I've been hanging round for days
still confused about the way you came
Take the portraits from the wall
take them down and burn them all
I know what I've become
By the marks upon their arms
there was nothing that they lacked in charm
But now I've got to choose
who from you is gonna lose
and who is going through
By the stories that were told
I decided to reject the bold
embrace the cowardly and the weak
we had laughs that lasted weeks
they're inside and I sing here

Now I would swear this life is you
You've been around since we were twenty two
but now you've got the rush
when you're cold and when you're touched
I know things don't mean much

'Cause we don't know we're strong enough
and chances come too soon
But people, people, we're not in love
and now we're singing out of tune

Just go out and get it straight
There are questions here that just can't wait
Leave romantics to their spite
leave the footballs to their pints
alternatives we'll find
But there's nothing we can find
while our lives are plush and kind of fine
So we'll all call it a day
people follow in our wake
a nothing's hall of fame

'Cause we don't know we're strong enough
and chances come too soon
But people, people, we're not in love
and now we're singing out of tune

Come on babies, find a vein
Roll your sleeves up, find your arms insane
Walking out in little lines
down the corridors of life
and on to what you'll find
Out the door and down the street
over fences glens and ditches deep
And who from us is gonna choose
who will win and who will lose?
I know it won't be me

'Cause we don't know we're strong enough
and chances come too soon
But people, people, we're not in love
and now we're singing out of tune
'Cause we don't know we're strong enough
and chances come too soon
But people, people, we're not in love
and now we're singing out of tune


Lyrics submitted by let it fall

No Danger Lyrics as written by Emma Shearer Pollock Alun Trevor Woodward

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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No Danger song meanings
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7 Comments

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  • +3
    My Opinion

    This is, in my own opinion and wild music taste, the greatest song I have ever heard. My dad started listening to The Delgados after a friend turned him on to them in 2001. I was only 9 when I first heard it, but I knew good music when I heard it. Ever since, I have listened to this song nonstop.

    The lyrics still remain a mystery to me. It could be about overcoming the stupid things we do as teenagers and young adults, but it could also be about how helping someone weak and downtrodden gets misinterpreted as love (i.e. gossip). Whatever it is, these lyrics, as well as this song, is absolutely beautiful. Shame they broke up.

    Hihey9989on October 15, 2009   Link
  • +3
    Song Meaning

    Here you go:

    Initially inspired by the plight of children populating pediatric wards at the time Alun was in and out of hospital with his new born son Eric, No Danger was in no way the drug anthem that many commentators guessed it was at the time. The line "Come on babies find a vein" tended to throw most radio people a googly and despite our best assertions to the contrary, many people found a childrens' choir singing gaily about perceived heroin abuse a tad distasteful.

    The song may have specific references to ill children but generally deals with how the lives of youngsters are shaped, moulded and pre-ordained by the actions of the adults that surround them. With this in mind, we had always hoped to draft in a choir of kids to singalong in the chorus but had basically ran out of time during the album sessions to have the 'definitive' version included on the The Great Eastern. As it turned out, by the time the single came along we had more time to pull the project together and we approached a friend of Alun's who got her nine year old son and some of his friends to come down to the studio and lend their vocal support...

    The session started off rather chaotically as we hummed and hawed around these kids trying to get them in the mood for the recording and to lose whatever youthful brio they had brought into the studio with them. It wasn't until the ever-resourceful Camille mason (our resident flautist and full time school teacher) came on the scene that the kids were whipped into shape and delivered the exuberant performance you can hear on this track.

    Our only regret with this version was that when we edited it for the radio, the outro was rather brutally cut and faded out way too quickly.

    billtowneon March 01, 2014   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Amazing.

    Sophie400on June 13, 2003   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    i can't believe that i'm the second person to comment on this song. that's almost as amazing as this song. another of my favorite delgados song is "coming in from the cold"

    stripesprojecton July 07, 2003   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    This song is so great, ive known it for years and i cant believe im the third person to comment on it. This is such a good song

    mdeaveson January 16, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    What a masterpiece..... This song has been in my life for what must be getting on for 15 years soon which is incredible. It is stunning.

    boufantgirlon February 18, 2016   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    It's a difficult song to interpret. I think a number of Alun's songs refer quite specifically to things that happened to him, and songs like that can be particularly tricky.

    There are several parts that seem to refer to heroin use - 'the marks upon their arms', 'find a vein...' These link to themes of addiction in other parts of the album. It's hard to know how just how literally to take this.

    There seems to be the choice of a self-destructive and hedonistic lifestyle, "embrac[ing] the cowardly and the weak". This coincides with an ambiguous relationship with an old friend ("now you've got the rush/we're not in love"). There's the idea of (emotional/relationship or life?) opportunities coming when you're not properly prepared for them ("we don't know we're strong enough and chances come too soon").

    There's a search for alternatives to conventional ways of living - the romantics, the footballs - and the rejection of a comfortable life in order to carry out this search. A rejection which throws the singer down among addicts, criminals and other damaged people.

    In the end, like other Delgados songs, the story is hard to make out, but the emotion is clear - coming through pain, difficulty and fragility, to a tentative hope.

    Incidentally, the single version is brutally chopped down, but I do love the children's choir.

    tiredstarson October 26, 2013   Link

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