Song Details
- Album Release Date: 2012
- Genre: folk
Song Meaning of “Staring At The Stars” by Passenger
The folk-rock song ‘Staring At The Stars’ by Passenger speaks of a protagonist looking to the night sky for guidance, strength, solace, and gratitude. He finds himself in an inescapable limbo, a time of dissatisfaction and insecurity. Yet the starlight from the heavens has managed to spark an appreciation for this purgatorial state.
He has realized that he can hardly control his life, it will go on regardless of his presence and judgments of it. The idea of letting things take their course, and for him to be grateful and enjoy the here and now, is what drives the song.
The protagonist spends days searching for beauty in the stars. He has aimed to be enlightened, but mainly learns about his lack of control over life and the universe and, ultimately, his place in it. There may be a certain emptiness about life, but that doesn’t mean there is nothingness. He is beginning to accept this and observe his life without necessarily seeking solace in it.
The stars have reminded him that he is small and insignificant, yet they possess an infinite magnitude. This is a necessary contrast, the stars representing a god-like beauty, letting him feel, even if briefly, what cannot otherwise fully be felt or explained.
The chords in the song create an atmosphere of yearning, but also of wonderment and appreciation. We want to believe in the stars, to find the answer we are waiting for, but in reality, sometimes the only answer is just acknowledging the beauty of those tiny, distant stars.