Supermarket Flowers
1 2025-06-25T20:59:24-04:00 Louis Zweig d4b7846919334954a94c81b04cdd8934e7e64539 73 1 plain 2025-06-25T20:59:24-04:00 Louis Zweig d4b7846919334954a94c81b04cdd8934e7e64539This page is referenced by:
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2025-06-25T21:02:14-04:00
"Supermarket Flowers" by Ed Sheeran, contributed by Selena Wu (2025)
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2025-06-25T21:02:14-04:00
Ed Sheeran wrote Supermarket Flowers as a tribute to his grandmother. He played it at her funeral. It’s from his mother’s point of view, which is why she’s referred to as “mum.” My friend sent me this song after my mom died, and I listened to it constantly. It’s only right that I share it with anyone else who might be in the same boat, so it can comfort them too.
It’s a very soft and gentle song. I like that it doesn’t try to be dramatic or poignant, that it captures all the mundane aspects of life after losing someone: cleaning up the house, putting away the clothes, and all the while you feel the heaviness of going through these motions when you feel terribly shattered inside.
Some lines I really like:
“A heart that’s broke is a heart that’s been loved”
It reminds me of the epigraph for this class: “The shadow side of love is always loss…” I always consider myself lucky to have a good mother, even if I had to lose her.
“You were an angel in the shape of my mum”
It’s interesting that dead people gain this ethereal quality (we suddenly come up with all the nice words in the world at their funeral) by virtue of being dead. It is true, but it’s sad that we never say all these nice things to them when they’re alive.
“And I hope that I see the world as you did, 'cause I know, a life with love is a life that's been lived”
This is similar to the first line. I think it’s really easy to just want to emotionally detach yourself because loss is so hard, but you’re not really living unless you’ve got people you love and care about, and they make life and loss all worth it.