This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Never think to ever look around
Never see it coming at you
With your head in the clouds
Looking like a fool
Drinking like a clown,
Worried you'd be nobody
Not so far from that now
You don't feel so overcome by happiness
You're broke
Do you think you might scrape your life together
Just in time to find you've got no piece of mind
When everybody wants a piece of your pretty white ass
Move around, never moving on
Waiting for the thing to happen
When it's already gone
Looking like a fool
Drinking like a clown
Worried you'd be nobody
Not so far from that now
You don't feel so overcome by happiness
You're broke
Do you think you might scrape your life together
Just in time to find you've got no piece of mind
When everybody wants a piece of your pretty...
Even if you held the sun
In the colour of your eyes
I would never be so blind
And you don't feel the weight rushing out of your life
Don't see the light dying out of your eyes
You don't feel so overcome by happiness
You're broke
Do you think you might scrape your life together
Just in time to find you've got no piece of mind
When everybody wants a piece of your pretty white ass
You're pretty
I don't feel...
Never see it coming at you
With your head in the clouds
Looking like a fool
Drinking like a clown,
Worried you'd be nobody
Not so far from that now
You don't feel so overcome by happiness
You're broke
Do you think you might scrape your life together
Just in time to find you've got no piece of mind
When everybody wants a piece of your pretty white ass
Move around, never moving on
Waiting for the thing to happen
When it's already gone
Looking like a fool
Drinking like a clown
Worried you'd be nobody
Not so far from that now
You don't feel so overcome by happiness
You're broke
Do you think you might scrape your life together
Just in time to find you've got no piece of mind
When everybody wants a piece of your pretty...
Even if you held the sun
In the colour of your eyes
I would never be so blind
And you don't feel the weight rushing out of your life
Don't see the light dying out of your eyes
You don't feel so overcome by happiness
You're broke
Do you think you might scrape your life together
Just in time to find you've got no piece of mind
When everybody wants a piece of your pretty white ass
You're pretty
I don't feel...
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
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Here is how I interpret this song as it relates to me:
Background: The singer (male) is singing about a former love interest. This girl appears to have moved on from him. She seems more concerned with having fun and reaching a certain status, even though she tells herself she is looking for love. That, more than anything else, may have been the reason she left this guy. The guy stills cares about the girl and keeps a watchful eye on her to keep track of how she’s doing. It’s his opinion that her thrill-seeking isn’t as fulfilling as she would like to believe.
1st verse and chorus: Her partying and drinking just leaves her drunk and looking foolish. And the guys she meets up with now are only after her “pretty white ass.” The singer wants her to come to a realization that this is not a healthy lifestyle. The line “do you think you might scrape your life together just in time to find you’ve got no piece of mind,” may be as much of a plea as anything else.
2nd verse: She keeps moving around from guy to guy looking for love, but she moves too fast to ever really find it. It’s possible she’s still hung up on a guy she used to love, and these other guys (including the singer) are just there to fill a void.
3rd verse: No matter how beautiful she is or how mesmerizing her eyes may be, this guy will not let her amazing qualities blind him to the nature of the choices she makes. Only he’s telling himself that when in reality he is not totally convinced of it. He also believes that she doesn’t see the damage she is doing in her own life by making these choices.
The last line shows that he’s not so overcome by happiness himself. He misses the girl, and also wishes she would make smart decisions with her life.
I like your interpretation but I think there may be an element of sour grapes in the narrator's complaint, some of "if I can't have you I will portray your present life as unhappy."
Y'all need to get over yourselves and give it a rest :-)