It was me on that road
But you couldn't see me
Too many lights out, but nowhere near here

It was me on that road
Still you couldn't see me
And then flashlights and explosions

Roads end getting nearer
We cover distance but not together

I am the storm and I am the wonder
And the flashlights, nightmares
And sudden explosions

I don't know what more to ask for
I was given just one wish

It's about you and the sun
A morning run
The story of my maker
What I have and what I ache for

I've got a golden ear
I cut and I spear
What else is there?

Roads end getting nearer
We cover distance still not together

If I am the storm, if I am the wonder
Will I have flashlights, nightmares
And sudden explosions

There's no room where I can go and
You've got secrets too

I don't know what more to ask for
I was given just one wish


Lyrics submitted by royksopp, edited by pavelkomarov, vind

What Else Is There? Lyrics as written by Tony Macaulay Roger John Reginald Greenaway

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, ACUM Ltd., Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

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What Else Is There? song meanings
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  • +5
    General Comment

    i don't think you're right.

    i think it's about life and its sense, about where you come from and where you go after it.

    street is a synonym for life, continouity, WAY, the way of life. i think.

    It was me on that road But you couldn't see me Too many lights on, but nowhere near here

    people are alone, even if there are many things to see and to do. they all have to do the same: follow the road, but they cannot come together.

    loneliness compared with flashlights, explosions, nightmares etc... these are some events life causes: people you meet, impressions you get (maybe war or death) or... whatever.

    Roads end getting nearer We cover distance but not together I am the storm and i am the wonder And the flashlights, nigthmares And sudden explosions

    i have been to a planetarium some weeks ago. astronomers follow the opinion that people are stars. i mean, human beeing is the same like a star. don't know the english words but the physical materials are nearly the same.

    so the narrator is part of the hole thing: the world, the universe, life. and all this sounds to me like she's got no security. she feels alone and strange. doesn't know why she is there and what she's got to do.

    I don't know what more to ask for I was given just one wish

    and this is:

    It's about you and the sun A morning run The story of my maker What i have and what i ache for

    very idealistic image! she yearns for someone who can give her answers. (my maker= god???) who can explain her own being. she yearns for answers. because these things are not enough:

    I've got a golden ear I cut an i spear And what else is there ???

    i think this line completes my view:

    There is no room i can go and You've got secrets too

    every being is on its own, no one is responsible for others.

    independence becomes loneliness independence becomes ignorance independence becomes fear


    i could better explain it in german, hope you understand even so.

    MissLungenon May 27, 2006   Link
  • +4
    My Interpretation

    If you think of the girl in this song as Death, that is who she is, and she is singing from Death's perspective. It's about who she is, how she got to be Death and what she does.

    justnooneon August 06, 2012   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    About 8 years ago I fell in love with a wonderful woman. We dated a couple of months, then she left me, ostensibly because she was moving. I was very hurt, but I managed to stay friends and keep in touch with her as she moved about the world and across several continents. Sometimes it was hard to stay friends with someone who meant so much to me, from whom I wanted so much more, but I managed, though there were years when we barely exchanged a word.

    Last night she confessed her undying love for me - by email, as she's still on another continent. I'm emerging from a long-term relationship, so she now felt she could express her feelings without ruining my relationship. She didn't expect them to be reciprocated, we both had no idea the other was still deeply in love with one another.

    Many, many emails later, she sent me a reference to this song and told me to pay close attention to the lyrics.

    So I tend to favour the interpretation where it's about two people who loved one another but have been on different paths, that are now converging.

    I'm sure that's not the only meaning to be teased from these lyrics, and I don't think it's the one the video chose to explore. But I'm sure that's the meaning my darling drew from the song.

    salviaon March 29, 2008   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    It is a very interesting and touching song with a typical Scandinavian essence, still yet too foggy to clearly interpret the meaning of it. At first, I was thinking about the car accident too but so much is unclear, the puzzle pieces just dont match up. This song has touched me,and it just didntt let me go. I couldnt stop thinking and trying to find out the real meaning of it and now I think that its not about a car accident but about love. Pure love, so much that is more than anything else and endures everything eventhough it is unrequeted. I think the girl is in love with the other girl who we see with the medievel costume.

    I also think as MissLungen said, that the road is a synonym for life. She says that "It was me on the road still you couldnt see me" which means that she was in her life, they knew eachother still the other girl couldnt see or appreciate her love.

    Then, she says "roads are getting nearer" which I think stands for the passage of the time.That they are getting older and running out of time to love each other which gives her this flashlight and explosion kind if feelings.

    She says that "we cover distance but not together" which I think means that both of their life is going in different directions and not together.

    She says "I dont know what more to ask for. I was given just one wish: it was about you and the sun" Her wish is obvious. Its her love. Nothing else. She doesnt want anything else only her love that is why she doesnt know what more to ask for.She uses the word sun with her (you and the sun) is definetly a very postive pair. The word sun illustrates warmness, hapiness and love. Just think of the word sun and see thefirst things that pop up in mind. All good and warm things.

    The houses flying arouind chaoticly and falling apart, all the messy things around the shaking arms and the hairs standing upwards give you a bit of taste of what is going on in her. The apple with the hairs on it just gives you the creeps, two totally unmatching things that look creepely awkard together.

    The smoking tree with the hearth shaped whole on it also illustrates her love. Such passion and desire. She is on fire, burning inside.

    She is utterly obsessed with that love. She says "There is no room where I can go". This love means everyting to her in life and without it she is not living that is why she is flying around like a ghost in the clip.

    The reason why the other girl is shown with this medievel clothes is not clear for me but maybe its because the girls with the costume is like a landlord and the loving girl is the peasant that is under of control of her just like in the past.

    Fatihon August 10, 2011   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    i think this is a lost love. she has just one wish, to be with a man she cannot have. she is jealous, and spies on him, and he doesn't see her because of the lights destroying his night vision. but he can't be with her because she is consumed by jealousy. she is the storm, the wonder of nature that would burst into fits of rage over any perceived infidelity. he couldn't take it and moved on. and she can't move on to someone else. and so, as you see in the video, she is going into decay. the fruit is molding. she is spilling her milk, losing her ability to bear children. she becomes a spinster, and wears the puritan collar of celibacy. the only thing left for her is spying, stalking, and saying spiteful things.

    it's a very sad song. loss compounded on loss, because she is stuck and can't move on.

    youngpharton December 25, 2010   Link
  • +2
    My Interpretation

    I think this is about the man she loves and who left her and who killed her with that decision. Now she is destined to wander around like a ghost, not being able to take part in her own life, because she is dead and empty inside and she can only look at the things around her without feeling anything, she is disconnected from this world and very restless because she is sad and miserable and unable to accept things like they are. There is a storm and chaos and disbelief inside of her, this is a nightmare to her. The milk in the video is blood running down from her body, she is bleeding and hurting, but it's hidden by her clothes. Maybe he is even haunted by her, because he decided to kill her (as his love) and left her by herself, so she is even a ghost to him. The car accident is the encounter with him, they met and fell in love, this happened fast and with lots of emotions. but he didn't want to continue so he ran her over (killing her inside) there were explosions and lights (intense feelings) and then he left because he wasn't able to see her, to see who she is, she was in the dark without lights. So now they are living separate lives but she is still stuck in her situation because she cannot get over the fact that he killed her and left her. There is no room where she can go to means that she can't escape this feeling, she has to keep wandering around outside and cannot rest (inside) it also means she tries to run away from this sad truth. He has secrets too means that he probably loves her too but cannot show her. so that is his secret and she knows it but she also knows that she can't do anything about it because he already left her and she's alone but it also means that she has to keep wondering even more because she knows he loves her too but still decided to leave her alone and that it's impossible for her to get over this, knowing that he loves her too and she doesnt understand why all this is happening to her. The question 'What else is there' is a rhetorical question, it means there is nothing else, no alternative for her, this is all she knows and will know. When she says she was only given one wish, it means that it was not her own wish to love him (since we cannot chose who we love) and to live this way but that life had this plan for her and that she was only given this wish, and no other wish, so again, there is no alternative for her. When she says 'its about you and the sun' it means that he and the sun belong together in her view, because he brings life to her, when he is there, then there is life and warmth and love. And that's what she aches for.

    JulieLisaon April 27, 2013   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    by arcrut: " Royksopp never fails to blow me." Maybe you could get them to autograph it while they're down there.

    SpadesSmileon February 21, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I can see how this might be about a car accident, but instead of her being killed by the accident, it seems like it was her car that killed someone. she is the sudden explosion and the nightmare, and - not to be too gory but - she cuts and spears. Even if this is about something so horrible, this might be one of the most amazing songs I've heard... ever.

    diphthongon May 14, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I never would have figured it out myself, but I agree this is about an accident. "A morning run" - she was going for a run in the morning while it was still dark. I think the milk in the video is just symbolic of blood. I wonder if her wish was to meet the person that hit her, and that was the woman at the table. "You've got secrets too" - maybe it was a hit and run? It sounds to me like the whole song is her talking to her killer, and now that she's met that person she doesn't know what else to do or say.

    I'm wondering what does the "golden ear" mean? Is that line correct?

    BalisongAbraxason August 30, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Balisongabraxas: I think "golden ear" is a synonym of her golden ability of listening. she listens to what she is being taught and told, but what else is there? Isn't there any more then what people on earth can teach us? Is it worth it to listen? there's more for us out there to learn that can't be explained in human terms.

    despaired dreameron September 08, 2007   Link

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