This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Watch out you might get what you're after
Cool babies, strange but not a stranger
I'm an ordinary guy
Burning down the house
Hold tight wait 'til the party's over
Hold tight we're in for nasty weather
There has got to be a way
Burning down the house
Here's your ticket pack your bags
Time for jumping overboard
The transportation is here
Close enough but not too far
Baby, you know where you are
Fighting fire with fire
All wet, here you might need a raincoat
Shakedown, dreams walking in broad daylight
Three hundred sixty five degrees
Burning down the house
Uh
It was once upon a place sometimes I listen to myself
Gonna come in first place
People on their way to work and baby what did you expect
Gonna burst into flame
Uh
Burning down the house
My house is out of the ordinary
That's right, don't wanna hurt nobody
Some things sure can sweep me off my feet
Burning down the house
No visible means of support and you have not seen nothin' yet
Everything's stuck together
And I don't know what you expect staring into the TV set
Fighting fire with fire
Ah
Cool babies, strange but not a stranger
I'm an ordinary guy
Burning down the house
Hold tight wait 'til the party's over
Hold tight we're in for nasty weather
There has got to be a way
Burning down the house
Here's your ticket pack your bags
Time for jumping overboard
The transportation is here
Close enough but not too far
Baby, you know where you are
Fighting fire with fire
All wet, here you might need a raincoat
Shakedown, dreams walking in broad daylight
Three hundred sixty five degrees
Burning down the house
Uh
It was once upon a place sometimes I listen to myself
Gonna come in first place
People on their way to work and baby what did you expect
Gonna burst into flame
Uh
Burning down the house
My house is out of the ordinary
That's right, don't wanna hurt nobody
Some things sure can sweep me off my feet
Burning down the house
No visible means of support and you have not seen nothin' yet
Everything's stuck together
And I don't know what you expect staring into the TV set
Fighting fire with fire
Ah
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Just to add to what's already been said- on the commentary for the Stop Making Sense DVD, David Byrne mentions how the lyrics to this particular song make absolutely no sense at all. The individual couplets alone make sense, but they have nothing to do with the lyrics before or after them. Also, he does mention the P-Funk connection and how he thought the chant would make a catchy chorus, but the rest of the lyrics he kinda laughs at.
The psychologist Carl Jung said that fire represents the process of psychological transformation so burning down the house is destroying one personality and creating another one, As you can see in the video one person takes over another. David Byrne said the song was about this in an interview for the BBC (but he looked high at the time).
Thanks. I have always enjoyed this song (and find DB to be MOST talented), but I never really understood the lyrics. Talking Heads put on a GREAT concert, but NO encores! That was just plain wrong :)
thank you. man, so many of these "interpretations" are so off! but this was great and succinct.
That's a good possibility as well.
i just heard this song in some movie called "13 going on 30". it was a chick flick but the song was actually used in good taste. some chubby kid dances to it in front of a bunch of his peers.
it wasn't lyrical imagination on david byrne's part. chris frantz just came back from a parliment funkadelic concert and he was yelling one of the p-funk audience chants during a jam session, which was "burn down the house". byrne liked the phrase and turned it into "burning down the house".
“Watch out you might get what you're after. Cool babes strange but not a stranger.”
“I'm an ordinary guy. Burning down the house.”
“Hold tight wait till the party's over. Hold tight we're in for nasty weather. There has got to be a way. Burning down the house.”
“Here's your ticket pack your bag:time for jumpin' overboard. The transportation is here.”
“Close enough but not too far, maybe you know where you are. Fightin' fire woth fire.”
“All wet hey you might need a raincoat.”
“Shakedown dreams walking in broad daylight.”
“Three hun-dred six-ty five de-grees. Burning down the house.
It was once upon a place sometimes i listen to myself. Gonna come in first place.”
“People on their way to work baby what did you expect. Gonna burst into flame.”
“My house S'out of the ordinary. That's might don't want to hurt nobody.”
“Some things sure can sweep me off my feet.”
“Burning down the house.”
“No visible means of support and you have not seen nothin' yet.”
“Everything's stuck together.”
“I don't know what you expect staring into the TV set.”
“Fighting fire with fire.”
Palistave wins the pulling something out of nothing award 2006.
"Watch out you might get what you're after. Cool babes strange but not a stranger.” Anyone who can drag dead radioactive dead babies out of that is a nut job.
Such a perfect song... Really beautiful the instrumental part at the end, the way it ends is awesome. Creative band, considering the album "Speaking In Tongues", but all their songs are wonderful and... Kind of hypnotic.
I found this song on singstar, my mom beat me at it She's a TH fan
Most of it seems to relate to touring, playing music, burning down the house. Only the TV set line doesn't fit that scenario. As for the song being about Coke, sure, that fits a bit better. Except maybe the "listen to myself".
I heard on a radio interview years ago that he said the song was about "exfoliation, like the peeling away of an onion". Totally wierd I know, thats why I remember it. lol