Do you feel like a chain store?
Practically floored
One of many zeros
Kicked around, bored
Your ears are full but you're empty
Holding out your heart
To people who never really
Care how you are

So give me coffee and TV, peacefully
I've seen so much, I'm going blind
And I'm brain-dead virtually
Sociability
Is hard enough for me
Take me away from this big, bad world
And agree to marry me
So we can start over again

Do you go to the country?
It isn't very far
There's people there who will hurt you
'Cause of who you are
Your ears are full of their language
There's wisdom there, you're sure
'Til the words start slurring
And you can't find the door

So give me coffee and TV, peacefully
I've seen so much, I'm going blind
And I'm brain-dead virtually
Sociability
Is hard enough for me
Take me away from this big, bad world
And agree to marry me
So we can start over again

So give me coffee and TV, peacefully
I've seen so much, I'm going blind
And I'm brain-dead virtually
Sociability
Is hard enough for me
Take me away from this big bad world
And agree to marry me
So we can start over again

Oh, we can start over again
Oh, we can start over again
Oh, we can start over again
Oh, we can start over again


Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae

Coffee & TV [Single Edit] Lyrics as written by Damon Albarn David Alexander De Horne Rowntree

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Coffee & TV song meanings
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69 Comments

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  • +9
    General Comment

    The song is about opening up your mind and exposing yourself to the complex higher-thinking and experiences. I, personally, imagine a person who just traveled across the world… from Britain to less-developed parts of the world. On a quest for truth.

    This quest for truth has brought the traveler to the realization that there is a lot of evil and negativity in the world. Again, an ‘ignorance is bliss’ type revelation. I dare any of you to do some honest research and learn about the world… educate yourself. Chances are you’ll come back to this mind-numbing.

    Coffee and TV represent two things that many people indulge in which has very little actual value, and can act as a crutch. Coffee has very little nutritional value and TV does not inspire independent thought.

    jpwild240on March 09, 2005   Link
  • +8
    General Comment

    Anyone seen the music video to this?? It's the coolest thing ever, with little milk cartons walking around. The song's awesome, but that video makes it ten times better.

    ArtClarkon April 19, 2002   Link
  • +6
    General Comment

    why do some people here actually interpret this as a love song? the line "and agree to marry me" does not determine that it is a love song. this song is purely about someone who can't learn to be social, most likely because of alcoholism as 'ok' previously stated. it's a song about reaching out for a helping hand of a lover, a friend, or even a complete stranger who will be there with you to see the suffering through.

    "our ears are full but you're empty holding out your heart"

    this expresses what it feels like to feel crowded in our mind by your desires (alcohol) and thoughts. i like to interpret the "noise" in his ears as the paranoid little man screaming for help in his head. he also later talks about going to the country (a quieter place), but then his insecurity and lack of self-confidence hits him again, and he is sucked back into the abyss of his own paranoia. "sociability is hard enough for me" explains this very clearly.

    Now, back to the "agree to marry me" part. this part may confuse the listener at first (i suddenly lost track of the message of the song when i read this verse on the lyrics card for the first time), and that is perfectly normal. i like to believe that since this song IS based on the guitarist's past alcoholism crisis - that this line is probably what the narrator in this song says to a girl he just met at a bar/pub. drinking clouds your judgement, and this man might have jokingly proposed to a girl or several girls before that he had gotten hammered with in a bar. he is reaching out for happiness, and to him, it comes in a bottle. he sees anything that is even only slightly positive as a doorway to true happiness. but till he can overcome this, he must try to enjoy his "Coffee and TV".

    argh my fingers hurt now from the typing.

    babieblitzon July 08, 2008   Link
  • +5
    General Comment

    Just saw them play this song live on the Hyde Park reunion concert dvd, and I think i finally realized what Coffee and TV is about. After years of listening to the song I can finally see it as more than just awesome sounding guitars with a catchy melody, and ambiguous lyrics.

    Coffee and TV was primarily written by Graham Coxon; blur's lead guitarist. He has always struck me as a shy, socially awkward introvert (In the best possible way. After all, it takes one to know one.) He even looked liked he had a hard time addressing the audience at Hyde Park before starting the song, and was very subdued during the performance.

    For some reason, the lyrics were more clear than ever. Coxon was singing about his state of mind (in 1998-ish, the point in time when he wrote it) at the height of the band's career. "Practically floored" references being burned out and a general "I'm over this" state of mind. The song seems to be all about struggling with being out in society, around other people that make you feel uncomfortable, and finding refuge in a single like-minded person that takes all that social pressure away.

    What makes it even more compelling is that the guy was a frikin' rock star by the time he wrote these lyrics. Meaning his job required him to always be "Holding out your heart to people who never really care how you are." In other words, he had no choice but to be out in the world constantly; feeling burned out by constant touring and having to interact with places and social situations he would normally rather avoid. The following quote from the chorus seems to illustrate that; "Seen so much I'm going blind and I'm brain dead virtually. Sociability is hard enough for me." It makes for a compelling amount of tension in the song, and confirms Coxon's tortured genius persona.

    The second verse probably is a reference at an attempt to try to get away from it all, and for many Brits that means getting out to the country. Only, If you are a famous rock star, they still know you there. The biggest difference between the city and the country in that respect is that people in the city will play it cool and ignore celebrities, and smaller towns have a tendency to feel like they know you and go out of their way to tell you what they think. In other words, "there's people there who'll hurt you just for who you are. "There's wisdom there you're sure, 'till the words start slurring" is probably referencing encounters with country fans that probably had a valid point to make, but were too drunk/excited to make it clear. I don't know if you've ever tried to tell someone you're a fan of how much they mean to you, but no matter how you do it you always end up sounding like a raving lunatic.

    The line "so give me coffee and TV, easily." Is a cozy reaffirmation that there is no place like home. No matter how boring or uneventful it is, it beats the hell out of being worked to the ground and giving all of yourself to people who don't really care about you or your songs the way you want them too. It seems despite the fame and "exciting" life of adoration, what truly validates Coxon's life is the mundane things he gets to share with a person that can help him "start over again."

    Not to get too gossipy, but I think Coxon was in a serious relationship with the future mother of his child at the time 13 was recorded, and probably in the grips of a devastating heroin addiction. This song seems to be the perfect output of that bizarre dichotomy.

    bchapaon September 14, 2011   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    mostly what strikes me with the song is that up beat rhythm. i like it, it's happy. get's me rocking. i think it's one of my fav all time songs really. so maybe i'll write some shit about the verses. for fun, mind you. it's the whole premise of mediocrity. maybe. depends what coffee signifies to you. tv. well, that's tv, isn't it? so it doesn't really come at you as something superb. it's just a whole mundane life. lines like 'your ears are full but your empty...' very simple but effective lyrics. this song works _much better heard. 'sociability, is hard enough for me...' so the character here needs to make an effort, you see. to all these people who don't really care and give nothing back. it's enough to make you want to fuck off the whole world because it makes you blind. it's numbing. need some escape. some kind of replenishment. someone maybe to believe in.
    i'm feeling fucked as it is.

    deckardon January 16, 2002   Link
  • +2
    My Interpretation

    This is a great Coxon song, a true unappreciated legend, one of the best guitar players and musical influences this country has spawned, although I'm sure he'd squirm, play with his hair, “um and ahh” at any suggestion of him being a legend!

    I come from the same town that Graham grew up in and this song strikes a chord (read Essex Dogs) and you'll know what I mean. I never met him, know him or profess to, but if I did, I’d like a cup tea and a chat with him.

    The great thing about song writing is you can write it to mean something, nothing or a bit of both. There are always three sides to every story.... your side, their side and somewhere in-between is the truth!

    My take on this song is about him growing up in Colchester and his younger years, being a pads brat, no real home, an Army life but trying to fit in.

    Do you feel like a chain store, practically floored?

    Graham used to work in Colchester Sainsbury, it’s a chain store, boring and very practically floored

    One of many zero’s, kicked around bored

    Perhaps a reference to himself, basic job and no prospects. However, the suggestion of being bored, means he has some intelligence and is thinking of something better, dreaming of a new world? He knows he can break out

    Your ears are full but you’re empty, holding out your heart

    Tricky, whose ears are full? A reference to basic check out chit chat? Holding out your heart? People you don’t know, telling their life story in 3 minutes? Perhaps his ears are full of music but the people he interacts with are empty and can’t hear what he hears inside of his own head.

    To people who never really, care how you are

    A double meaning maybe, customers or his boss? No one really cares how you are on most occasions; did anyone ask him how he was? Just a factory churning out goods for cash in return, brings back memories of chemical world.

    So give me coffee and TV

    Lots of references to Graham’s alcoholism on here, maybe it is, I’m not so sure. Personally I think he’d prefer a cup of tea. “So give me Tea and TV” don’t go, so could be. I do believe its getting home, chilling and having some time on you own

    History, misery, easily?

    Which one, I’d always heard it as misery until I read these blogs, think it maybe easily now?

    Seen so much I’m going blind and I’m brain dead virtually

    Total over load, bored

    Sociability, hard enough for me

    Graham struggles with himself, on one hand he’s shy but on the other and by the very nature of what he does, he’s really confident. Deep down I feel he knows he’s worked hard, perfected his craft, but still is very insecure with how good he’s become. There lies the problem, he’s not what he wants to be, I think he was born ten years too late and should have been a punk. We all want him to be the most interesting person you could ever meet, I'm sure he is, but only a very small circle of friends will ever truly know him and even they never will.

    Take me away from this big bad world and agree to marry me, so we can start over again

    I’m getting bored

    Do you go to the country, it isn’t very far

    Colchester is in the country, not far from London, but far enough.

    There’s people there who’ll hut you, because of who you are

    Growing up in the late 70’s early 80’s in a squaddie town, as gentle as Graham is, there will be people who will want to hurt you because you sound different. If he’s looking back later in life, penning the song from his London pad, it makes sense, the country is not far, but still he remembers the hard old days.

    Your ears are full of their language, there’s wisdom there you’re sure

    Starting fights, going out in town, getting picked on but trying to make sense of it

    Till the words start slurring and you can’t find the door

    Mine are now, and the handle has moved!

    Errr, time for a cup tea!!

    I still think in years to come generations will still listen to Blur and love their songs and try and make sense of them like we do now with” The Kinks”

    My only negative comment on Blur is how they have shunned their home town, Colchester, and pretend to be Londoners. Dave was born in Colchester, but all bar Alex, grew up in that town from a young age and their songs show that. I feel they have a lot of angst toward the town and county that was their home. Wherever you were nurtured in that period of time, it was the same, bullying, non PC, racist etc.

    It’s now a great place to live and has a fantastic history that we only just now understand, I think Graham will come back and love it. The 2000 year old Roman wall, the largest and most complete Norman Keep (Colchester Castle) ever built in Europe (ordered by William the Conqueror) It was built upon the foundations of the Roman temple of Claudius, destroyed some 1000 years earlier by Boadicea. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star was penned in Colchester, Humpty Dumpty was written here about the English civil war, oysters, Old King Cole, The Roman race track, and Blur! So much inspiration, come home Gray Ho!!

    History, yes. Inspiration for the future, yes.

    DumptyHumpt3on October 21, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    yea the song is amazing and the video is too, i just saw it on mtv2 for the first time in like 2 years, lol i hate to sound like a 3 year old girl but the milk cartons are mad cute

    duczon May 30, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I love this song and my friends make fun of me for it. I just love the guy's voice when he says "Coffe and TV" it's sweet. This song also has a guitar solo that is awful but great at the same time. Weird. The video is also very sweet.

    NateKalbachon July 12, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    i think its basically about all the fuss of modern life, and judgemental people bringing people down but all he wants is his coffee and tv, abosultly lsuhious song, i will gladly marry him and start over again.

    i.am.meon April 06, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I agree. It's so rad.

    boilthechickenon May 24, 2002   Link

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