Opera House – Unraveling the Lyrical Labyrinth of Desire and Isolation

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for Cigarettes After Sex's Opera House at Lyrics.org.

Lyrics

Built an opera house for you in the deepest jungle
And I walked across its stage, singing with my eyes closed
I’ve got a love for you I just can’t escape
All of my love for you cuts me like barbed wire

Ooh, I was meant to love you
And always keep you in my life
Ooh, I was meant to love you
I knew I loved you at first sight

If I abandoned love, I’d be a man without dreams, ooh
I’d rather be out there staring death right between its eyes now
And I can still hear the sound of you crying through the night
There in the opera house with no one else for miles

Ooh, I was meant to love you
And always keep you in my life
Ooh, I was meant to love you
I knew I loved you at first sight

Ooh, I was meant to love you
And always keep you in my life
Ooh, I was meant to love you
I knew I loved you at first sight

Cigarettes After Sex, known for their ethereal soundscapes and hauntingly intimate lyrics, continues to weave tales of love and heartache with their song ‘Opera House’. This piece is not just a song but a serenade that echoes through the walls of the soul, where music and poetry collide in a beautifully melancholic harmony.

The track guides listeners into a deep jungle of passion and pain, building an opera house where dreams are dressed in music. But what lurks behind the curtains of this lyrical theater? As fans immerse themselves in the evocative verses, many find themselves searching for the true essence stitched within the words—a quest that invites both introspection and exploration.

Building Love’s Sanctuary: A Tale Told in Timber and Tears

The opera house serves as a powerful metaphor for the grandeur and isolation of the narrator’s love. It’s a testament to building something magnificent, an edifice dedicated to a single purpose—love. The deep jungle surrounding it signifies a love that is remote, wild, and untamed, a place where civilization (and perhaps reality) fall away, leaving only raw emotion.

Striding across the stage, the narrator sings with eyes closed, a gesture of vulnerability and surrender to the emotion encompassing him. This sense of dedication, encapsulated in the architecture of sentiment and song, poses a question about the spaces we construct for love in our lives. Are they sanctuaries, traps, or both?

The Inescapable Grip of Love: Romance Wrapped in Barbed Wire

The paradox of love’s fierce grip and its painful side effects are laid bare in the line ‘All of my love for you cuts me like barbed wire.’ It’s a confession of love that hurts, love that binds and tangles. Much like barbed wire, this love is protective yet piercing, hold-fast yet harming—demonstrating the complexity and double-edged nature of deeply entwined relationships.

These stark images of affection and agony contemplate the eternal question of whether love is a haven or a hazard. It suggests a binding sentiment, potentially constricting in its intensity, while simultaneously being the very essence that the narrator clings to for sustenance.

Exploring the Song’s Hidden Meaning: Death Stares & Distant Echoes

The lyrics, ‘I’d rather be out there staring death right between its eyes now,’ unearth the hidden meaning in the juxtaposition of love against mortality. The sentiment reflects a desperation to feel alive, to experience love so powerful that it is worth facing the ultimate fear—death itself.

Meanwhile, the haunting echo of a lover crying in the opera house amplifies the isolation and the intensity of the shared history between the narrator and the subject of his affections. The soundscape created here invites listeners to consider the ghosts of past relationships that linger in the mind’s corridors, long after the final act.

The Melancholic Mantra: Decoding Repetitive Refrains

The repeated lines of the chorus, ‘Ooh, I was meant to love you,’ serve as a mantra encapsulating the narrator’s belief in destiny. This repetition is not merely an artistic choice but also a psychological echo, representing the relentless reassurances one tells oneself when grappling with profound love and loss.

By asserting that he ‘knew I loved you at first sight,’ the narrator reveals a romantic fatalism—that from the moment of meeting, the path of their entwined lives was prewritten. This fatalism carries both comfort and sorrow, offering a sense of purpose tinged with the inevitable heartache that accompanies such fateful encounters.

A Lyrical Journey: The Memorable Lines that Define Desperation

Among the many poignant lines, ‘If I abandoned love, I’d be a man without dreams,’ resonates deeply. It acknowledges that to forsake love would be to abandon the very fabric of one’s aspirational being. Dreams here are not mere nighttime visions but the driving force of hope and purpose that makes life worth living.

In a world where dreams can be as elusive as operas in jungles, these lyrics emphasize the existential predicament of choosing between a life devoid of aspirations or embracing love with all its accompanying tribulations. This line thereby becomes a banner for the dreamers who dare love despite all its complexities.