aimless conversations: like an intermission where the band keeps playing

What Exactly Do the Words 'When You're Gone' Mean?

eustacia:
It seems like the song is about Jesus with the verses " cross I choose to bear" "thorns I used to wear" and also about over coming adversity to find one's goal. but does "when you're gone" mean where does one's higher power seem to go when it seems like all is lost/life is too hard, or does "when you're gone" mean where do we go when we are dead? any one wanna take a stab at it?

I like the last verse best! "and there is no resolution, cause the revolution's dead/so I'm left with no solution, but the voices in my head"

faerieclaire:
any one wanna take a stab at it?
*grins* my magic words...

i've been meaning to make a post about this song for forever because it's troubled me for so long. i think "when you're gone" is quite possibly the most complex hanson song, lyrically, we have so far. i think you have a good understanding of what the lyrics possibly mean, however, because i too think it seems to be about where 'one's higher power seem[s] to go when it seems like all is lost/life is too hard.'
regardless of the christian imagery used, i think the overall message of this song is about our ability to lose all faith and re-establish it.
that said, roll your eyes and sigh all you want, here i go:

< yet another one of claire's long, rambling, pointless analysis' >

Well I just can’t seem to pity
‘Cause my heart’s to numb to feel
And the smile does all the talking
Though the pain is all that’s real
With the way that you keep screaming
I can hardly hear to think
And I feel the bridges burning
Underneath my feet

something has happened to the narrator of our song. we're not sure what, exactly. all we know is that it has left him in a state of immense pain...so much pain that his heart is left numb to any other emotion. it leaves him in a state of despair where he is unable to concentrate [i can hardly hear to think] on anything else. he's falling, fast [bridges burning] and isn't about to stop anytime soon.

Where do you go, Oooh
When you’re gone
Where do you go, Oooh
When you’re gone
Oh, how the road feels so long
But where do you go Ooh
When you’re gone

for me, jumping from the first verse to the chorus is one of the most confusing things about this song. we're presented with a problem with ambiguous causes and then are faced with questions. who is you and where have they gone indeed? as a listener, it initially leaves me feeling even more confused.
the more you think about it though, the more apparent it becomes that the narrator has clearly lost something or someone. without this thing or person, we're left with a road that 'feels so long,' leaving us with a lasting impression of despair that plauges our narrator.

I just want to stay dreaming
No I just don’t want to wake
Why can’t we keep on sailing
Across this emerald lake
My forehead is still bleeding
From the thorns I used to wear
And I’m left alone and beaten
For this cross I choose to bear

isn't that what everyone wants when we're faced with difficulties? to stay dreaming? we'd much rather avoid reality by living in a dream world. our narrator feels the same and wants to sail across his placid lake - a place without turmoil, chaos, confusion.
the next four lines are, in my opinion, some of the most complex lyrics the guys have ever written because of their potential to be meaningful in multiple ways.
the 'thorns' and 'cross' are clearly christian images, thorns referring to the crown of thorns christ wore and a cross being the single most widely recognized christian symbol. i think this is the part that throws us all off because they're such vivid images, it's hard to portray them in any other way.
that said, while the narrator is referencing these things, it doesn't automatically make this song a 'christian' song. if anything, i think it stregthens the narrator's pain. combining such images with violent undercurrents helps emphasize that. clearly, someone has challenged the narrators beliefs - ripped the throns from his head, leaving him bleeding and 'beaten' for a cross he wears. i think these lines are included to show the narrator beginning to challenge himself. reitterating the idea of being alone tells us that perhaps this is the reason the narrator is expressing pain and isolation in the first verse.

Where do you go, Oooh
When you’re gone
Where do you go, Oooh
When you’re gone
Oh, how the road feels so long
But where do you go Ooh
When you’re gone

Well I finally found what I’m looking for
Though the road’s still long and the light is still far
But I finally found what I’m looking for
Well I finally found what I’m looking for
Though the road’s still long and the light is still far
But I finally found what I’m looking for

again, the ambiguity wins out. we're not sure what the narrator has found that seems to begin to reinstill his faith. all we know is that a light has appeared at the end of the road and it is what he's been looking for.

Well the voices fall like timber
And the fear it pours like rain
And my heart is crushed to cinders
Underneath this kind of pain
Well there is no resolution
When the revolution’s dead
So I’m left with no solution
For the voices in my head

this verse is where i still get completely confused. the bridge seems to give us a beginning of a resolution, but this final verse throws us back into the pain with images of 'fear pouring like rain' and a 'heart crushed to cinders.' the narrator even says that there 'is no resolution.' i'm almost positive there's a tie in that light at the end of the road mentioned in the bridge and the lack of resolution in the verse. perhaps the light is false hope. i'm not sure.

Where do you go, Oooh
When you’re gone
Where do you go, Oooh
When you’re gone
Oh, how the road feels so long
But where do you go, Ooh
When you’re gone

please don't take this to be a be-all-end-all analysis of this song. i just tried to take what we're given and find the most literal meaning without reading too much into the lyrics. [stop laughing cheryl, nyssa, laura...] i find the final verse problematic because it seems to completely contradict the bridge. if anyone can find some sort of explination for that, please share and put my mind to rest.

< / yet another one of claire's long, rambling, pointless analysis' >