Cannonball

Damien Rice's 'Cannonball' is a poignant song that delves into the complexities of love, loss, and the learning experiences that come with life's challenges. The lyrics express a lingering attachment to a past relationship, with sensory details like the taste and the ghost of a former lover haunting the narrator. This suggests a struggle to move on, with memories and doubts making it difficult to fully grasp the current state of affairs.

The chorus uses powerful metaphors to describe the life lessons the narrator has learned. Stones teaching to fly could symbolize the hard lessons that give us the strength to rise above difficulties. Love teaching to lie might reflect the compromises and deceptions sometimes involved in relationships. Life teaching to die could be about the acceptance of endings and the mortality of all things. The cannonball imagery suggests a heavy, unstoppable force, representing how the narrator feels overwhelmed by these lessons, making it easy to fall or succumb to the weight of emotions.

The song also touches on the theme of vulnerability and the fear of getting hurt again. The narrator calls for courage to be shy, indicating a desire to protect oneself from further pain. The repeated line 'It's not hard to fall' underscores the ease with which one can become emotionally overwhelmed, while the admission of not knowing everything ('you just don't know') speaks to the humility and openness required to grow and move forward in life.