In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
I registered to vote today
Felt like a fool
Had to do it anyway
Down at the high school
Thing about the second line
You know, felt like a fool?
People say it all the time
Even when it's true
So, who's that conscience sticking on the sole of my shoe?
Who's that conscience sticking on the sole of my shoe?
Cause it sure don't feel like love
A tear drop consists of electrolytes and salt
The chemistry of crying is not concerned with blame or fault
So, who's that conscience sticking on the sole of my shoe?
Who's that conscience sticking on the sole of my shoe?
'Cause it sure don't feel like love
How does it feel?
Feels like a threat
A voice in your head that you'd rather forget
No joke, no joke
You get sick from that unspoken
Sure don't feel like love
No joke, no joke
Some chicken and a corn muffin well that feels more like love
Yay! Boo!
Yay! Boo!
Wrong again, wrong again
Maybe I'm wrong again
Wrong again
Maybe I'm wrong again
Wrong again
I could be wrong again
I remember once in August 1993
I was wrong, and I could be wrong again
I remember one of my best friends turned enemy
So, I was wrong, and I could be wrong again
I remember once in a load-out, down in Birmingham
Yeah, but that didn't feel like love
Sure don't feel like, sure don't feel like, sure don't feel like love
Sure don't feel like, sure don't feel like, sure don't feel like love
It sure. Don't feel
Like love
Felt like a fool
Had to do it anyway
Down at the high school
Thing about the second line
You know, felt like a fool?
People say it all the time
Even when it's true
So, who's that conscience sticking on the sole of my shoe?
Who's that conscience sticking on the sole of my shoe?
Cause it sure don't feel like love
A tear drop consists of electrolytes and salt
The chemistry of crying is not concerned with blame or fault
So, who's that conscience sticking on the sole of my shoe?
Who's that conscience sticking on the sole of my shoe?
'Cause it sure don't feel like love
How does it feel?
Feels like a threat
A voice in your head that you'd rather forget
No joke, no joke
You get sick from that unspoken
Sure don't feel like love
No joke, no joke
Some chicken and a corn muffin well that feels more like love
Yay! Boo!
Yay! Boo!
Wrong again, wrong again
Maybe I'm wrong again
Wrong again
Maybe I'm wrong again
Wrong again
I could be wrong again
I remember once in August 1993
I was wrong, and I could be wrong again
I remember one of my best friends turned enemy
So, I was wrong, and I could be wrong again
I remember once in a load-out, down in Birmingham
Yeah, but that didn't feel like love
Sure don't feel like, sure don't feel like, sure don't feel like love
Sure don't feel like, sure don't feel like, sure don't feel like love
It sure. Don't feel
Like love
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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.
Plastic Bag
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
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This is certainly one of the grooviest tracks on the album.
Thematically, it reminds me of the Shakespearian sonnet in which a poet is attempting to write about the object of his affection's beauty, but can find no words to describe it. The poet assumes his credibility would be questioned ("This poet lies! Such heavenly faces never touched earthly...)
Love is indescribable. I can't tell you what love feels like, but I can definately tell you what love DOESN'T feel like.
I believe this is what Simon is getting at here. Throughout the song, he takes us through the a pretty large spectrum of human emotion, describing its experience - the "feeling" we get:
Embarassment - "Felt like a fool."
Guilt/conscience - "Whose that conscience sticking on the sole of my shoe?"
Sadness/sorrow - "The chemistry of crying is not concerned with blame or fault"
He further goes on to describe how that "conscience on the sole of his shoe" "feels":
It feels like a threat (jealousy) A voice in your head (conscience) That you'd rather forget (so you put it as far out of your mind as possible - down to the sole of your shoe)
This further makes him "sick" from the "unspoken". Being sick doesn't feel like love. (some may argue here that love can make you sick and I agree. But that's not love, it is a symptom of love.)
Returning to our spectrum of emotions we "feel"
Contrition - wrong again.
Doubt - Maybe I'm wrong again.
Honesty - I was wrong and I could be wrong again.
Anger - One of my best friends turned enemy
Rugtfully Placing Blame to seek forgiveness - So I was wrong
Something happened at a load out in Birmingham - we don't know what happened, because it doesn't matter. We just know it didn't feel like love.
Simon never describes what love feels like, just that chicken and corn muffins feel more like love than any of these other emotions.
I love your interpretations, Jasin X. Thanks for sharing them!