The song 'Fortnight' by Taylor Swift and Post Malone tells a story about strong feelings, complicated relationships, and secret wishes. It talks about love, betrayal, and wanting someone who doesn't feel the same. The word 'fortnight' shows short-lived happiness and guilty pleasures, leading to sadness. It shows how messy relationships can be and the results of hiding emotions. “I was supposed to be sent away / But they forgot to come and get me,” she kickstarts the song in the first verse with lines suggesting an admission to a hospital for people with mental illnesses. She goes in the verse admitting her lover is the reason why she is like this. In the chorus, she sings about their time in love and reflects on how he has now settled with someone else. “I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary / And I love you, it’s ruining my life,” on the second verse she details her struggles to forget about him and the negative effects of her failure. “Thought of callin’ ya, but you won’t pick up / ‘Nother fortnight lost in America,” Post Malone sings in the outro.
Here in my place and time
And here in my own skin I can finally begin
Let the century pass me by, standing under the night sky
Tomorrow means nothing
I was only a child then
Feeling barely alive when
I heard a song from a speaker of a passing car
Praying to a dying star, the memories fading
I can almost remember singing( La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
We watched the end of the century
Compressed on a tiny screen
A dead star collapsing and we could see
Something was ending
Are you through pretending?
We saw the signs in the suburbs
You could have never predicted that it could see through you
Kasparov, Deep Blue, 1996
Your mind's playing tricks now
Show's over so take a bow
And leave it in the shadows (La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
(Oh, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
Hey
Put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey
Put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
And here in my own skin I can finally begin
Let the century pass me by, standing under the night sky
Tomorrow means nothing
I was only a child then
Feeling barely alive when
I heard a song from a speaker of a passing car
Praying to a dying star, the memories fading
I can almost remember singing( La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
We watched the end of the century
Compressed on a tiny screen
A dead star collapsing and we could see
Something was ending
Are you through pretending?
We saw the signs in the suburbs
You could have never predicted that it could see through you
Kasparov, Deep Blue, 1996
Your mind's playing tricks now
Show's over so take a bow
And leave it in the shadows (La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
(Oh, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
Hey
Put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey
Put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
Lyrics submitted by jazzmaster5120, edited by wfish
Deep Blue Lyrics as written by Win Butler William Butler
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is my favorite song off the new album. IMO the lyrics are pondering our significance in the coming century, now that computers have the increasing ability to perform tasks superior to us. With the breakthrough of computers/robots that can even hypothesize and perform nearly intuitive tasks, where will we be in 100 years? "Show's over so take a bow" A beautifully dark interpretation of our future.
brilliant interpretation my friend
For anyone wondering, Kasparov was a chess genius, and Deep Blue was a software written by IBM that was able to beat him, back in 1996.
@htcdb125 Yes, and the entire Kasparov camp was in despair.
The really soft bit at the end is:
Hey, put the cellphone down for a while in the night there is something wild can you hear it breathing? and hey, put the laptop down for a while in the night there is something wild i feel it, it's leaving me
I have the booklet from the CD so these are the official lyrics.
At the risk of sounding nitpicky, Kasparov actually won the match against Deep Blue in 1996 -- I believe the final score was 4-2 in Kasparov's favor; an upgraded Deep Blue won the rematch in 1997. However, the computer did beat Kasparov in the first round of the '96 match, and the fact that it beat a grandmaster at all may be enough for Arcade Fire's point.
I think the song is about how much the world has changed in just two decades, and how by accepting all the little changes we do, brought on by technology and social institutions, we're accepting a new way of life and that we can never go back. Arcade Fire lyrics often favor the natural over artificial ("I pray that I won't live to see the death of everything that's wild"), and portray characters trying to escape, but finding this impossible.
At the risk of enabling nitpicking, I actually came to this site because I thought the lyrics I found somewhere else were wrong. Since the first time I heard this song I heard "Kasparov beat Blue in 1996". Being an old fart, I remember the event. The song seemed especially poignant to me because that was that last time the human won, marking the end of an age. Nothing will ever be the same after Blue started winning.
I don't think you're being nitpicky - in fact I think you've struck upon the genius of this song. Kasparov defeated Deep Blue in 1996 (3.5 - 2.5). Deep Blue won the rematch a year later. What Win Butler, et al, are lamenting is not the moment when the human lost. They are lamenting the moment when loss became inevitable. Not the defeat, but the promise of defeat. Brilliant.
Does anyone know the falsetto/whispery part at the end? I got:
Hey Put the cell phone down for a while (inaudible) Hey Put the laptop down for a while (inaudible) The feeling is leaving me
"We amount to something now" for the first part of the first inaudible? No idea.
it's "we're living in the shadow of..." not "And leave it in the shadows" (from digital booklet of the EP)
favourite song off the album love the piano!
the guitar in the end sounds like Edge's guitar on the Achtung baby. Amazing song, the lyrics are really expressive. My fav from the new album
While I understand his point, I suspect Win shouldn't fear obsolescence as I don't see a computer writing meaningful music any time soon.
Yeah I wouldn't be so confident about that.
I wondered what the song from a passing car might be, maybe about "praying to a dying star" and having a chorus like "Lie Lie Lie..." (that chorus brought to mind Simonn & Garfunkle's 'The Boxer' - not about a dying star, unless it could mean a fading champion boxer) .. but Win Butler was born in 1980 and that song is from the 60s.
Then I found at dazeddigital.com/music/article/8081/1/arcade-is-on-fire :
' Will Butler: 
In "Deep Blue," there's the line "I was only a child then/Feeling barely alive when/I heard a song from the speaker of a passing car." Both Win [Butler] and Richie [Parry] have strong memories in their youth of hearing music coming out of a passing car, and wondering what the heck it was. In Win's case, it was our friend's older brother driving, and he was listening to Depeche Mode." '
AND... at lyricsg.com/247617/lyrics/thearcadefire/deepblue.html
' - Frontman Win Butler told the NME: "'Deep Blue' to me sounds like Neil Young with Depeche Mode at the end - which shouldn't work, but I think it does." '
So, does anybody know what Depeche Mode song might fit? When I listened to "Lie to Me" I found some musical similarities with 'Deep Blue' (minor key, and a V-IV-IIIb-(IV)-V/I main melodic sequence) but "Lie to Me"s lyrics are not about a Dying Star ... DM's "The Darkest Star" came out in 2005, - not when Butler was a kid.
Ideas?
My expectation is that 'prayer to a dying star' isn't a specific reference, but rather more of an evocation of an emotion of the moment... even though it is twinned with 'a dead star collapsing' later in the song. Sheesh, now i'm wondering if some celebrity died and prompted this thought. ha!
It reminds me of Personal Jesus, a little bit.
I believe the very track in question was posted on arcadefire.com until fairly recently on the Videos page. Not a lot of help I know but perhaps someone remembers what it was. Given Win Butler's age chances are it's from Violator, Songs of faith and devotion or Ultra. Possibly 'Lie to me' though Butler was only four when it came out (on Some Great Reward) but I think I recall reading his comment that he was a young teen at the time.
Oops, found it, and it's Personal Jesus and it's still on arcadefire.com/blog/some-random-music-clips/<br />
@arlobee I'm like seven years too late, but if its the quote "Praying to a dying star" you're still curious about... I'll leave this here.<br /> My inquiry is that the usage of a "dying star" is a symbolic metaphor to represent the death of a generation, but also the creation of a new one at the same time. <br /> When a star dies, it explodes, this is called a supernova, but the seeds of the star then scatter across the galaxy to create "a new generation of stars to grow," as defined by google. Knowing this, you could consider that dying star in the song is a form of symbolism that is representing Win Butler's treasured memories of his generation-- a time before the revolution of technology. <br /> This can also help explain the second appearance of "dying star" in this song; "We watched the end of the century" "A dead star collapsing and we could see". The connection to the prior line "watched the end of a century" also strengthens this hypothesis.<br /> But then there's the addition of "praying" to this dying era. Praying is defined as seeking to speak gratitude to another, express a solemn request, or to wish for a specific event/occurrence.<br /> Using this information, when putting together "Praying to a dying star," you can conclude that the entire message is that Win is either thanking his generation, wishing for it not to end, or saying a formal goodbye to it. Whichever way you decide to perceive this based on the given information can vary.<br /> <br /> -Chloe out ,':) drops mic