I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
[John Mann talking about the song before playing it]
Thank you.
We're gonna do a song right now that...[whistle toot] uh, that I feel pretty good about.
[idle strumming/plucking/tuning of bass or guitar in the background]
This is kind of fun because my dad had written some poetry and he gave me a poem that I guess kind of expressed what had been happening in his life. And he gave me the poem and said "could you write some music for it?" And so I took it and wrote so basic music for it and brought it to the guys and they kinda helped...
[an odd discordant note is disapprovingly played on the bass in the background]
...yeah they helped a lot. We came up with this song and dad didn't give it to me with a name and we were fooling around with it one day and Geoff starting playing this jig "Ships in Full Sail" over top of the chords and it really worked out beautifully.
[John away from the mike] Thanks Geoff.
[Geoff into his mike] Your Welcome.
[They start playing the song]
Well I was sittin' by the shore
watchin' merchant seaman leave
the safety of their harbour
for the open reach of sea
and I reckoned that their life
was a ruthless one and lonely
and I contemplated only
it was here I'd rather be
so I rose and turned my back upon the sea
And then the metaphor took shape
in my mind a few days later
that the harbour was my history
and the sea a chance for change
That horizon beckoned me
[and when I stroked in that direction]?
I began to realize that it might be within my range
now I'm out here swimmin' in the waves of change
Now that horizon didn't seem
to be getting any closer
and it made me start to wonder
if it all might be in vain
then I began to understand
horizons don't get closer
rather you extend them further
every time you make some gains
so I keep on swimmin' in the waves of change
yes I keep on swimming in the waves of change
yes I keep on swimmin' in the waves of...
change
Thank you.
We're gonna do a song right now that...[whistle toot] uh, that I feel pretty good about.
[idle strumming/plucking/tuning of bass or guitar in the background]
This is kind of fun because my dad had written some poetry and he gave me a poem that I guess kind of expressed what had been happening in his life. And he gave me the poem and said "could you write some music for it?" And so I took it and wrote so basic music for it and brought it to the guys and they kinda helped...
[an odd discordant note is disapprovingly played on the bass in the background]
...yeah they helped a lot. We came up with this song and dad didn't give it to me with a name and we were fooling around with it one day and Geoff starting playing this jig "Ships in Full Sail" over top of the chords and it really worked out beautifully.
[John away from the mike] Thanks Geoff.
[Geoff into his mike] Your Welcome.
[They start playing the song]
Well I was sittin' by the shore
watchin' merchant seaman leave
the safety of their harbour
for the open reach of sea
and I reckoned that their life
was a ruthless one and lonely
and I contemplated only
it was here I'd rather be
so I rose and turned my back upon the sea
And then the metaphor took shape
in my mind a few days later
that the harbour was my history
and the sea a chance for change
That horizon beckoned me
[and when I stroked in that direction]?
I began to realize that it might be within my range
now I'm out here swimmin' in the waves of change
Now that horizon didn't seem
to be getting any closer
and it made me start to wonder
if it all might be in vain
then I began to understand
horizons don't get closer
rather you extend them further
every time you make some gains
so I keep on swimmin' in the waves of change
yes I keep on swimming in the waves of change
yes I keep on swimmin' in the waves of...
change
Lyrics submitted by dreamorph
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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
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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.
Punchline
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Amazing
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Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
This has been a favourite of mine ever since I first played the dubbed cassette copy of the "Old Material" live album of Spirit of the West made for me by a friend. I have a outline symbolic personal philosophy that covers some of my thoughts about our past, present and future and how to integrate them, and this song plays an important role in the mobius strip, "siempre" description of the future. I talk about journey over destination, process over product and "being" instead of "having" as ways to look at your future, goals and plans.
The signature of this kind of future philosophy is the last verse, and in particular the lines "I began to understand horizons don't get closer, rather you extend them further every time you make some gains."
This is one of those songs I keep close in my memory and can sing from beginning to end, either to myself or to another, whenever the mood strikes me.
The song/poem itself starts with the singer rejecting the idea of risking hardship or pain in search of some goal, enrichment or adventure. He contemplated only that his life was more confortable without the ruthless, lonely risk of setting out to strive for more. Then later thoughts arose of trying to bring change instead of resting under inertia in the safe, possibly ordinary place where your life and choices have brought you. And so he chooses a goal or destination to reach for, begins to believe he can attain it, and begins to strive toward it.
The key revelation and meaning in the song for me comes in the last verse when he is discouraged because he cannot seem to make visible progress toward his goal and wonders whether it is a waste of time to try. Finally the idea becomes clear that it is not the goal that is most important, it is the striving toward it, the journey, the process, the brings the growth and progress that enriches your life and makes more things possible for you.
I love the use of the horizon image, one that we can all bring to mind and whose behaviour we visually and instinctively understand. I makes a clear and beautiful metaphor for of a goal that seems to forever shift out of reach and stay too far away to attain, but the movement of the goal further away is a result of your progress, how far you've come, and also it brings access to more of the world and more to experience as you "extend your horizons."