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Let Her Go

A song analysis

            Another vividly inscribed song that found a new way to make you understand what it means to lose things you take for granted.

The first 7 lines tell all:

Well you only need the light when it’s burning low

Only miss the sun when its starts to snow

Only know you love her when you let her go

Only know you’ve been high when you’re feeling low

Only hate the road when you’re missin’ home

Only know you love her when you let her go

And you let her go

The only time you need light is when you don’t have any, but when you have it, you don’t think about needing it. The phrase "you only miss the sun when its starts to snow” is a reference to warmness. The catch phrase "Only know you love her when you let her go” hits the nail on the head and explains what this entire song is about. When you love someone and they are gone from your life, for some reason, you feel an emptiness and sadness as you realize how much that person meant to you. The second verse picks up with more examples. "Only know you’ve been high when you’re feeling low” is a reference to bliss or happiness. Without feeling happy you can’t feel unhappy, to go from a high to a low is something we can all relate to. One minute you’re on the top of the world floating above the clouds and the next you hit rock bottom.

The next part says he loved her all along and has to deal with what has happened.

Staring at the bottom of you glass

Hoping one day you’ll make a dream last

But dreams come slow and they go fast

You see her when you close your eyes

Maybe one day you’ll understand why

Everything you touch surely dies.

This part heads directly into self-reflection. Staring at the bottom of the glass is a symbol of drinking and depression. She’s in your mind and you pray that she’ll come back but the reality is she’s most likely gone. So now he’s left with just memories of her and all of the mistakes he’s made. In the end he just wants to make sense of it all. "Everything you touch surely dies” means that he has made other mistakes in his life. It represents the idea that maybe he’s not good for anyone or anything.

Then we get more depression and reflection in the next verse.

Staring at the ceiling in the dark

Same old empty feeling in your heart

‘Cause love comes slow and it goes so fast

Well you see her when you fall asleep

But never to touch and never to keep

‘Cause you loved her too much

And you dived too deep

This verse describes his thoughts while lying in bed. He still feels the same sadness of missing her. He thinks and dreams of her frequently but it doesn’t bring her back to him in reality.

This is followed by more parts of the chorus and ends with "And you let her go”

If he was separated then he decided to let her go, if he wasn’t, then he decided there was nothing to be done about it and he let her go.

When relationship ends, the bad starts to fade away and all you’ve left with is the good. These pictures are symbolic of what you’ll remember. You won’t remember the fights or arguments, you’ll remember this. Take that into consideration when you’re thinking about letting go.