What is the song Iris about?

For an English project I chose to translate the song "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls and we have to relate the song to Romeo and Juliet. Can someone please help me explaining what the song is about and how it relates?

What is the song Iris about?
These two sites may help you with your project





"Iris" Lyrics: http://www.romantic-lyrics.com/irislyric...





Info on the song: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_(song)





Song facts and people's interpretations of the song (Just read the below comments and you will see how it relates to Romeo and Juliet!!!)





Source: http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=6...





1. Lead singer Johnny Rzeznik wrote this. He had a terrible case of writer's block before coming up with this. He even went to a psychiatrist for help. It's named Iris because John Rzeznik was at a bar and this woman was singing/performing and her name was Iris so he decided to call it that. And supposedly he wrote this song in under 10 minutes.





2. This is about a person with an invisible identity who no one understands. Then, he finds true love. He wants his true love to know that he exists and that she is the only person in the world who can understand and love him - hence the last line, "I just want you to know who I am." The title means this is how I see you and me and everyone.





3.This was featured in the Nicolas Cage movie City Of Angels.





4. This was nominated for Grammys in the categories Song Of The Year, Record Of The Near, and Best Pop Performance By Duo Or Group. It didn't win any of them.





5.One of the instruments used is a mandolin.





6.The Goo Goo Dolls performed this in Madison Square Garden as part of the "Concert For New York" to raise money for victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks.





7. In Greek mythology, Iris was the god messenger who left her messages in a rainbow.





8. i think this song is talked about somehow that is near death... "and i'd give up forever to touch you, cause i know that you'd feel me somehow" this relates to the unconscious or dying person in front of you" and then "you're the closest to heaven that i'll ever be, and i don't wanna go home right now" is a perfect description.. i think that the whole song is relatable to this theme... maybe it is personal experience that has led me to believe this. I think the whole refrain is relatable to a persons emotion at the time of such a loss





9. It was written from the point of view of a fallen angel. If you think about the lives of "fallen angels" it makes sense. No part of their lives is physical. They are non-linear beings. "When everything feels like the movies, you bleed just to know you're alive." To them, watching our lives here on Earth must be similiar to what we experience when watching a movie. I think this song is a plea for sympathy from those beings. The Bible talks about a time when the angels had the ability to make physical bodies for themselves and procreate with daughters of men. The angels who did this were considered rebellious angels. They gave up their good standing with God in order to satisfy their curiosity about life in the physical realm. "I'd give up forever to touch you, cause I know that you feel me somehow." The more you consider the lyrics the more distubing they become. This angel has obviously become obsessed with a physical being. He knows that its weird and wrong and admits in the line "I don't the world to see me, cause I don't think that they'd understand." He then refers to the state the Earth is in this stream of time "When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am." To me, the being is admitting that what he feels and wants would be considered unacceptable but he still wants it... and he wants others to understand his point of view - "I just want you to know who I am". He wants others to sympathize. I think that was the point of the whole movie too. Around the same time, the movie Meet Joe Black was released. Another movie about what it must be like for a being that has never lived in the physical dimension





10. The song is about someone who had few (if any) friends, who few people knew who he was, and someone who went throught life keeping himself to himself (i don't want the world to see me) and basically being invisible. But this person was in love with someone who was the equivalant to the most popular girl in school, someone who didn't know him and who he probably doesn't have a shot with but he just wanted her to know who he was (hence the line) even tho he knew she probably never would. Maybe she might have said a couple of words to him in the past or even just smiled at him as she walked past (all i can taste is this moment) but the liklihood is, nothing would ever happen between them.








11. When you love someone or care about them, you want them to know everything. as you get close to a friend you want to tell them your deepest desires and what you want in life. you want them to know these things. you cant explain why, but you will explode if they dont know these things. "and i dont want the world to see me, cuz i dont think that they'd understand but when everything's made to be broken, i just want you to know who i am". that one person is singled out in your mind. the world is full of dissapointment and judgement. but that one person brings you happiness you've never known. you dont want to deal with the world, but you want that person to know, because only then can you feel like you've truely lived





12. I think this song is about something coming to an end and the person wants the other person to know how they feel about them before it's too late "cause sooner or later it's over"





13. This song is about loving someone and taking a chance, its about carpe diem, sieze the day and when its over, it was still beautiful. This song makes me cry almost every time I hear it. It might be the only song that does that to me.





14. I believe its just about two people simply inlove and no matter what anyone else believes he wants her to know who he is in the end


"I don't want the world to see because I don't think that they'd understand, though everything's made to be broken. I just want you to know who I am." ...I interpret this as he wants no one on the outside world to see who he truly is and how in love he is with this other person because no one in the outside world understands. I feel that in relationships we as a couple allow only our significant other to see and understand us. He is expressing that here, he is saying that in reality a place where hearts are broken and worlds crumble he doesn't want anyone to take away, or see the one thing that is surreal to him...love.





15.I think it's a very simple interpretation. Nothing more than unrequited love. Wanting somebody to know you love them and could make them really happy if they'd just give you the chance and got to know the side of you that you don't know
Reply:Well, it's quite hard to relate the song to Romeo and Juliet, because the song was written specifically for the movie City of Angels, where the actor plays and angel, who falls inlove with a human being. He had to give up an immortal existence to be with her (hence "I'd give up forever to touch you"), and to do that he had to jump off a high place and wake up wounded and bleeding just like humans ("yeah you bleed just to know you're alive"). In fact, the very title is a metaphor to the greek goddess Iris, who is the messenger of the Gods (ergo, an angel).





But anyway, to look at it in another way, this song is all about a guy's secret love. He's desperate to be with her, but no matter what he does he feels like it's a lost cause and that they'll never be together.





The first verse is just so simple it's beautiful. It just about almost sums up the feeling of love. Where when you're with that one person and nothing else matters just because it feels so perfect and you cherish every moment you spend with them because you fear that it'll be over soon.





The rest of the song is about how fragile love is and how there is almost always a feeling of despair lingering in the back of your mind as you feel that it is all too good to be true. You cannot confess your fears to anyone as you think the love you feel could not be experienced by anyone else.





It is also trying to find a way of expressing how true your love is as it feels words do not do it justice and wanting to let that special person know exactly who you are.





Beautiful song for any one who has ever been left confused by love's power and fear of the loss of that love.





So there, in a way, the song also describes Romeo and Juliet's impossible love affair. Find a way to connect the song to them, focusing on the intensity of their love and how they fought for their love against all odds.





Good luck!