It’s Never Over (Hey Orpheus) Lyrics

[Chorus: Win Butler, & Win Butler with Régine Chassagne]
It seems so important now
But you will get over
It seems so important now
But you will get over
And when you get over
And when you get older
Then you will remember
Why it was so important then

It seems like a big deal now
But you will get over
Seems like a big deal now
But you will get over
And when you get over
And when you get older
Then you will discover
That it's never over


[Verse 3: Win Butler & Régine Chassagne]
Hey, Eurydice! ('Cause only love)
Can you see me?
(Can end this way)
I will sing your name
'Til you're sick of me
(The afterlife behind the gates)
Just wait until it's over (Tu dis que c’est la fin du monde)
Just wait until it's through (c’est ton silence mon eau profonde)
When if you call for me (We stood beside)
This frozen sea (A frozen sea)
It melts beneath me
(I saw you out in front of me)
Just wait until it's over (Reflected light, a hollow moon)
Wait until it's through (Oh, Orpheus, don't turn around too soon)
[Chorus: Win Butler, & Win Butler with Régine Chassagne]
It seems like a big deal now
But you will get over
It seems like a big deal now
But you will get over
And when you get over
And when you get older
Then you will remember
He told you he'd wake you up
When it was over
He told you he'd wake you up
When it was over

And now that it's over
And now that you're older
Then you will discover

[Bridge: Win Butler & Régine Chassagne]
That it's never over (It's never over)
It's never over (It's never over)
It's never over (It's never over)
It's never over (It's never over)
It's never over (It's never over)
It's never over (It's never over)
It's never over (It's never over)
Sometime (Sometime)
Sometime (Sometime)
Boy, they're gonna eat you alive (Eat you alive)
But it's never gonna happen now (Never gonna happen now)
We'll figure it out somehow (Out somehow)

Sometime (Sometime)
Sometime (Sometime)
Boy, they're gonna eat you alive (Eat you alive)
But it's never gonna happen now (Never gonna happen now)
We'll figure it out somehow (Out somehow)
'Cause it's never over (It's never over)
It's never over (It's never over)
It's never over (It's never over)
It's never over (It's never over)
It's never over (It's never over)
It's never over (It's never over)
It's never over (It's never over)

How to Format Lyrics:

  • Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
  • Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
  • Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
  • Use italics (<i>lyric</i>) and bold (<b>lyric</b>) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

To learn more, check out our transcription guide or visit our transcribers forum

About

Genius Annotation

There are two ways to interpret “It’s Never Over (Hey Orpheus).” First, it’s clearly a literal retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which Orpheus was permitted to bring his beloved Eurydice back from Hades so long as he did not look at her until they crossed the River Styx. In this telling, they must wait until the journey is over.

Even if the song is literal as a standalone work, its inclusion on the album Reflektor is fraught with meaning. Reflektor is a unified meditation on Soren Kierkegaard’s concept of passionate versus reflective ages. In Win Butler’s own words: “If there was a piece of gold out on thin ice, in a passionate age, if someone went to try and get the gold, everyone would cheer them on and be like, ‘Go for it! Yeah you can do it!’ And in a reflective age, if someone tried to walk out on the thin ice, everyone would criticize them and say, ‘What an idiot! I can’t believe you’re going out on the ice to try and risk something.’” Butler believes we live in a reflective age, which motivated him to (1) “want[] to try and make something in the world instead of just talking about things,” namely by branching out musically from his rock comfort zone with new dance, electronic, trance, and rara elements, and (2) tell stories of passionate acts in passionate ages, such as Orpheus’s ill-fated rescue of Eurydice.

The second principal way to view the song is representative, not merely literal. Here, the options for a deep hidden meaning (“DHM,” in the parlance of the Butlers' alma mater) splinter. It could be a love song: We’ll get through this together. This is the most obvious interpretation. But Arcade Fire seldom produces straight love songs. It could be an echo of Suburbs-era angst about “moving past the feeling”: Let’s survive these suburbs until we can make it to liberal utopia. This interpretation is indicated by the bridge discussion of something seeming like a big deal now, age, and nostalgia. But Arcade Fire seldom dwells on a lyrical theme for longer than an album.

The real mind-blower may be to consider that the song is simultaneously (1) a literal recounting of a Greek myth, (2) the story of a passionate act to inspire “the kids” in our reflective age, and (3) an allegorical representation in which Orpheus (Arcade Fire) attempts to rescue Eurydice (the listener) by embodying passion until it (our reflective age) is over. Now that’s a reflektor!

Credits
Written By
Mastered by
Recorded At
Sonovox Studios
Release Date
October 28, 2013
Tags
Comments