Mae - The Ocean

Artist: Mae
Song: The Ocean
Album: The Everglow

Am I alone in this?
Never a night where I can sleep myself 'til day.
We must try to figure it out, figure it out.
It won't be that easy.
We lost it somehow.

You come over unannounced.
Silence broken by your voice in the dark.
I need you here tonight,
Just like the ocean needs the waves.

Oh, the night becomes the space that's somewhere in between
What I feel and what I'm told.
Sitting on the shoreline trying to figure it out, figure it out.
To find out the meaning
And reach it somehow.

You come over unannounced.
Silence broken by your voice in the dark.
I need you here tonight,
Just like the ocean needs the waves.

Fall around me now,
Like, stars that shine and brighten the way.
I need you here tonight,
Just like this night it needs the rain.

The season has changed.
The wind, it blows colder now.(colder now)
The clouds are raised,
The rain it falls harder now, all around.

You come over unannounced.
Silence broken by your voice in the dark.
I need you here tonight,
Just like the ocean needs the waves.
Fall around me now.(So fall around me now)
Like stars that shine and brighten the way.
I need you here tonight,
Just like this night it needs the rain.(Rain)

(You come)Over announced,(Will you come over)
Silence broken by your voice in the dark.
I need you here tonight,
Just like the ocean needs the waves.
Just like the stars that fall around me now.

Mae (an acronym for Multisensory Aesthetic Experience) is a relatively unknown alternative/indie rock band hailing from Virginia. I really like a lot of their stuff and plan to analyze several of their songs in the future.

This song is clearly about a relationship that is going through some difficult times. This is made abundantly clear from the first verse. Further I think the song really focuses on one of the people contemplating the relationship. The details, however, are a bit more tricky and think it is in the exact nature of this troubled relationship that the song becomes vague.

Does the ocean need the waves? I do not see why it would, but I doubt we need to look too much into this and think we can just go with "yes." The ocean just would not be the ocean without the waves. Therefore, in the chorus, the narrator does want the other person there, even though (she) comes over "unanounced." This makes the chorus somewhat confusing as the first line implies that he in fact, doesnt want her (I will assume that the narrator is a male) to come over when in fact the third line reveals that he does.

Despite the vague descriptions given in the chorus we are able to retain a lot more clarity from the second verse. The "space in between", "sitting on the shoreline", and clincher "to find out the meaning" are all lines that really clue us in as to what is going on. The narrator is contemplating the future of his (now rocky) relationship with the other person.

The next iteration of the chorus gives more clues to meaning than the last. He really does want her there, "like stars to brighten the way", while he is thinking things over. This would seem to imply that while he really does want to be with this other person there are factors beyond his control that are preventing it. Or maybe he does want her there and it is simply her lack of effort that is hurting their relationship. Last we have to ask if "this night" needs the rain. Clearly the "night" is just another reference to the space "in between" or "sitting on the shoreline", it is the time in which he is removed from his life, thinking about how to fix things with his significant other. It would make sense then if the rain was a reference to tears, and of course a "night" such as that would involve a lot of tears. I think we can conclude from this verse that the narrator does want the other person with him in this "night."

It seems that up until this point the song remains relatively open and the exact nature of the relationship could be up to interpretation. However, with the next verse, it would seem pretty clear that things are headed downhill. Our previous deliniation of rain as a metaphor for tears seals the deal. "The rain it falls harder now" simply means that the narrator is crying a lot, and it must be because things have taken a bad turn.

The rest of the song repeats the chorus and has no new material except for the very last line, "Just like the stars that fall around me now." This phrase is actually full of meaning and is quite a nice way to end the song. Previously the narrator mentioned (his desire for) "stars that shine and brighten the way." Here he is saying that the stars have fallen around him, which means that "the way" has been brightened or illuminated to him. In other words, he has made a decision about the relationship. Do we know what? No, not for sure. However I think we can probably assume, that after the last verse, that he is ending things. The chorus actually helps us here: the narrator really wants the other person there, but she never comes even though he keeps asking and asking (repeating the chorus).

The shoreline is a place in between, not quite the ocean and not quite the land. The same can be said of the night - it comes between our days and lives. This song is about being in between - going through that dark night and making a decision about an important relationship. Further it seems to have a bittersweet tone - the narrator wants to be with the other person, and is trying to work things out, but the feeling and effort does not seem to be mutual. In the end he makes the decision, probably to move on with his life.