This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Eighties, I'm living in the eighties
Eighties, I have to push, I have to struggle
Eighties, get out of my way, I'm not for sale no more
Eighties, let's kamikaze 'til we get there
And we sang
You do it this way
Eighties, by day we run by night we dance, we do
Eighties, I'm in love with the coming race
Eighties, I've got the best, I'll take all I can get
Eighties, I'm living for the eighties
Eighties, I'm living in the eighties, I push
Eighties, I'm living
Eighties, I'm living in the eighties, I struggle
Eighties, I'm living
Eighties, I'm living
Eighties, I'm living in the eighties
Eighties, I'm living in the eighties, I push
Eighties, push, push, struggle
Eighties, I'm living
Eighties, eighties, I'm living
Eighties, I'm living in the eighties, I push
Eighties, I have to push, I have to struggle
Eighties, get out of my way, I'm not for sale no more
Eighties, let's kamikaze 'til we get there
And we sang
You do it this way
Eighties, by day we run by night we dance, we do
Eighties, I'm in love with the coming race
Eighties, I've got the best, I'll take all I can get
Eighties, I'm living for the eighties
Eighties, I'm living in the eighties, I push
Eighties, I'm living
Eighties, I'm living in the eighties, I struggle
Eighties, I'm living
Eighties, I'm living
Eighties, I'm living in the eighties
Eighties, I'm living in the eighties, I push
Eighties, push, push, struggle
Eighties, I'm living
Eighties, eighties, I'm living
Eighties, I'm living in the eighties, I push
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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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.
This song is actually about Margerat Thatcher's legacy as prime minister in Britain: it's a comment on the lassaiz faire politics of the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher, and how everyone suddenly had to compete and struggle just to make a living: "I'm in love with the coming race"... "I take all I can get".
Killing joke have always had political undercurrents to their music, and been critical of right wing leaders.
Its one of my favorite songs by Killing Joke, the main guitar riff still sends shivers up my spine
@devotion<br /> Yes, Thatcher brought in a brutal end to an engineered crisis.<br /> I always hear, when I feel the political foment rise, and listen to the record: "I'm in love with the coming mallaise". Which is French for sickness ... but in political talk it would mean, ... well, just exactly what we always have ... discord, disbelief & disenfranchisement.<br /> 'The coming Mallaise.'
what happened was killing joke sued nirvana and then the lawsuit was dropped when cobain killed himself
I'm guessing it's an overview on the eighties through the eyes of killing joke. With of course the trademark killing joke sarcasm and tone. Listen to this track, you'll understand why killing joke now receive royalties for nirvana's "come as you are", hehe.
ps. I'm shocked no one has hardly posted on these killing joke tracks, and someone needs to add seeing red on here, i cant find the lyrics ANYWHERE.
So true, sammy. This band was way too important to bands that made it big to be so obscure.
I heard they were gunna sue Nirvana and all that shit, and Kurt Cobain just said something like sure, i stole that riff, so what? They dropped the charges.
They actually dropped the charges when Kurt died.
It's from 1985, a year that not much songs like "Eighties" came out. New wave era ended about 2 years earlier and Post punk was no longer relevant, and i think the song is about killing joke's feeling about their music. I mean, in the charts at that time, The Europop-trash style was dominant, and killing joke style was not so popular in 1985.
i wished i lived in the 80s as well..
Nirvana stole he riff, but Joke have stolen a fair few riffs themselves (certainly some of the early bass riffs). Killing Joke skillfully played the whole thing for maximum publicity in my view (and why not?) at a time when they weren't doing so well, paving the way for their comeback with Pandemonium. Dave Grohl later made friends with Jaz and drummed on one of their albums.
Life Goes on by The Damned came out before Killing Joke 80's in 1982. That's where this riff originates from.
My favourite song to play at Tupperware Parties