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.
Well we're looking at the cover,
We're spending all our time
Just staring at the magazine
Well, look who's on the cover,
wasting all our time...
some pseudo-fascist hero-machine
Well, that's no space for a human being
That man is not a hero or saint.
When somewhere in deepest America,
Grown men weep at the sound of his name
So it goes, and it goes...
All the girls named Gloria
Sing sweetly out of key.
The sun rose in the west today,
accidents in the land of the free...
Well I grew up where they showed you the body count
In color on your dinner TV
And I've been numbed so insensitive
That all I can think about is You and Me
You know, children from the best homes
They all have guns n' butter
They have their share of murder blue
Well it's not such a wiggy-awesome good time
When the shopping-mall militia point their cannons at you..
So it goes..
All the girls named Gloria
Sing sweetly out of key
The sun rose in the west today
Accidents in the land of the free
I love this world harder in my imagination
Than my conscience should allow
But accidents do happen, accidents will happen
Don't you dare to ask me how.
All the girls named Gloria
Sing sweetly out of key
The sun rose in the west today
Accidents in the land of the free
I love this world harder in my imagination
Than my conscience should allow
But accidents do happen, accidents will happen
Don't you dare to ask me how
We're spending all our time
Just staring at the magazine
Well, look who's on the cover,
wasting all our time...
some pseudo-fascist hero-machine
Well, that's no space for a human being
That man is not a hero or saint.
When somewhere in deepest America,
Grown men weep at the sound of his name
So it goes, and it goes...
All the girls named Gloria
Sing sweetly out of key.
The sun rose in the west today,
accidents in the land of the free...
Well I grew up where they showed you the body count
In color on your dinner TV
And I've been numbed so insensitive
That all I can think about is You and Me
You know, children from the best homes
They all have guns n' butter
They have their share of murder blue
Well it's not such a wiggy-awesome good time
When the shopping-mall militia point their cannons at you..
So it goes..
All the girls named Gloria
Sing sweetly out of key
The sun rose in the west today
Accidents in the land of the free
I love this world harder in my imagination
Than my conscience should allow
But accidents do happen, accidents will happen
Don't you dare to ask me how.
All the girls named Gloria
Sing sweetly out of key
The sun rose in the west today
Accidents in the land of the free
I love this world harder in my imagination
Than my conscience should allow
But accidents do happen, accidents will happen
Don't you dare to ask me how
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first, the lyrics offer no clue what "4th Street" in the title signifies. therefore my guess, below, is preliminary and subject to change in the event the 4th Street reference ever becomes clear.
the song criticises aspects of modern America: the first verse condemns celebrity worship. the second condemns violence on TV and commercialism. The third condemns the myth of America as an affluent nation of Cadillacs and a chicken in every pot, juxtaposed with the reality of widespread domestic poverty, and hypocritical lip-service to altruistic values masking a culture of greed and egocentrism, of which much denial prevails.
"All the girls named Gloria" is a sarcastic term for angels "sing sweetly out of key" heavenly praises sung of America, however sweet, ring false, out of tune and out of touch "sun rose in the west today" could mean that everything we think is true is false/opposite (the sun should rise in the east). "...accidents in the land of the free" pulling this out of an unnamed orifice here, but this could be mean that individual "success" stories in America are nothing more than accidents, that success comes in spite of, not because of, the way things are. or it be meant sarcastically, that success-story "accidents" are not accidents at all and that individual success in America occurs only after climbing upon the backs of others.
"accidents do/will happen.... don't you dare ask me how" the narrator is ashamed of his/her own success, either calling it an accident literally, or suggesting sarcastically that it occurred not as an accident but at the expense of others.
"4th Street" may refer to a place where an accident occurred that inspired the song, but I can't fathom how an accident might have inspired this criticism of American culture/economy/society.
Continuing my post above,<br /> <br /> The title "Accidentally 4th Street" might be a play on Bob Dylan's "Positively 4th Street". In that way, this song could be viewed as a response or follow-up of that Dylan song. <br /> <br /> Dylan's song targets an unnamed person for being opportunistic, insincere, secretly hostile, lacking integrity, self-pitying, and otherwise an all-around *****, while this song, I think, targets modern consumer society and its decaying moral values. The same derisive tone is used in both songs. Another similarity is that "4th Street" is never mentioned in the lyrics of either song.<br /> <br />
I always thought "the sun rose in the west today" referred to a (potential) nuclear explosion. To me, an explosion in "the west" would refer to America, also tying in the next lyric "accidents in the land of the free".<br /> <br /> I think your analysis is pretty spot on for the rest, and I'll add to it that I think the criticism points specifically toward Ronald Reagan (the pseudo-fascist hero machine) as well as modern America at the time. Remember, this song was written in the mid 80's. Politics aside, Reagan was viewed my many as warmongering and likely to get us all killed with his game of chicken with the Soviet Union. The song refers to the glossy sheen the administration put around the whole defense build up, glorifying war, while referring to having grown up in the Vietnam era where they showed the real cost of war on tv.<br /> <br /> Overall, I think the song is referring to Reagan's military build up, the glorifying of war while ignoring poverty at home, and the potential for nuclear disaster. Of course this is completely subjective, it's just sort of what the song meant to me.