The vacuum created by the arrival of freedom
And the possibilities it seems to offer
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it

A series of shocks - sneakers fall apart
Earth keeps on rolling - witnesses falling
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it

Yeah, yeah, yeah - up the hill backwards
It'll be alright, ooh

While we sleep they go to work
We're legally crippled it's the death of love
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it

More idols then realities, ooh
I'm OK, you're so-so, ooh

Yeah, yeah, yeah - up the hill backwards
It'll be alright ooh


Lyrics submitted by saturnine

Up the Hill Backwards Lyrics as written by David Bowie

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Up the Hill Backwards song meanings
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  • +2
    General Comment

    Everyone's missing the point of the song. "Scary Monsters" was very much an album in which Bowie was attempting to explore, explicate & comment on the youth around him as well as his own youth. This song is about how difficult it is to be young, when the world doesn't take you seriously.

    "The vacuum created by the arrival of freedom & the possibilities it seems to offer" is referring to one reaching maturity.

    The continuing refrain "It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it" means, if you're old enough to understand, you're not experiencing it. Your teenage years are confusing, & you don't figure out all you've been through until AFTER you've been through it.

    The very oblique lines: A series of shocks - sneakers fall apart Earth keeps on rolling - witnesses falling are typical Bowie. They can mean anything. Certainly it's a shock to watch things die, but the world does keep on rolling, & people fall out of your life as your define yourself.

    "While we sleep they go to work" Adults go to work, children & teenagers can sleep late.

    "We're legally crippled it's the death of love." The laws are different for young people - you have to wait to drive, to buy booze & smokes, to work - you rely on others, like your family. It is a form of legal crippling, & it certainly isn't the freedom one needs to truly love.

    "More idols than realities." Pretty self-explanatory. Remember all the pop stars, movie stars, etc., you idolized when you were a kid?

    "I'm OK, you're so-so." I think this line is Bowie making a slight joke about the old "I'm OK-you're OK" seventies pop psychology quote, but I can't be entirely sure.

    Being a teenager - growing up - IS going up the hill backwards. It's not an easy process. I first heard this song when I was a teenager, & it really helped me that a wizened old rock star like Bowie assured me it would be all right.

    vchamberlainon January 03, 2008   Link

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