The band's single "It's Time", which previously appeared on the "It's Time" and "Continued Silence" EPs in addition to appearing on "Night Visions", is the group's biggest hit, reaching #33 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In a dark kitchen in the middle of a sweaty night in Las Vegas, all 6’4” of Dan Reynolds is hunched over a laptop, slapping beats on the table and crooning lyrics into a tiny microphone. Before long, he and the other three members of indie rock band Imagine Dragons would be playing “It’s Time,” that same laptop-demo-turned-supersized-anthem, from the roof of a parking garage to a wave of thousands of screaming fans. This song title to the single from their 2012 debut KidInaKorner/Interscope release “Continued Silence EP” is an all too apt descriptor of the band’s hard-earned success—but it’s also emblematic of the deep-seated anxiety Reynolds and the rest of the band experienced leaving behind any realistic expectation of a normal job to do the thing they love most.
A third-generation Las Vegas native, Reynolds is no stranger to the adage “the house always wins,” choosing to pave his musical career with a near obsessive work ethic and hundreds of unused demos rather than roll the dice with the first songs that sprung from his mouth. It’s no surprise, then, that he was drawn to guitarist Wayne Sermon, another founding member of Imagine Dragons. Having practically grown up in a recording studio and graduated Berklee College of Music, Wayne had been practicing his guitar through meals and other socially inappropriate situations as long as he could remember; he challenged Dan in a way that was both uncomfortable and exactly what they both needed. When they began writing songs together and recognized something special was happening, Wayne called up his Berklee friend Ben McKee, who promptly dropped out of school with only a few credits left, moving across the country to play bass for the band. This sort of reckless/genius behavior is typical for Ben, who has an uncanny penchant for spicy food and a suitcase full of unbelievable road stories. More recently, the band was joined by drummer Daniel Platzman, another Bostonian schoolmate who seems way too nice to be playing rock and roll until you actually see him in action.
Several tours and three self-released EPs later, Imagine Dragons had made a serious name for itself, particularly in the west coast circuit. Although their songs vary from nearly whimsical and light to brooding and powerful, listeners are drawn to the inherent honesty in the music. The only rule of thumb for the band, it seems, is to write from a true place; the result is songs that literally run the spectrum of human emotion. Attend a concert, and it becomes clear that the live performance of deeply personal songs has a real effect on people. And the band itself is not immune, as demonstrated when Dan literally passed out into the drum set during a finale song, sending cymbals and drum stands crashing while the rest of the band played on until the close.
Great songwriting is bound to be noticed eventually. As proof that the harder you work, the luckier you get, one of those people who noticed was Grammy winning producer Alex da Kid (Eminem, Rihanna). Alex and Dan began collaborating on projects, and soon the band had developed a relationship with Alex and his team. The alchemy resulting from Alex’s hip hop sensibilities and Imagine Dragons’ anthemic rock is nothing short of explosive. The byproduct of this creative collision is “Continued Silence,” a six song in-your-face sonic grenade that breaks musical boundaries and yet is strangely relatable by its improbably diverse audience.
Despite it all, on any given day when they aren’t on the road playing shows, you can still find Imagine Dragons huddled away in a rehearsal room somewhere, banging out song after song in search of the next perfect track. Like most things in Vegas, the band is angled at going big or going bust. For the sake of those who love great music, we hope it’s the former.
Thief
Imagine Dragons Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You could see
The darkest place that you could be
Oh maybe then you'd understand
From desert heat to cobbled streets
From broken home to the city beat
There's so much more than you could know
When I believed
Back when I was unafraid
Just like a thief
And all the heights
That I could reach
Back when I was unafraid
Just like a thief
If I could live a thousand times
If I could make a thousand tries
Maybe then I'd get it right
The more I see, the more I know
That everyone just wants a show
No we don't want to see the truth
So take me back
When I believed
Back when I was unafraid
Just like a thief
And all the heights
That I could reach
Back when I was unafraid
Just like a thief
When the stars look down on me
What do they see
When the stars look down on me
What do they see
When the stars look down on me
What do they see
When the stars look down on me
What do they see
When the stars look down on me
What do they see
So take me back
When I believed
Back when I was unafraid
Just like a thief
And all the heights
That I could reach
Back when I was unafraid
Just like a thief
The lyrics of Imagine Dragons' song "Thief" have a deeply introspective quality to them, as the singer reflects on past experiences and the longing to recapture the feeling of being unafraid and fearless. The opening lines of the song are filled with despair as the singer wishes that the listener could see their own darkest place, in the hopes that understanding could be gained. The next set of lyrics speaks of the journey of life, from the desert heat to the cobbled streets, from a broken home to the city beat. The singer emphasizes that there is so much more to every situation than one might realize.
The chorus is especially poignant in its simplicity yet deeply expressive sentiment. "Take me back when I believed, back when I was unafraid, just like a thief, and all the heights that I could reach." These lines evoke a sense of nostalgia, of a time when everything was possible and nothing could stand in the way of one's dreams. The mention of being "just like a thief" feels like a reference to how stealing something requires taking calculated risks and living unafraid. The final lines of the song pose the question of what the stars see when they look down on the singer, which adds a striking and wistful quality to the lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
If only you
If only you could understand
You could see
You could see the darkest place you could be
The darkest place that you could be
The place where you feel the most hopeless and lost
Oh maybe then you'd understand
Maybe then you'd get a glimpse of the struggles and pain of others
From desert heat to cobbled streets
From the harsh environments of nature to the constraining environments of society
From broken home to the city beat
From a home full of flaws to the overwhelming pace of cities
There's so much more than you could know
There is much more to life than what meets the eye
So take me back
Take me back in time
When I believed
When I had faith and trust in the world
Back when I was unafraid
When I was fearless and confident
Just like a thief
Just like someone who would steal that fearless, confident feeling
And all the heights
All the great things I could achieve
That I could reach
That were within my grasp
If I could live a thousand times
If I had endless opportunities to try again
If I could make a thousand tries
If I had endless chances to get it right
Maybe then I'd get it right
Maybe then I would finally succeed
The more I see, the more I know
The more I experience and learn, the more I understand
That everyone just wants a show
That everyone is looking for entertainment rather than truth or honesty
No we don't want to see the truth
We don't want to see the harsh reality of the world
When the stars look down on me
When I feel small and insignificant
What do they see
What do they think of me and my struggles?
So take me back
Take me back to a time when things were simpler
When I believed
When I had faith and hope
Back when I was unafraid
When I was fearless and confident
And all the heights
All the great things I could achieve
That I could reach
That were within my grasp
Lyrics © WORDS & MUSIC A DIV OF BIG DEAL MUSIC LLC, OLE MEDIA MANAGEMENT LP
Written by: NATALIE MAREE DUNN, CLARE REYNOLDS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
lazy
on Believer
same
hi
on Natural
hi
Ariel Pimentel
on Radioactive
breezy music