Set Fire To The Rain | Adele

What is the meaning and main idea of Adele's Set Fire to the Rain song? What is the message of the song? Does the title reflect the message it tries to convey? Find the answers to these questions in the paragraphs that follow.

First Thing First
When I first heard the title of the song on the radio, I did not have any clue about the song. Was it love song? or Religious song? However, since I have ever heard another bong by Adele, namely Rolling In The Deep, I automatically begin to think that this title must also be used figuratively. But what does the title really mean? Well, after trying to figure it out for several times but fail, I gave up and decided to find the complete lyric of the song in order to understand the meaning, main idea and message of the song. And here is the complete lyric of the song.

Set Fire To The Rain - Adele

I let it fall, my heart,
And as it fell you rose to claim it.
It was dark and I was over,
Until you kissed my lips and you saved me.
My hands they were strong, but my knees were far too weak,
To stand in your arms without falling to your feet,
But there's a side to you that I never knew, never knew.
All the things you'd say, they were never true, never true,
And the games you'd play, you would always win, always win.

Chorus:
But I set fire to the rain,
Watched it pour as I touched your face,
Well it burn while I cried,
Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name!

When I lay with you I could stay there,
Close my eyes, feel you here forever,
You and me together, nothing gets better!
Cause there's a side to you that I never, never knew,
All the things you'd say they were never true, never true,
And the games you'd play, you would always win, always win.

Chorus:
But I set fire to the rain,
Watched it pour as I touched your face,
Well it burn while I cried,
Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name!
I set fire to the rain
And I threw us into the flames
When I felt something died,
Cause I knew that that was the last time, the last time!

Sometimes I wake up by the door,
That heart you caught must be waiting for you.
Even now when we're already over
I can't help myself from looking for you.

Chorus:
I set fire to the rain,
Watched it pour as I touched your face,
Well it burned while I cried,
Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name
I set fire to the rain,
And I threw us into the flames
When I felt something died
Cause I knew that that was the last time,
The last time, oh, oh!

Main Idea and Message of Adele's Set Fire to The Rain
If you read the above Adele's Set Fire to The Rain very carefully, you will find two major feelings: love and hatred. The two come and go alternatively. At one point, the woman (Adele) espresses her deep love to the man. But in another line, she shows that she hates the man so much. Therefore, it can be concluded that this Adele's Set Fire to The Rain song tells us about a woman dillematic feeling to her ex lover.

Lyric Lines Paraphrased

For the sake of clarity, let me paraphase the son into a story. Here it goes:

There was a woman who was sad and disappointed. She was in despair. Her heart hurt. Nothing could cheer her up until one day came a man, a very nice man. He cared her so much. He listened to her intensively. He tried hard to cheer her up. His effort paid. The woman began to respond positively to him. She even began to smile. Yes, the man saved the woman from her miserable life.

As we could guess, later on the woman fell in love with the man. She became so addicted to him. When they were together, the woman was very happy. She could enjoy the life so cheerfully. In contrast, when the man was away, she felt to lonesome. Yes, she did not only fall in love with the man. She needed him so much.

After they were together for some times, the woman began to realize that she knew nothing about the man. And the man seemed to deliberately hid many things from her. Knowing this, she was disappointed. She began to hate the man. No change with the man, she decided to end the relationship. They were no longer a couple. But anytime she remembered him, she felt missing him as well as hating him so much.

Well, that is my interpretation of Adele's Set Fire to The Rain song? If you have opinion, feel free to comment. Your comments are highly appreciated.

35 comments:

  1. your interpretation is best so far since I started to looked for the song's meaning.

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  2. this is very good

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  3. Replies
    1. i was from the future 10 years later

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  4. You nailed it. I went through this exact thing. this song has helped me accept my conflicted feelings! Setting fire to the rain is nearly impossible..but sometimes it has to be done.

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    1. SAME!:)I love this song soo much!

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  5. just wanted to know how is the tittle linked with the song? what does the tittle mean ?

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  6. Thanks so much! The song makes sense now, and i can love it more:)
    <3Adele<3

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  7. Setting 'fire to the rain', pouring gasoline and setting it alite. Rain, Fire, Pouring, Pain and a man who hurt her as much as she loved him, someone who wasn't always what they seemed to the outside world ie domestic abuse etc.

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  8. I feel that she loved him and had memories and when he hurt her and ruined their relationship she she drowned herself in tears and then decided to break out of that and burn her tears with anger so she could move on.

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  9. Her songs are very touching to me to my life to my unfortunate love life. Set fire to the rain suits to me.

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  10. the man/woman decides to cut it out once for all, the person who broke up but dont go at all.. stays remainding the unresponced love..

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  11. The best interpretation I ever heard because I'm going through the same thing.

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  12. It's the best interpretation ever!

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  13. Good story......even i have gone through the same story

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  14. I like the way you expalined make sense to me. That's is what I am experiencing now!

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  15. I started hating him, but still i m getting his dream, i feel missing him as well as hating him.

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  16. i feel like setting fire to the rain and have for awhile now with this guy who completely drained all the life out of me yet i cant seem to let him go and i truly know i need to. i wish i could erase him from my past i wish i never met him my life would not be this hard. she is stronger to set fire to the rain knowing that she didnt want to have to do that now she dreams of him and finds herself missing him when she thinks of him its an addictive kind of love a scary one because you honestly dont feel like living without this person.

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  17. Hey, this is the best and most straight-forward analysis I have read so far. Keep it up for other Adele songs too. Taking away all the metaphors, it really is a sad song that most people can probably relate to. The pain of it all rings through her voice, without even having to analyse the actual lyrics. Loved it. Loved it!

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  18. I think this is different than most people are saying. I think its about a passionate love. She has fallen for a guy who showed his true colours, and has cried and been "burned" many times, but she likes the heat and thinks there is nothing else better than being with him. The flames could also symbolize her burning love for him, and so she says "let it burn", as if she doesn't care if she is hurt sometimes, as long as they stay together and make it through.

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  19. I am really grateful to the holder of this site who has shared this enormous piece of writing at here.
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  20. I loved the video it was like a forbidden love vibe

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  21. Man or woman it still can happen to either one. It hurts and will for a long time. I guess a hard lesson learned

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  22. "Setting fire to the rain"---The rain is mourning of the abusive relationship, the depression and loneliness and ironic feeling of missing her ex. Setting fire to that "rain" is a rejection of those feelings and a final cut to the ties that bind.

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    1. Thats the best definition of the title "Set fire to the rain."

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    2. Yes, a relationship with a narcissist. Exactly.

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  23. Finally I Found The Meaning Of This Song! Well Done!

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  24. when adelle was in school she was incredibly bad at science, she failed all her exams and people bullied her for it. she decided that she would no longer take the abuse, she was on the verge of having a breakdown when the new deputy headmaster fell madly in love with her, she became incredibly attached to him and decided to show him what he meant to her by pulling off the experiment that everyone said impossible. She would actually ignite the rain. proving to everyone she was a genius of kanye west proportions, of course this isn't possible and as you would expect she failed miserably, her deputy headmaster was fired for being romantically involved with a student but adele was not old enough to understand what was really happening, mistaking this as a rejection from her lover she harboured a grudge against him all these years and this song is all those years of pointless misguided rage. hope this cleared things up x

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  25. Adele loved a guy very deeply.when she became close with him, she found that he was allergic to water and was pissed of badly knowing that he can't take her out in rainy season.And when it rained again, she got angry and pissed off and thought what if she could just set fire to the rain.She thought its the last rain, but inside her she knew it wasn't the last rain.So again she wishes she could just set the f**king rain on fire!
    I hope you guys got the real meaning in the previous comments and i hope this comment helped you to ease your pain, to forget about the love in your life,for at least for the time you took to read this comment. With love - kinD Mindfreak Harry

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  26. Hmmm, I was reading the song lyrics and trying to find out what it means by my own. I think that she really loved that guy because he "saved" her from despair. Nevertheless, after an intense relationship she noticed that he was not the person she thought because he hid her a lot of things and constantly lied to her. Even when she knew it, she tried to stay with him, but anyway they ended up. I think that's the meaning of the song, once that "set fire to the rain" is related to try to do the impossible (they wouldn't stay together anymore, anyway)

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  27. i felt that this song relate to my relationship. I always set the fire.

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