Let Her Go - Intellectual

The first is quite literal as I wrote it after a break up and it is about letting her go. But then there is a bigger idea going on and is more about not really understanding and knowing what you have until it is gone and I think everyone can definitely relate to.

Everyone can also relate to the experience of lying awake at night–it takes the average human 7 minutes to fall asleep. So most people have some time to think, like Kid Cudi, for example:

You don’t really care about the trials of tomorrow,
rather lay awake in a bed full of sorrow.

There are many ways to “let go.” One is to walk away—here meaning that only once you’ve literally lost another person will you understand the love you shared. Alternatively, to “let go” is to trust—to trust in a person so much that you no longer “possess” them, but rather see them as free and autonomous. That’s when you know true love.

A famous example: in Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus has left his home city of Troy, and ventured away from his wife Penelope. In his quest, Odysseus encounters many exceptional creatures, including a nymph Calypso, who promises him an eternity of pleasure and sexual satisfaction on her love island. But, given the choice between an infinitude of pleasure and his finite relationship with Penelope, Odysseus selects the latter. He chooses Penelope, the very person he’s let go of, in favor of a more available Calypso.

Passenger’s real name is Michael David Rosenberg. He was born on May 17, 1984. (He’s a Taurus.) While still a teenager, he dropped out of school to pursue his “love"—music—and took a job in the industry, which he then left in order to devote himself full time to street performance in England and Australia. In other words: Passenger has let go of a lot in pursuit of his passion!

‘Only hate the road’ could easily be a reference to the Ray Charles‘ classic, “Hit The Road Jack”, a busker favorite which Passenger may well have covered as a street musician.

As he took the risky steps to move forward with his own life, Passenger no doubt longed for what he’d had in the past—school, friends, a stable job, money. This hook communicates an intimacy with that longing. It also reflects human desire. People tend to take their possessions for granted, and desire a thing’s significance only once it is lost.

Building a relationship is scary, in part because you stand to lose whatever it is that you spend so much time creating. Passenger’s self deprecating comments here imply a fatalism towards intimacy—he fears that everything he creates will eventually fail!

In a way, it’s a variation on the legend of King Midas, who was cursed to turned everything he touched into lifeless gold.

There are many variables in every relationship, and an infinite number of reasons some partnerships fail. Psychology Today has outlined five categories where it might be important to be on the same page with the person you love.

Ambition – what are your personal and professional goals?
Openness – how do you confront vulnerability?
Emotional Intelligence – how intimate are you with your feelings?
Sociability – how much do you want to hang out with others?
Altruism – how much do you want to help others?

You only see the bottom of the glass once it’s empty—once you’ve lost (or drank) what’s inside it. Since the verse is about the despair of loss, it’s likely that the glass was full of alcohol, which many people consume in order to feel their feelings.

Passenger’s no stranger to hard times. “At times when I was busking,“ he told The Washington Post, "it was frustratingly slow.” He had to learn “to deal with disappointment, but be okay with it as well.”

The dream here is metaphorical—something desired that’s yet to manifest.

Another song on Passenger’s All The Little Lights album is called “Things That Stop You Dreaming,” in which the singer talks about how crushing reality can be. “I think when I was writing that song” he’s said “I kind of had in mind all of those reasons why you don’t follow a dream.” Those reasons vary from person to person, and across life circumstances.

whether that be somebody’s advice is not to do it, or to try, and it’s very hard actually to throw yourself into whatever it is you want to be doing. In today’s society everybody is so obsessed with banking, investing, and getting your mortgage paid and doing all this kind of stuff. And I think that was the line I was trying to play with in that.

“Dreams about your ex are a very common theme at bedtime,” according to Ally Mead, dream analyst at the Jungian Institute of Los Angeles. But what do they mean?

Dreaming about an ex can mean many things depending on when the dream occurs and what happens during the dream. For example, if you’re entering into a relationship with a new person, your psyche may still be trying to sort out the pluses and minuses of your old relationship. In this situation, your psyche is trying to ensure success with your new relationship. If your dreams about an ex seem garbled or unlike that person, it’s likely a more symbolic dream."

The longing in Passenger’s lyrics emphasizes the positive feelings he has for his lost love—he misses her.