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,
From here
No lines are
Drawn
From here
No lands
Are owned
Thirteen thousand and holding
Swallowed
In the purring
Of her engines
Tracking the beacon
Here
"Is there a signal
There
On the other side"
On the other side?
What do you mean
Side of what things?
And you said
And you did
And you said
You could find me here
And you said
You would find me
Even in death
And you said
And you said
You'd find me
But I can't see new York
As I'm, circling down
Through white cloud
Falling out
And I know
His lips are warm
But I can't seem
To find my way out
My way out I can't see.
Of this hunting ground
From here crystal meth
In meters of millions
In the end all we have,
Soul blueprint.
Did we get lost in it
Do we conduct a search
For this "from the other side"
From the other side?
What do they mean
Side of what things...
And you said.
You again
It's you again
I can't see
I can't see New York
From the other side
From the other side
I hum from the other side
This is the tie that will bind us
No lines are
Drawn
From here
No lands
Are owned
Thirteen thousand and holding
Swallowed
In the purring
Of her engines
Tracking the beacon
Here
"Is there a signal
There
On the other side"
On the other side?
What do you mean
Side of what things?
And you said
And you did
And you said
You could find me here
And you said
You would find me
Even in death
And you said
And you said
You'd find me
But I can't see new York
As I'm, circling down
Through white cloud
Falling out
And I know
His lips are warm
But I can't seem
To find my way out
My way out I can't see.
Of this hunting ground
From here crystal meth
In meters of millions
In the end all we have,
Soul blueprint.
Did we get lost in it
Do we conduct a search
For this "from the other side"
From the other side?
What do they mean
Side of what things...
And you said.
You again
It's you again
I can't see
I can't see New York
From the other side
From the other side
I hum from the other side
This is the tie that will bind us
Lyrics submitted by merchantpierce
I Can't See New York Lyrics as written by Tori Ellen Amos
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Obsessed by this song again. Love hearing everyone's comments and interpretations. My first take on it was 9/11 from multiple perspectives. And of course, death in general "signal on the other side" etc. She references native american belief systems too....
From here no Lines are drawn From here no lands are owned
--no ownership of land
also,
Hunting Ground is a concept of afterlife...land of plenty and possibility. Interestingly enough, on wikipedia there is a reference to this Hunting Ground not being available to non believers.
More goodies to ponder.
Scary. It's a 9/11 song, very clearly. I see it as the view from a woman on the plane thinking of loss and experiencing the plunge of death, and of course thinking of the one she's leaving behind ("and you said that you would find me even in Death"). The other side? Death, of course. Even musically, Tori seems to simulate the crash of the plane after it hovers after "Is there a signal there?" listen to the song and you'll see what i mean.
"13,000 and holding" refers to what she's doing at the time: She's flying into New York. There's clouds, and they're 'holding' at 13,000 feet until they're cleared to land. She hears the purring of the (jet) engines. "From Here, no lines are drawn (can't see borders), no lands are owned". I'm guessing there's a tie to the jets that brought down the Twin Towers, also. A beautiful, haunting song.
I think it's the hunting ground of killers/ hijackers /terrorists etc. You can't be safe no matter where you go.
It's undoubtably about 9/11, but there's a little confusion in my mind about specific meanings. One of the biggest unclarified questions I have is about the "13,000 and holding." At first I thought it might be about how many people died in the crash, but that was only around 3,000. I'm wondering if it might be the plane's elevation, but the "holding" antagonizes that interpretation. You can't be "circling down" and still "holding" at the same elevation.
I'm also wondering about the meaning behind "crystal meth in meters of millions." Anyone have any ideas?
I think the "13,000 and holding" is Tori singing about the original deathcount. When it first happened, there was so much confusion that they had duplicates and even triples of the missing people's names, causing them to have a higher deathcount then there really was.
As for the "crystal meth in meters of millions", I think she's talking about the sheer amount of destruction that was caused when the buildings crashed. All the debris and glass was piled up everywhere.
I always thought the line was "Crystal Meth and meters of milieu..."
Hmm.
I've wondered about that "crystal meth" line as well.
But in reply to CrimsonTears: I don't think it's about debris though, I think she's refering to 'crystal meth' the drug. So maybe the experience is drug-like or something. Things don't seem real. Or Tori could just be randomly refering to drug-use in NY for some other reason?
I personally think the stanza mentioning crystal meth in 'metres of millions' is a reference to the appearance of NY after the towers collapsed. Also a fair bit of symbology in not just calling it smoke, but the associated toxicity of crystal meth.
My favourite line is "In the end all we have, soul blueprint. did we get lost in it, do we conduct a search for this"
People really do focus too much on the soul and afterlife, and look what the 'search' leads to...
What a powerful song though, I never really felt a proper connection with 9/11, but I really feel what Tori has tapped into here. It's easier to inhale without the hysteria of death and suffering bombarding you.
Ha, yet again I took something entirely different from this. I thought the whole song used the imagery of an airplane to describe the experience of drug addiction. She refers to "the other side" alot: she's looking for a signal there, there's a man waiting for her there, New York is there. But she's caught in the "white cloud" of cyrstal meth, crashing and unable to right herself. At the end "the other side" may refer to death -- she left this ambiguous purposely I think. The drug addiction thing would also explain her somewhat scattered narration (no complete sentences, etc.)
This song is very clearly being sung from two perspectives. Perhaps those trapped on the plane, and the rescuers at the bottom of it all.