so passionate about her and the light emanating from her eyes why can’t he see it even with his eyes becoming large?

Alex,

Stay here with me and my metaphors just a little bit longer and let try to explain WHY it might be CAN'T OR CAN.

If it is CAN'T, there are many times, when people are in the "gloom" or in the thick blackness of a "mental storm" (actually in this case a "white out" of a snow storm at sea), and no matter how bright your loved one's light might be, it is just not bright enough. Even if his eyes are open wide to be able to see in this storm, there is no way to reach him when he is in this state of mind. It would not matter how much she loves him. Remember the rest of the song here, he has been by himself and is used to being alone. He is not used to having someone there when he is troubled. Even her bright shinning light, might look like a distant star to him.

If it is CAN, then yes, his eyes would be wide also for the storm, and her light would still be bright and the metaphor would still be applicable as it would be hard for him to see in the the storm as well, and her light would be strong enough to reach him and help him through the strom.

Originally Posted by alexB

So I hope Seal would forgive me when I let him see the light in the snow.

SO... I think either way, it works... and I think Seal would not mind whichever way you would like to sing it.