This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
I died in a car crash two days ago
Was unrecognizable
When they pulled me from the gears
No one's fault, no one's bottle
No one's teenage pride or throttle
Our innocence is all the worse for fears
The other walked away alive
Arms wrapped now around his wife
My lover sits, the silent eye
In a hurricane of warmth and word
My mother trembles with the sobs
Whose absence seems absurd
My sister shouts to let her see
Through the cloud of crowd surrounding me
My colleagues call for silence in my name
I died in a car crash three months ago
They burned me 'til I glowed
And crumbled to a fine gray sand
Now I am nothing, everywhere
Several breaths of strangers' air
And all thoughts ever written in my hand
They plant my tree out in the yard
It grows but takes the winter hard
My lover puts a knife to wrist
Says tomorrow comes, hold on a while
My mother tosses in the sheets
And dreams me holding my own child
My sister plays our homemade tapes
Laughs as tears stream down her face
My office door now bears a different name
I died in a car crash four years ago
My tree drinks melted snow
Just eight feet tall a pale and fragile thing
Bee stings beaches bright vacations
Sun burnt high-school graduations
A sparrow healing from a broken wing
This year a glimpse of second chances
Tiny apples on my tree's branches
My lover hears the open wind
And crawls blinking into the sun
My mother leafs through photographs
And thinks "yes she was a lovely one"
My sister can't decide her truth
Asks aloud what I might do
In a conference hall my brief efforts engraved
I died in a car crash
A lifetime ago it seems
Been a decade or two or three
They've just released a new design
Bars and bags front and behind
My fate now an impossibility
Safely packaged hurtling down
The highway hardly make a sound
My lover very much alive
Arms wrapped now around his wife
Was unrecognizable
When they pulled me from the gears
No one's fault, no one's bottle
No one's teenage pride or throttle
Our innocence is all the worse for fears
The other walked away alive
Arms wrapped now around his wife
My lover sits, the silent eye
In a hurricane of warmth and word
My mother trembles with the sobs
Whose absence seems absurd
My sister shouts to let her see
Through the cloud of crowd surrounding me
My colleagues call for silence in my name
I died in a car crash three months ago
They burned me 'til I glowed
And crumbled to a fine gray sand
Now I am nothing, everywhere
Several breaths of strangers' air
And all thoughts ever written in my hand
They plant my tree out in the yard
It grows but takes the winter hard
My lover puts a knife to wrist
Says tomorrow comes, hold on a while
My mother tosses in the sheets
And dreams me holding my own child
My sister plays our homemade tapes
Laughs as tears stream down her face
My office door now bears a different name
I died in a car crash four years ago
My tree drinks melted snow
Just eight feet tall a pale and fragile thing
Bee stings beaches bright vacations
Sun burnt high-school graduations
A sparrow healing from a broken wing
This year a glimpse of second chances
Tiny apples on my tree's branches
My lover hears the open wind
And crawls blinking into the sun
My mother leafs through photographs
And thinks "yes she was a lovely one"
My sister can't decide her truth
Asks aloud what I might do
In a conference hall my brief efforts engraved
I died in a car crash
A lifetime ago it seems
Been a decade or two or three
They've just released a new design
Bars and bags front and behind
My fate now an impossibility
Safely packaged hurtling down
The highway hardly make a sound
My lover very much alive
Arms wrapped now around his wife
Lyrics submitted by sparklefaerie
Passage Lyrics as written by Vienna Teng
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
Hayalperest
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
There is no "moving on." The "silent eye of warmth and word" is the sympathy of friends and family that is empty and meaningless during the shock of the first few days. "trembles with the sobs/whose absence seems absurd" refers to sobs of true grief. Not just emotional pain, but physical pain like someone scooped out your stomach. Muscles clench in spasims, breath will not come, and you feel as though you will collapse into the hollow left within your soul. Because grief is not a presence, it is an absence. You can build around that absence and "crawl blinking into the sun, but the hollowness is always there, ready to pull you in.
Three months in, and the shock becomes emptiness and despair. But it isn't "tomorrow comes, hold on a while" that keeps you alive, its an unwillingness to compound the hurt for everyone else. Hope for strength comes later.
I read an interview and she actually just imagined all of this, which seems incredible too me.
Its been two decades for me, and I have married and am even expecting my first child. But there was no "moving on" of "getting over it;" it still hurts just as much as that bright sunny fall day in 1987. But over time, you gain the ability to hold back the hollowness, and balance that with pleasure, love and joy again. which is that much more meaningful with the contrast.
For me, that is the message of the song. That the loved ones we loose are always with us, caring for us and wishing joy and love to balance the loss. That this is a life-long process, and that feeling happiness does not refute your love for the one you lost but reaffirms it.
"When I saw Vienna in LA, she performed Passage, and as is custom she explained the ideology behind its creation. She said Passage came about while traveling the US on tour and noticing the broken twisted rails, black skid marks and tiny crosses that criss cross the highways. Remnants of auto accidents and realized that those accidents effect those directly involved, but their loved ones as well. Good luck with the memories."
Source: viennateng.com/forum/viewtopic.php
I find it very strange how this song with its lyrics doesn't come from a personal experience of hers. Someone very close to her that died, might have explained much better the words she chose to put in order and the fact that she sings acapella in such a deep and real way, as if it was really happening to her. If this is the case, if she really came out with the song while traveling the US on tour and noticing the broken twisted rails, black skid marks and tiny crosses that criss cross the highways, then she is even more amazing at what she does, than I thought until know..
a song about what if when you die rather than moving on, you watch as, though your life did have meaning, and you see your family mourning, you also see them moving on. the very last line is so sudden its like the intial car crash that got her there in the first place.
there is something to be said when you write a song about your death and how everyone else moved on, AND it still isn't the most sad song you've written. I'm sorry, melancholy. nice word , melancholy.
Her d4eaqth wasn't so horribly significant,while yes her lover was broken, her mother cried and her sister was more than a lttle upset, so what if she didn't run iinto a burning building. no self loathing, no tears. But she still stoicly looks upon her tree, and that immpossibilty of her fate with newer safty devices.
what a haunting song.
So haunting, yet so beautiful. I love Vienna Teng. This kind of reminds me of a celtic song
It shows you how life goes on. Very moving. Die heart fan
it's rare that a song has the capacity to completely pull the rug out from under me. but i swear my best friend's friend's ghost was singing this song when i heard it for the first time today.
It's so sad, but it talks about keeping on going, even if you are devastated by a loss.
I believe the three is symbolic of her always being there and watching over a slowly healing family, friends, and lover.
typo: three was supposed to be tree.