Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
So you finally got what you wanted
You've achieved your aim by making me walk in line
When you just can't get any higher
You've used your senses to suss out this week's climber
And the small fame that you've acquired
Has brought you into cult status but to me you're still a collector
There's tarts and whores but you're much more
You're a different kind 'cause you want their minds
And you just don't care 'cause you've got no brains
It's just a face on your pillowcase
That thrills you
And you started looking much older
And your fashion sense is second rate like your perfume
But to you in your little dream world
You're still the queen of the butterfly collectors
And you carry on 'cause it's all you know
You can't light a fire, you can't cook or sew
You go from day to day by filling your head
But you surely must know the thrill between your legs
Has worn off
And I don't care about morals
'Cause the world's insane and we're all to blame anyway
And I don't feel any sorrow
Towards the Queens and Kings of the butterfly collectors
There's tarts and whores but you're much more
You're a different kind 'cause you want their mind
And you just don't care 'cause you've got no brains
He's just a face on your pillowcase
That thrills you
You carry on 'cause it's all you know
You can't light a fire, you can't cook or sew
You go from day to day filling your head
But you surely must know the thrill between your legs
Has worn off
And I don't feel any sorrow
Towards the Kings and Queens of the butterfly collectors
You've achieved your aim by making me walk in line
When you just can't get any higher
You've used your senses to suss out this week's climber
And the small fame that you've acquired
Has brought you into cult status but to me you're still a collector
There's tarts and whores but you're much more
You're a different kind 'cause you want their minds
And you just don't care 'cause you've got no brains
It's just a face on your pillowcase
That thrills you
And you started looking much older
And your fashion sense is second rate like your perfume
But to you in your little dream world
You're still the queen of the butterfly collectors
And you carry on 'cause it's all you know
You can't light a fire, you can't cook or sew
You go from day to day by filling your head
But you surely must know the thrill between your legs
Has worn off
And I don't care about morals
'Cause the world's insane and we're all to blame anyway
And I don't feel any sorrow
Towards the Queens and Kings of the butterfly collectors
There's tarts and whores but you're much more
You're a different kind 'cause you want their mind
And you just don't care 'cause you've got no brains
He's just a face on your pillowcase
That thrills you
You carry on 'cause it's all you know
You can't light a fire, you can't cook or sew
You go from day to day filling your head
But you surely must know the thrill between your legs
Has worn off
And I don't feel any sorrow
Towards the Kings and Queens of the butterfly collectors
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More Featured Meanings
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
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Holiday
Bee Gees
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@[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.
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
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.
i think this song is definitely about shirley...if u read and know her life story. I mean, look, she sings about a girl or a woman who wanted to be something bigger in life,, or a queen , how she poses it. She wanted to be smarter, but she turned out to be a second class whore probably, who sleeps with her lover, and its all she probably has in her life, that gives her some kind of satisfaction. She cant do anything in life,,,but she really wanted to be something...she could not make it. it is definitely sad.
Actually, this song is a cover, so I highly doubt that it's about Shirley. The song was originally performed by The Jam.
wow, very interesting Riko... totally didn't know this was a cover and have really tried to figure this song out but i love it anyways
Well i heard it and had to think of a book I once read by John Fowles: The Collector. For me it absolutely fits the protagonist..dunno maybe it's just a coincidence...anyone know the book?
The song "Butterfly Collector" is a B-Side Song by the group "The Jam". It's about a particular breed of groupies/starfuckers: the type that, besides making their living seducing musicians via trading sex for financial support, try and use sex to gain a considerable amount of psychological control over the famous people they sleep with. They just don't just fuck for fame and money, they fuck for power they have over their prey, to the point that they can use their sexuality to get the famous person to do whatever they want. But in the end, as soon as someone new and even more famous comes along, the "butterfly collector" will dump their current lover for another famous lover. The whole "notch on the bedpost" thing taken to it's most extreme: seduce someone, make them do anything you want, but dump them for another famous person because the butterfly collector only gets off on controlling and seducing rich people. And each man (or woman) they seduce and dump becomes a "butterfly" in their "collection" of past lovers.
Of course, the song does seem to indicate that the "butterfly collector" in particular that the song is about, is fast reaching the point where karma is now catching up to her: the starfucker is getting older, she's no longer attractive and her sexy clothing and sexy perfume is now considered to be "second rate" by the men she is attempting to seduce as her thralls. Furthermore, as her looks (her only asset) fade, she has no life skill training: can't cook her own meals, can't sew; all she knows how to do is seduce and have sex with men. And even that is failing her these days as she gets older and less attractive.
However, she's in denial and moreso, because her starfucking has given her a level of minor "cult" fame, she still sees herself as a big shot, someone who is still at the top of her game as the "Queen of the butterfly collectors".