This Mortal Coil was a project of Ivo Watts-Russell (from Northamptonshire,… Read Full Bio ↴This Mortal Coil was a project of Ivo Watts-Russell (from Northamptonshire, England), president of the British 4AD record label, which began in 1983 and lasted until 1991. This Mortal Coil (TMC) is an example of a supergroup, and performers include members from bands on 4AD's roster, such as Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Colourbox, The Wolfgang Press, Dif Juz, X Mal Deutschland and Modern English. The records consist mostly of dark and moody interpretative cover versions of a wide variety of artists ranging from Big Star and Talking Heads to The Apartments and Tim Buckley. The group recorded three albums; It'll End In Tears, Filigree & Shadow and Blood.

The group takes its name from Shakespeare. In particular Hamlet's soliloquy To be, or not to be, where it refers to dying; "coil" is used in its archaic sense of "disturbance, trouble":

"What dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause."
Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1, line 67.

Several Times
This Mortal Coil Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Several times I looked in your eyes
Several times I saw you wishing to stop this
Ways much longer than, than we could see before

We started to walk
Well, actually we tried to go forward and
Several times I looked in your eyes
Several times I saw you wishing to stop this

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "Several Times" by This Mortal Coil are an introspective and reflective musing on the complications and difficulty of a long-term relationship. The singer notes that they have looked into their partner's eyes several times and seen the wish to end the relationship, but they continue to walk together, even though the way ahead is much longer than they can see. The singer acknowledges that they have tried to move forward, but stopping may be necessary for both parties.

Line by Line Meaning

Several times I looked in your eyes
I gazed deeply into your eyes on multiple occasions

Several times I saw you wishing to stop this
Multiple times, I noticed that you desired to put an end to this situation

Ways much longer than, than we could see before
The path ahead of us is much longer than what we had anticipated

We started to walk
We began our journey

Well, actually we tried to go forward and
To be accurate, we made an attempt to move ahead, but we encountered difficulties

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: PIETER NOOTEN

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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