Lyrics Discussion Thread: Childhood Dreams

[World_Citizen]

Originally Posted by Maca

I can see how that could be applied to Nevis, yeah, it's so the kind of thing you would say about your child, but I think the "you're the little boy made for me in the stars" thing pretty much seals the interpretation of it

From her own words we don't really get much info about the content, though:



And I think that the key to understanding the song is, as you said, that it's "about finding someone you have been dreaming of for ages and finally you find that person that you want to be perfect, just like in your dreams".

Yeah, she has never said much about this song, I think it's too personal, you know? She once said it would be really emotional and hard singing it live so the fans would never get to actually watch her doing it.
This is why I think it's more about love, it's like a little secret you have or when you open the door to your own world but you don't want to show it all, you just want people to get the feeling without exposing yourself or your feelings. And when you find someone who fits in this world and in your dreams you feel like she seems to be feeling: fragile but at the same time strong, you don't want to destroy anything because you finally found what you've been looking for.
That's basically what I think about this song...

[Maca (Mod)]

Wow, that reminds me a lot about Build You Up, cause if exposing your own feelings and secrets is tough, imagine how it must be to do so with someone else's... that's like twice as scary

And another thing that really moves me is how, in all its fantasy, the song is pretty realist about a lot of things, cause love brings with it a lot of other stuff beside bliss and the ecstasy of being in love: it brings a hell of a lot of responsibility for that other person, and I guess once you're faced with that it's not all "let's skip over flowers in a meadow holding hands and singing tra-la-la", but also a little "Oh crap. This is it. I better not screw up!". Like a little vertigo... yikes

Which is how the song starts:

I can't believe you need me
I never thought I would be needed for anything
I can't believe my shoulder would carry such important weight as your head and your tears
I can't believe you chose me, in all my fragility, me
It hurts so much when I love you it makes me cry, every time

At first glance that could be taken for self-doubt and insecurity, or it may even seem to be the anti-love song, but it's quite the opposite. It's true love in all its realness, for what I can tell, and apparently it comes with a heavy dose of that cold feeling you get in your gut. Like vertigo.

And she just puts it so simply but so clearly in this line which I LOVE:

I can't believe my shoulder would carry such important weight as your head and your tears

That's it. A very simple thing, lend a shoulder for your partner to cry on. But so huge too... So much responsibility. It's a whole person that's counting on you, depending on you, letting themselves be vulnerable with you. And you realize you never knew you were in for such a big task, you never even realized you would ever have to do something as important, and to someone on the outside it may seem like a very simple, daily-routine thing, but it can be the most important thing you ever do.

And you get dizzy with it all: I can't believe you chose me, in all my fragility, me. It makes all the sense in the world that you would feel like that, what if you don't deserve it, if you can't deliver as you're supposed to? So that's the other side of love, it's not all fluffness and walking on air. How cool. Can you imagine how it can be to get to that point where "it hurts so much when I love you it makes me cry, every time"? Now that's something to look forward to.

What I'm always amazed with is her ability to say so much with such simple wording. I love complicated, hard-to-get songs like Trynna Finda Way, which is basically a kid bragging about all she has done and all she's seen and showing off how complicated she can be, which is, as she has said, pretentious in a way. Which is totally fine and cool. But this, the stripped-down kind of song has another kind of power, it really gets to you. And the fact that it's done so simply makes it that much moving, doesn't it?

[World_Citizen]

Originally Posted by Maca

And another thing that really moves me is how, in all its fantasy, the song is pretty realist about a lot of things, cause love brings with it a lot of other stuff beside bliss and the ecstasy of being in love: it brings a hell of a lot of responsibility for that other person, and I guess once you're faced with that it's not all "let's skip over flowers in a meadow holding hands and singing tra-la-la", but also a little "Oh crap. This is it. I better not screw up!". Like a little vertigo... yikes

At first glance that could be taken for self-doubt and insecurity, or it may even seem to be the anti-love song, but it's quite the opposite. It's true love in all its realness, for what I can tell, and apparently it comes with a heavy dose of that cold feeling you get in your gut. Like vertigo.

What I'm always amazed with is her ability to say so much with such simple wording. I love complicated, hard-to-get songs like Trynna Finda Way, which is basically a kid bragging about all she has done and all she's seen and showing off how complicated she can be, which is, as she has said, pretentious in a way. Which is totally fine and cool. But this, the stripped-down kind of song has another kind of power, it really gets to you. And the fact that it's done so simply makes it that much moving, doesn't it?

Yeah, that's exactly want I meant with my previous post, the responsability and also the possible fear of destroying that special thing, you know.

And yes, you're right, she has this great capability of saying so much with just one song, with just one verse sometimes. That's why I like her so much, because there are few songwriters who can let people see through their soul the way she can. It's magical in a certain way, I think...

[Maca (Mod)]

Yeah, it's only now looking at it more closely that I see there's that fear factor in the song, that vertigo feeling I mentioned before. And you're totally right, it's like she's scared of doing something wrong and ruining it. I never saw that before now, in my mind it had always been a happier song...

Or... maybe we're being too tragic and she doesn't mean that she's freaking out and is scared about screwing up, and instead she's just saying that she feels honoured to be such an important person in her partner's life, you know, cause she is THE person, the one. She could be saying that she feels lucky and blessed.

Anyway, yay, I love peeling the layers off.

So next is the chorus, which is the magical part about soulmates. You start that one and I'll follow.

[World_Citizen]

You're the little boy made for me in the stars
In the stars, that's why I can't let you go
The little boy made for me in the stars
That's why I love you more the further I go
And before this existence you were always here
Inside of me
You are, you are the realest thing I know
Hands down...the realest thing I know

Yeah, so here's the chorus. It is so magical and beautiful, it's like she's saying that things were meant to be, like a written in the stars love story: "You're the little boy made for me in the stars , In the stars, that's why I can't let you go ". Actually when she sings "You are the realest thing I know" in my opinion she's making a comparison between reality and this magical kind of love, as if she states that this person, her lover, is human but at the same time he has fallen directly from her dream world just to be with her. So, I think this part is somehow about how magical love can be, but then in the verses after comes again that fear of ruining everything. Well, this is my point of view...

[Maca (Mod)]

Originally Posted by World_Citizen

Actually when she sings "You are the realest thing I know" in my opinion she's making a comparison between reality and this magical kind of love

EXACTLY!! That contrast there is what I find most interesting about the chorus.

I think the concept of soulmates is a really cool idea, it's the pinacle of "romanticism" (that's not the right use of the word, but I think it gets the point across ). But it's not just a cheesy notion to me, it goes beyond that, as we have discussed before. It's not just about the romance, but what comes after: real love, real commitment, real responsibility. Whether it's true or not, and despite how much of a realist notion it is, the subject of soulmates is really fascinating to me, it's great fuel for the creative fire. One of my favorite movies of all time, What Dreams May Come, is about that, it's actually like they took Childhood Dreams + Try + In God's Hands and they rolled it into one movie. So I think it's a must-see for any Nelly fan



It is a nice thing to believe in, that there is someone out there made for you, designed for you, that will complement you and keep you company, meant for you. But the really cool thing comes after, the responsibility attached to it: if you're lucky enough to find your soulmate then you have to work to make that relationship work and keep the love alive. I never though that just finding your soulmate is enough. Luck or destiny or whatever takes you to that point, but from then on it's up to you to make it work and appreciate it, which is very nicely talked about in IGH.

So the chorus says all of that (blablabla, made for me in the stars, blablabla, can't let you go, blablabla love you more the further I go) which is really nice and cool, but then it comes to a rather intriguing close:

you are the realest thing I know, hands down, the realest thing I know

Which at face value doesn't seem like it contrasts the lines before it at all, but it is kind of strange that she's saying he's the realest thing she knows right after she says that he's the little boy made for her in the stars...

"The realest thing I know". I'm not sure I understand the full scope of that, or rather, that I could explain what it means to me. The realest thing, or the realest person, would be that which you would get to know and get to see more fully and more deeply. That person whose beauty and goodness, but also whose weakness and badness you get to see and understand and appreciate. And love. Someone "real" to me is someone that lets the walls fall down and takes all the shells and barriers that have built up as time goes by and peels them off until you can see them for what they are inside, naked and exposed and authentic. And all the shells and barriers are a part of that too, those are the scars you get along the way. So to me, that is a very deep and powerful concept, a real sign of intimacy. Which is what I would expect in my soulmate: someone that lets me peel off their layers and that makes me shed mine. I wonder if anybody gets that too form that line...

Natasha Bedingfield has a song about soulmates too, very appropriately titled "Soulmate" . But it's not a happy, celebratory song as Childhood Dreams is, it basically says "if everybody's supposed to have a soulmate, then why haven't I found mine?". I like it, I like her a lot actually:



Official video here.