Album: Sound of Madness (2008)

Charted: 97

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• I painted your room at midnight
  So I'd know yesterday was over
  I put all your books on the top shelf
  Even the one with the four leaf clover
  Man, I'm getting older
  
  I took all your pictures off the wall
  And I wrapped them in a newspaper blanket
  And I haven't slept in what seems like a century
  And now I can barely breathe
  
  Just like the crow chasing the butterfly
  Dandelions lost in the summer sky
  When you and I were gettin' high as outer space
  I never thought you would slip away
  I guess I was just a little too late
  
  Your words still serenade me
  Your lullaby's, they won't let me sleep
  I've never heard such a haunting melody
  Oh, it is killing me
  You know I can barely breathe
  
  Just like the crow chasing the butterfly
  Dandelions lost in the summer sky
  When you and I were gettin' high as outer space
  I never thought you would slip away
  I guess, I was just a little too late
  
  Just like the crow chasing the butterfly
  Dandelions lost in the summer sky
  When you and I were gettin' high as outer space
  I never thought you would slip away
  
  Like the crow chasing the butterfly
  Dandelions lost in the summer sky
  When you and I were gettin' high as outer space
  I never thought you would slip away
  I guess I was just little too late
  
  Just a little too late Writer/s: Brent Smith, Dave Bassett
  Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 19

• Andrew from San FranciscoI really identify with this song because years ago I lost my 6 week old son to SIDS. I've been experiencing a reoccurring dream that's very similar to the video for this song, except that my dream pre-dates the video. I was the one who packed up his room.
• Jason from KentuckyThis song cuts me deep. My wife and I liked to get high. A lot. I never thought anything would happen. We got in an argument one day and I left for 20 minutes to take a walk. I came back to find her still breathing with what was a fatal self inflicted gunshot to her head. I guess I was just a little too late. FML
• Thomas from TennesseeI just watched the video for somewhere in the stratosphere anything goes and heard the story for this song and it makes the song so much better. I think songs that tell a story are great, but ones where the story or its meaning are hidden in the lyrics are even better.
• Ollie from Lexington This song comes on the radio on the way home last night. Always thought it was awesome, but hadn’t heard it in years. Music is art and in art there are varying levels of interpretation, especially if it is abstract. The first thing that comes to mind for me is a guy losing his girl through a break-up and dealing with the aftermath brought to life through this haunting ballad. Brent from Shinedown is awesome, but I’d like to call his bluff on this because it is really coming off like a break-up song. In poetry you can make your feelings and thoughts public without having to say names or affix blame, unless of course you’re Alanis Morrisette.
• Carlajean83 from MississippiFor me its about a guy that I fell in love with.......it was toxic when we were young! We grew up amd apart but we were always in the same circle watching each other grow!we still talked always! Through marriages, kids, losing family members! We always wound up circling back to how things were supposed to end up! We always left it dangling right out of reach! This week his family is laying him to rest!! I NEVER THOUGHT HE'D SLIP AWAY..... I GUESS I WAS JUST A LITTLE TOO LATE!!
• Laurie from UsI agree that mother’s grieving for child, but what does the “gettin high” line mean?
• AnonIts obvious by the lyrics it's a mother grieving for a child, a mother remembers hers baby's first words like they were yesterday, they remember the lullabies that they sang to their children word for word, you could even argue the wrapping in newspaper blanket line is a nurturing gesture that a mother would do. Dandelions are beautiful and plentiful at the beginning of summer, they will often close up when it's cold or dark protecting their precious petals, which then fade and turn white and turn to seeds towards the end of summer and the breeze blows carring the seeds off away from the mother stalk. Again a mother gesture of care then the devastation as the seeds leave and the mother stalk is left bare
• AnonymousSeriously watch the video listen to the words, here what Brent said in comment about this song. It's a mother grieving for her child, and moving on in life. SIMPLES!!!
• Hippiechicmeggs from TnSo none of you have actually seen the video? And none of you read above? Way before reading this, it was obvious to tell it was about a woman who lost her one truest love, her child.
• Steven from United StatesAnna, the Rev died over a year after this song was released on December 28, 2009, so no, this song is not about the Rev.
• Zero from The Abyss, NjWhen they play this song live, Zach plays the acoustic parts on an acoustic guitar on a stand with his electric still strapped to him while he's playing. He switches to the electric for the choruses and the solos. A stagehand carries the acoustic stand to Eric and he plays the outro on the acoustic (because Zach would have been playing the outro solo). Great song, I like to think of and dedicate this song to my late best friend John. Rock on, bro, I wouldn't be where I am as a musician or as a person without you!
• Jonathan from Whitesboro, NyI think a lot of people don't get the "dandelions lost in the summer sky" line... He's not talking about bright happy yellow flowers, although I think that it's intentional that that's the image that first springs to mind. In the later phase of life, dandelions become whithered, desiccated, and colorless, the slightest breeze scattering their seeds and stripping them to a bare stem.
• Ian from Ragama, Sri Lanka (ceylon)I love the way rock music interpret human relationships. Another prime example is this masterpiece. For me this suits for any situation where someone has lost someone dear to him or her.....
• Saydee from Cutler, InUhm, The Rev Was From Avenged Sevenfold, NOT Shinedown. Gold Star.
  Anyway, I Think That This Song Is About A Man Losing His Girlfriend Or Wife, He Took All Her Pictures Off The Wall, Her Voice Still Haunts Him, The Crow Chasing The Butterfly Could Be A Metaphor For Something/Someone Who Is Not Nearly As Beautiful As A Butterfly, Chasing A Butterfly, Being The Beautiful Woman.
  Now He Will Forever Be Chasing Her Memory, As In The Crow Can't Quite Catch Up With The Butterfly & He Can't Catch Up With Her Because She Is Gone.
  The End.
• Anna from London, United KingdomI always thought it was "and your eyes", not "dandelions". To me this song will always e about the death of The Rev, and how his bandmates are dealing, or not dealing with it.
• Charlie from Las Vegas, NvSo Rachael Savage, if you end up reading this someday: I'll always love you, no matter how many girls I end up dating after this.
• Charlie from Las Vegas, NvEvery time I hear this song it makes me think of my ex-girlfriend, Rachael. More specifically, it makes me think of how SHE practically gave me my chance to save our relationship. I blew it, of course, and now she absolutely hates me.
• Chris from Edmonton, Aband i wish is wasn't dandelions i wish it were 'your eyes'
• Chris from Edmonton, Abalso, could be interpreted as a boy who can get anything he wants except the thing he wants the most--the most elegant thing he has ever seen

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