“Eyes Closed,” by Ed Sheeran, is a gut-wrenching track about the loss of people close to him. In the case of this song, it’s two fellows: crickter Shane Warne and music producer Jamal Edwards. Warne died from atherosclerosis at the age of 52 while Edwards died at 31 from a fatal reaction to taking drugs. The reality of the two situations is that both might have been prevented. In Warne’s case, better eating habits and healthy behaviors might have helped wheras Edwards simply didn’t have to use the drugs he used. The deaths, in Sheeran’s mind, were needless. He remarked that you have to disassociate yourself from that reality to be able to function, but the pain of the losses becomes your reality when it creeps into the back of your mind at the worst times.

Not the Same Old Ed

The album “sounds different” than other Sheeran offerings. The lyrics are plaintive, almost haunting. The corrosive nature of the pain on Sheeran’s soul is apparent, and he underlies that by saying, “No one is ever ready.” The musical arrangement is thinner, relying more on reverb and other effects to express Sheeran’s view than on additional instruments or higher volume. The entire production is eminently personal for him

Sheeran’s delivery garnered praise from several quarters, with Roisin O’Conner stating that the song’s terrific impact was largely down to Sheeran’s delivery. Sheeran originally wanted the song to be a breakup song, but Edwards’s death moved him to change the song’s theme. He got the idea for the big, fluffy, blue creature that follows him around in the music video from the movie “Harvey” where an 8-foot rabbit is the friend of protagonist Elwood P. Dowd, and no one else can see Harvey. The idea was that the grief is always there even if others can’t see it or feel it.

Ever-Present

The lyrics say that Sheeran always dances with his eyes closed because he sees his two friends everywhere he looks. The implication is that it doesn’t help much because he still sees those two friends in his mind’s eye. The lyrics say, “I step in the bar, it hit me so hard, how can it be this heavy?” That is Sheeran’s expression of a combination of disbelief, denial, and pain that his two friends are no longer living. Sheeran and Edwards were the same age, and Sheeran said that the producer was a huge part of his life for the last 14 years, indicating that they were teens when they met, nearly lifelong friends. Sheeran’s last conversation with Warne was in March, only three days before Warne’s death. Speaking of Warne’s kindness and friendship, Sheeran said that they had spoken on the phone to honor another friend, who had died on March 1, 2021.

Lyrics

I know it’s a bad idea
But how can I help myself?
Been inside for most this year
And I thought a few drinks, they might help
It’s been a while, my dear
Dealin’ with the cards life dealt
I’m still holdin’ back these tears
While my friends are somewhere else

I pictured this year a little bit different when it hit February
I step in the bar, it hit me so hard, oh, how can it be this heavy?
Every song reminds me you’re gone and I feel the lump form in my throat
‘Cause I’m here alone

Just dancin’ with my eyes closed
‘Cause everywhere I look, I still see you
And time is movin’ so slow
And I don’t know what else that I can do
So I’ll keep dancin’ with my

Eye-eye-eye-eyes
Eye-eye-eye-eyes closed
Eye-eye-eye-eyes
So I’ll keep dancin’ with my

Delusion is here again
And I think you’ll come home soon
A word brings me right back in
Then it’s only me that’s in this room
I guess I could just pretend
The colors are more than blue
But I lost more than my friend
I can’t help but missin’ you

I pictured this month a little bit different, no one is ever ready
And when it unfolds, you get in a hole, oh, how can it be this heavy?
Everything changes, nothing’s the same, except the truth is now you’re gone
And life just goes on

So I’m dancin’ with my eyes closed
‘Cause everywhere I look, I still see you
And time is movin’ so slow
And I don’t know what else that I can do
So I’ll keep dancin’ with my

Eye-eye-eye-eyes
Eye-eye-eye-eyes closed
Eye-eye-eye-eyes
So I’ll keep dancin’ with my
Eye-eye-eye-eyes
Eye-eye-eye-eyes closed
Eye-eye-eye-eyes
Oh, I keep dancin’ with my

They’re shutting the bar, they’re cleaning the floor
And everyone is already home
But I’m on my own

Still dancin’ with my eyes closed
‘Cause everywhere I look, I still see you
Time is movin’ so slow
And I don’t know what else that I can do
So I’ll keep dancin’ with my

Eye-eye-eye-eyes
Eye-eye-eye-eyes closed
Eye-eye-eye-eyes
Oh, I keep dancin’ with my
Eye-eye-eye-eyes
Eye-eye-eye-eyes closed
Eye-eye-eye-eyes
Oh, I keep dancin’ with my

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Edward Christopher Sheeran / Frederick John Philip Gibson / Johan Karl Schuster / Martin Max Sandberg

Eyes Closed lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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