Away

Song Meaning

The lyrics open with a haunting series of questions, each one asking "And where has [name] gone?" This creates an immediate sense of absence and loss, as specific individuals—Alice, William, Catherine, Simon—have vanished. The uncertainty is amplified by the ambiguous destination: "some place inside or some place far beyond." This establishes a pervasive mood of mystery and disorientation, hinting at disappearances that are both physical and perhaps existential. The central tension lies in the stark contrast between the initial searching questions and the definitive, almost resigned, chorus: "We are gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone." This repetition hammers home the finality of their departure, shifting from individual disappearances to a collective state of being absent. The subsequent chorus, "Away, away, away, away," reinforces this theme of departure, suggesting a movement from a known state to an unknown one. The imagery of "clear water flows, deep down, below" and "The water knows the taste of gold" introduces a natural, almost elemental, element that seems to possess its own knowledge or memory. This could imply that the natural world holds the secrets to these departures, or that the passage of time and natural processes are indifferent to human absence. The later lines, "I'll stir the stars to feed your eyes / We'll drift away in dreams, tonight," offer a more ethereal and perhaps comforting vision of departure, suggesting a shared, dreamlike escape into the cosmos. What makes these lyrics resonate is their deliberate ambiguity and the powerful emotional weight of simple, repeated phrases. The initial questions create a void, and the chorus fills it with a stark declaration of absence. The shift from specific names to a collective