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”
This is the age of machinery
A mechanical nightmare
The wonderful world of technology
Napalm hydrogen bombs biological warfare
This is the twentieth century
But too much aggravation
It's the age of insanity
What has become of the green pleasant fields of Jerusalem
Ain't got no ambition
I'm just disillusioned
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want, I don't want to be here
My mama said she can't understand me
She can't see my motivation
Just give me some security
I'm a paranoid schizoid product of the twentieth century
You keep all your smart modern writers
Give me William Shakespeare
You keep all your smart modern painters
I'll take Rembrandt, Titian, Da Vinci and Gainsborough
Girl we gotta get out of here
We gotta find a solution
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want, I don't want to die here
Girl, we gotta get out of here
We gotta find a solution
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want, I don't want to be here
I was born in a welfare state
Ruled by bureaucracy
Controlled by civil servants
And people dressed in grey
Got no privacy, got no liberty
'Cause the twentieth century people
Took it all away from me
Don't want to get myself shot down
By some trigger happy policeman
Gotta keep a hold on my sanity
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want to die here
My mama says she can't understand me
She can't see my motivation
Ain't got no security
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want to die here
I don't want twentieth century, man
I don't want twentieth century, man
I don't want twentieth century, man
I don't want twentieth century, man
This is the twentieth century
But too much aggravation
This is the edge of insanity
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want to be here
A mechanical nightmare
The wonderful world of technology
Napalm hydrogen bombs biological warfare
This is the twentieth century
But too much aggravation
It's the age of insanity
What has become of the green pleasant fields of Jerusalem
Ain't got no ambition
I'm just disillusioned
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want, I don't want to be here
My mama said she can't understand me
She can't see my motivation
Just give me some security
I'm a paranoid schizoid product of the twentieth century
You keep all your smart modern writers
Give me William Shakespeare
You keep all your smart modern painters
I'll take Rembrandt, Titian, Da Vinci and Gainsborough
Girl we gotta get out of here
We gotta find a solution
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want, I don't want to die here
Girl, we gotta get out of here
We gotta find a solution
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want, I don't want to be here
I was born in a welfare state
Ruled by bureaucracy
Controlled by civil servants
And people dressed in grey
Got no privacy, got no liberty
'Cause the twentieth century people
Took it all away from me
Don't want to get myself shot down
By some trigger happy policeman
Gotta keep a hold on my sanity
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want to die here
My mama says she can't understand me
She can't see my motivation
Ain't got no security
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want to die here
I don't want twentieth century, man
I don't want twentieth century, man
I don't want twentieth century, man
I don't want twentieth century, man
This is the twentieth century
But too much aggravation
This is the edge of insanity
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want to be here
Lyrics submitted by planetearth
20th Century Man Lyrics as written by Ray Davies
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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he accomplishes more lyrically in this ONE SONG than thom yorke has done in HIS ENTIRE CAREER
@spmuzik I agree somewhat, but they're two very different lyricists. Yorke relies more on innovative symbolism and metaphors and Ray is much more literal and personal.
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