Song Details
- Album Release Date: 2012
- Genre: emo
Song Meaning of “Atlas (Live)” by Man Overboard
Man Overboard’s ‘Atlas (Live)’ is a powerful song about grief and the difficulty of moving on. Through its vulnerable and emotive lyrics, it conveys an insight into the ache of loss and the consequent pain of carrying the weight of these emotions.
The song opens with the hauntingly emotive line, “this empty night sky isn’t empty enough”, signifying the ever-increasing loneliness occurring within the person’s mind as the reverberations of the lost loved one continue to amplify. They feel this way even in an empty sky, a place of contemplation and poetics, yet still wish for it to be fuller in an attempt to fill the void left by the now absent figure.
The chorus contains the lines, “Your love was my campfire, warm and safe / I want to tell the world how strong you were / I am, I am, I am Atlas carrying the weight again,” introducing the metaphor of the powerful Greek figure whose burden was to carry the weight of the world. This suggests that the narrator is feeling the weight of an emotional burden, stemming from their inability to come to terms with the departure of the loved one. Though they truly admired the strength of this figure, their pain stemming from its absence becomes difficult to carry, and hence they need to return to the “Atlas” position of carrying the emotional weight again.
‘Atlas (Live)’ is an emotive and reflective song, conveying the excruciatingly difficult aftermath of loss and the immense emotional burden that this can have. It is an incredibly powerful and resonating song, one which many people can identify with in the midst of a difficult and painful time.