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 walk into the corner of my room
See my friends in high places
I don't know which is which or who is whom
They've stolen each other's faces
Janet is there with her high head and hair
Full of bedroom feathers
Janet is known to make dead men groan
In any kind of weather
I crawl over to her
I say hey baby
I say hey Janet
You are the one, you are the sun
And I'm your dutiful planet
But she ain't down with any of that
'Cause she's heard that shit before
And I say "Uh huh, oh yeah, you're right"
'Cause I see Betty X standing by the door
With more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
And it's getting strange in here
Yeah it's getting stranger every year
More news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere
Alright now
Now Betty X is like Betty Y minus that fatal chromosome
Her hair is like the wine dark sea in which sailors come home
I say hey baby I say hey Betty X
I lean close up to her throat
This light you are carrying is like a lamp
Hanging from a distant boat
"It is my light" says Betty X
Betty X says "This light ain't yours"
And so much wind blew through her words
That I went rolling down the hall
For more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
More news from nowhere, uh huh huh (more news from nowhere)
And it's strange in here
Yeah it gets stranger every year
More news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere, uh huh huh
I turn another corner
I go down a corridor
And I see this guy
He must be about one hundred foot tall
And he only has one eye
He asks me for my autograph
I write nobody and then
I wrap myself up in my woolly coat
And I blind him with my pen
'Cause someone must have stuck something in my drink
Everything's getting strange lookin'
Half the people have turned into squealing pigs
The other half are cooking
Well let me out of here I cried
And I went pushing past
And I saw Miss Polly singing with some girls
I cried, "Strap me to the mast"
For more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere, uh huh huh (more news from nowhere)
It's getting strange in here
And it gets stranger every year
More news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Well then a black girl with no clothes on
She danced across the room
We charted the progress of the planets
Around that boogie woogie moon
I called her my Nubian princess
Gave her some sweet back fatass jive
Spent the next seven years between her legs
A-pining for my wife
But then by and by it all went wrong
I fell washed up on a shore
She stared down at me from up in the storm
And I sopped up on the floor
For more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere uh huh huh (more news from nowhere)
And don't it make you feel alone
Don't it make you wanna get right on home
More news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
More news from nowhere, let me hear it now
Well here comes Elena with two black eyes
She's given herself a transfusion
She's filled herself with panda blood
To avoid all the confusion
I say the sun rises and falls with you
And various things about love
But a rising violence in me cuts all my circuits off
Well Elena she starts screaming
Her cheeks are full of psychotropic leaves
Her extinction was nearly absolute
When she turned her back on me
For more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
I said more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
And it's getting strange in here
Yeah it gets stranger every year
More news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere
Alright
Alright
I bump and crash into Deanna
Hanging pretty in the door frame
All the horrors that have befallen me
Well Deanna is to blame
Every time I see you baby
You make me feel so unalone
And I wipe my face into her dress
Long after she'd gone home
With more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
And don't it make you feel alone
Yeah and don't it make you wanna get right back home
More news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere
Alright
And don't it make you feel so sad
Don't the blood rush to your feet
To think that everything you do today
Tomorrow is obsolete
Technology and women
And little children too
Don't it make you feel blue
Don't it make you feel blue
For more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
With more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Don't it make you feel alone
Yeah and don't it make you wanna get right back home
More news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere
One last time
Well I gotta say
Yeah I gotta say
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
See my friends in high places
I don't know which is which or who is whom
They've stolen each other's faces
Janet is there with her high head and hair
Full of bedroom feathers
Janet is known to make dead men groan
In any kind of weather
I crawl over to her
I say hey baby
I say hey Janet
You are the one, you are the sun
And I'm your dutiful planet
But she ain't down with any of that
'Cause she's heard that shit before
And I say "Uh huh, oh yeah, you're right"
'Cause I see Betty X standing by the door
With more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
And it's getting strange in here
Yeah it's getting stranger every year
More news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere
Alright now
Now Betty X is like Betty Y minus that fatal chromosome
Her hair is like the wine dark sea in which sailors come home
I say hey baby I say hey Betty X
I lean close up to her throat
This light you are carrying is like a lamp
Hanging from a distant boat
"It is my light" says Betty X
Betty X says "This light ain't yours"
And so much wind blew through her words
That I went rolling down the hall
For more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
More news from nowhere, uh huh huh (more news from nowhere)
And it's strange in here
Yeah it gets stranger every year
More news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere, uh huh huh
I turn another corner
I go down a corridor
And I see this guy
He must be about one hundred foot tall
And he only has one eye
He asks me for my autograph
I write nobody and then
I wrap myself up in my woolly coat
And I blind him with my pen
'Cause someone must have stuck something in my drink
Everything's getting strange lookin'
Half the people have turned into squealing pigs
The other half are cooking
Well let me out of here I cried
And I went pushing past
And I saw Miss Polly singing with some girls
I cried, "Strap me to the mast"
For more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere, uh huh huh (more news from nowhere)
It's getting strange in here
And it gets stranger every year
More news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Well then a black girl with no clothes on
She danced across the room
We charted the progress of the planets
Around that boogie woogie moon
I called her my Nubian princess
Gave her some sweet back fatass jive
Spent the next seven years between her legs
A-pining for my wife
But then by and by it all went wrong
I fell washed up on a shore
She stared down at me from up in the storm
And I sopped up on the floor
For more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere uh huh huh (more news from nowhere)
And don't it make you feel alone
Don't it make you wanna get right on home
More news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
More news from nowhere, let me hear it now
Well here comes Elena with two black eyes
She's given herself a transfusion
She's filled herself with panda blood
To avoid all the confusion
I say the sun rises and falls with you
And various things about love
But a rising violence in me cuts all my circuits off
Well Elena she starts screaming
Her cheeks are full of psychotropic leaves
Her extinction was nearly absolute
When she turned her back on me
For more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
I said more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
And it's getting strange in here
Yeah it gets stranger every year
More news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere
Alright
Alright
I bump and crash into Deanna
Hanging pretty in the door frame
All the horrors that have befallen me
Well Deanna is to blame
Every time I see you baby
You make me feel so unalone
And I wipe my face into her dress
Long after she'd gone home
With more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
And don't it make you feel alone
Yeah and don't it make you wanna get right back home
More news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere
Alright
And don't it make you feel so sad
Don't the blood rush to your feet
To think that everything you do today
Tomorrow is obsolete
Technology and women
And little children too
Don't it make you feel blue
Don't it make you feel blue
For more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
With more news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Don't it make you feel alone
Yeah and don't it make you wanna get right back home
More news from nowhere (more news from nowhere)
Yeah more news from nowhere
One last time
Well I gotta say
Yeah I gotta say
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
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More Featured Meanings
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
This song is amazing! Thanks for the explanation!