“Love Is Stronger Than Death” by The The

“Love Is Stronger Than Death” by English post-punk band The The is an emotional song about the many facets of death and how we can understand them.

Singer/songwriter Matt Johnson begins the song by repeating the word “love” six times. So from the get-go it’s clear that, although the song is about grief, it’s love that is the main theme of the tune. The first stanza opens with the narrator and a friend:

Me and my friend were walking

In the cold light of morning

Tears may blind the eyes, but the soul is not deceived

In this world even winter ain’t what it seems

This stanza of “Love Is Stronger Than Death” is full of metaphors that you can explore. First, Johnson chose the word “morning.” The obvious pun here being that it could be interpreted as either the time of day or the act of mourning. You can envision the narrator and his friend walking down the sidewalk on a cold London morning grieving the death of their loved one.

Grief is oftentimes compared to winter months. Both are cold and can lead to depression and even physical pain. Matt Johnson probably chose winter as part of the setting to encourage his listeners to explore the ways grief can affect both our mental and physical well-being. He seems to offer that, although there can be physical effects of grief like blurry vision from tears, our souls can still see that our love for a person who has died ensures they’ll “live forever.” The griever’s world is certainly not a cut-and-dry one.

Credit: Amazon.com

The most poignant stanza follows the first iteration of the chorus:

In our lives we hunger for those we cannot touch

All the thoughts unuttered and all the feelings unexpressed

Play upon our hearts like the mist upon our breath

But awoke by grief, our spirits speak:

“How could you believe that the life within the seed

That grew arms that reached, and a heart that beat

And lips that smiled, and eyes that cried, could ever die?”

There is a lot at play here in this section of “Love Is Stronger Than Death.” The first idea is one of the most common feelings experienced during grief. Many people feel that they were not able to say or express everything they wanted to their loved one before they died. Feelings of regret or missed opportunities plague us all. We crave to have one more chance to get everything off our chest; knowing that we cannot stings painfully and can be unrelenting.

But then Matt Johnson begs us to rethink it all. The person you loved has died, but they were alive at one point. They were very important to you and saw you through times both good and bad. They offered friendship and kindness, love and warmth. And those memories can never be taken away. The love you and others have for that person is eternal, the remembrances enough for a lifetime. And though they’re no longer physically with you, in this sense, your loved one never really dies.

You can watch a live performance of The The performing “Love Is Stronger Than Death” below.