Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Television, religion, social destruction
Sex and drugs, violent seduction
Crystal dawn, ecstatic explosion
Parental advice leads to mental erosion
Stronger than never ever before
KMFDM is a drug against war
Line after line, round after round
Empty shells fall to the ground
Faster than lightning, high as a kite
Sonic bombardment brighter than sunlight
No need for needles, no injection
The substance substitutes love and affection
Total sedation of longing desire
Cremation of senses in friendly fire
Sex and drugs, violent seduction
Crystal dawn, ecstatic explosion
Parental advice leads to mental erosion
Stronger than never ever before
KMFDM is a drug against war
Line after line, round after round
Empty shells fall to the ground
Faster than lightning, high as a kite
Sonic bombardment brighter than sunlight
No need for needles, no injection
The substance substitutes love and affection
Total sedation of longing desire
Cremation of senses in friendly fire
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
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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.
There certainly is a "think for yourself" theme here, but the lyrics are pointing to more than just clichés.
What I get from this is that, if all you ever do is echo what others say is right or wrong, and don't think for yourself, then, even if your conclusions are sound, you're no more a part of a solution to problems or a contributor to progress than anything else. You can't truly say you believe or conclude something if you don't "test the scriptures," so to speak. Whether your individual beliefs are or could be judged to be qualitatively right or wrong have no bearing on this. The point is whether you've arrived at your conclusions in an effortful way. It's why some folks can agree to disagree.
Referencing the war on drugs is just one example. It was a prevalent thing on TV and everywhere else at the time. Back in those days, I used to believe all drugs were bad, cuz that's what I was told. I was also raised as a Roman Catholic. I don't mean to assert that drugs aren't ever bad, or that Catholicism is wrong; I'm just saying that I didn't question anything, until I did. Now, I'm not a Catholic, and I don't think all drug use, or all drug users, are bad. I arrived at these conclusions on my own, rather than simply accepting things.
Also, lines about "substance substitut[ing] love and affection" indicate that being handed beliefs about things, especially the war on drugs, is no different on one level than being on drugs. That's unmistakable, and not the way to build a better society, or to be better people.
In another light, this song is inspiring to those of us who are trying to think for ourselves, as well as those who have broken away from the idiot box and gravitated to attempts at being well-informed or even to autodidactism. It's so much better even today than all those heavy songs that just want to be heavy, angry, or menacing without actually saying anything more meaningful.