Alison by Slowdive Lyrics Meaning An Ode to Intoxicated Dreams and Lost Souls


');var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; })(); You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for Slowdive's Alison at Lyrics.org.
Article Contents:
  • Music Video
  • Lyrics
  • Song Meaning
  • The Ethereal Embrace of Shoegaze Storytelling
  • Delving into Addiction’s Allure and Despair
  • Unraveling the Enigma: The Song’s Hidden Heartbeat
  • The Elegiac Harmony of Destruction and Affection
  • Memorable Lines: The Anchors of ‘Alison’s’ Lyrical Ocean
  • Lyrics

    Listen close, and don’t be stoned
    I’ll be here in the morning
    Cause I’m just floating
    Your cigarette still burns
    Your messed-up world will thrill me
    Alison, I’m lost
    Alison, I said we’re sinking
    There’s nothing here but that’s okay
    Outside your room, your only sister’s spinning
    But she lies, tells me she’s just fine
    I guess she’s out there somewhere
    And the sailors they strike poses
    TV covered walls, and so slowly
    With your talking and your pills
    Your messed-up life still thrills me
    Alison, I’m lost
    Alison, I’ll drink your wine
    I wear your clothes, when we’re both high
    Alison, I said we’re sinking
    But you laugh and tells me it’s just fine
    I guess she’s out there somewhere

    Full Lyrics

    In the swell of dreamy guitar riffs and hazy vocals, Slowdive’s ‘Alison’ emerges as an anthem of the shoegaze era, encapsulating the raw emotion of drift and desire. The song, a jewel in the crown of their 1993 album ‘Souvlaki’, grips the listener in its melancholic embrace, its lyrics both grounding and ethereal—evoking a tale of love, addiction, and the fleeting connection between two lost spirits.

    Beyond its gentle lull and swirling soundscape, ‘Alison’ is a narrative imbued with depth, a yearning for understanding layered within the folds of its gossamer fabric. It is a piece that invites one to peel back its sheer layers, to dissect the beauty of its lyrics, which suggest a multitude of themes beneath their seemingly serene surface. The allure of ‘Alison’ lies not just in its sound, but in the way it effortlessly bridges the gaps between rapture and desolation, clarity and obfuscation.

    The Ethereal Embrace of Shoegaze Storytelling

    Slowdive, a pillar of the shoegaze genre, encases ‘Alison’ in the signature floaty guitars and indistinct vocal delivery that define the sound of introspection and detachment. The lyrics ‘I’m just floating’ and ‘your mess-up world will thrill me’ resonate beyond the notes, crafting an atmosphere where we, too, can find solace in the cocoon of sound that is at once overwhelming and comforting.

    This is not a narrative linear in its progression, but rather a lyrical waltz, spinning the listener through loops of emotion and imagery where the concrete blurs into the abstract. Like a painting that begs to be understood, it lays bare the aching souls, wistful for connection, yet resigned to the solitariness of their existence.

    Delving into Addiction’s Allure and Despair

    At first listen, the song may simply register as a love ballad, but ‘Alison’ is more insidious than it appears. It touches upon the theme of addiction—emotional, chemical, or otherwise. The lines ‘With your talking and your pills’ and ‘I’ll drink your wine’ teeter on the periphery of glamorizing the recklessness that often accompanies substance abuse.

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    Yet, there is no celebration here, just the haunting acknowledgment of how these vices are as much a part of the fabric of their shared existence as any expression of love or affection. The seduction of this lifestyle seeps through the song, creating a disturbingly beautiful tableau of love’s power—even when it’s toxic.

    Unraveling the Enigma: The Song’s Hidden Heartbeat

    Beneath its celestial veneer, ‘Alison’ carries a hidden heartbeat that thumps quietly, rhythmically. The line ‘Alison, I’m lost’ repeats like a mantra, painting a portrait of someone adrift amidst their own life and the life of another. The characters are submerged in a world where they’re sinking, sensation blooms even as foundations erode.

    This refrain is critical not only for its lyrical beauty but for the place it holds in the overall structure of the song. It’s the pulse that gives life to the story, a persistent reminder of the protagonist’s internal orientation—or lack thereof—as he navigates the choppy waters of relational and personal uncertainties.

    The Elegiac Harmony of Destruction and Affection

    Slowdive’s ability to blend the aesthetics of destruction with the bonds of affection is masterful. Consider ‘Your cigarette still burns’, a symbol of something left smoldering, possibly untended or forgotten. This imagery is powerful, acting as an avatar for the carelessness within the relationship depicted, while simultaneously relishing in the depth of its connection.

    The juxtaposition of the metaphorical ‘burning’ against the backdrop of the spectral embrace and pill-induced escapism challenges the listener to perceive love from a perspective that both honors and bemoans the collateral beauty found in decay.

    Memorable Lines: The Anchors of ‘Alison’s’ Lyrical Ocean

    ‘And the sailors they strike poses / TV covered walls, and so slowly’ elicits a brilliantly vivid moment within the fog of the song, meditating on the picture of still lives framed by the modernity of television’s glow—a commentary on static existence amidst a sea of changing channels.

    Then there is the stark, raw emotion in ‘I guess she’s out there somewhere’, a line that stretches out like a hand into the void, reaching for connection. It’s a testament to Slowdive’s poetic craftsmanship, as each word echoes with an almost palpable longing, a desire to find a person or purpose that is always just tantalizingly out of reach.

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