This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Met a stranger on a train
He bumped right into me
I swear I didn't mean it
I swear it wasn't meant to be
Must a been a dream
From a thousand years ago
I swear I didn't mean it
I swear it wasn't meant to be
From the bottom of my heart
He was looking all over me
Together ever after
He said
"You take me & I'll be you"
"You kill him & I'll kill her"
Kiss me
I swear it wasn't meant to be
I swear I didn't mean it
Kiss me
Kiss me in the shadow of
Kiss me in the shadow of a doubt
Kiss me
Kiss me in the shadow
Kiss me in the shadow of a doubt
It's just a dream
It's just a dream I had
Nononoooooh
Swear it's just a dream
Just a dream
Dream I've had
No
No
No
No
Take me to it
Take me to her
Maybe
Maybe it's just a dream
It's a dream
It's just a
Just a
No
Met a stranger on a train
Bumped right into me
Swear I didn't mean it
Swear it wasn't meant to be
Must've been a dream
From a thousand years ago
Kiss me
Kiss me in the shadow of a doubt
Kiss me
He bumped right into me
I swear I didn't mean it
I swear it wasn't meant to be
Must a been a dream
From a thousand years ago
I swear I didn't mean it
I swear it wasn't meant to be
From the bottom of my heart
He was looking all over me
Together ever after
He said
"You take me & I'll be you"
"You kill him & I'll kill her"
Kiss me
I swear it wasn't meant to be
I swear I didn't mean it
Kiss me
Kiss me in the shadow of
Kiss me in the shadow of a doubt
Kiss me
Kiss me in the shadow
Kiss me in the shadow of a doubt
It's just a dream
It's just a dream I had
Nononoooooh
Swear it's just a dream
Just a dream
Dream I've had
No
No
No
No
Take me to it
Take me to her
Maybe
Maybe it's just a dream
It's a dream
It's just a
Just a
No
Met a stranger on a train
Bumped right into me
Swear I didn't mean it
Swear it wasn't meant to be
Must've been a dream
From a thousand years ago
Kiss me
Kiss me in the shadow of a doubt
Kiss me
Lyrics submitted by shut, edited by jenni adrenochrome., minuette
Shadow of a Doubt Lyrics as written by Lee M. Ranaldo Kim Gordon
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
Hayalperest
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
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.
The Hitchcock movie is based on the book Strangers on a train by Patricia Highsmith, where two strangers meet on a train, one talking about his cheating wife and the other talking about his dad. one of the men says he'll kill the others wife if he kills his dad, and they go through with it.
anyways, does it sound to anyone else like instead of "take me to it, take me to her, maybe, maybe its just a dream" its "didn't do it, didn't do it, made me, made me, its just a dream"? this part isnt in the booklet in the cd
I definitely hear, "Didn't do it, didn't do it." Honestly, this makes more sense to me with the rest of the lyrics and the book reference. Perhaps she wants to pretend it's all dream, and that it didn't actually happen. Perhaps it's regret.
i just saw strangers on a train tonight and my sister and i came to the realization!!! throughout the whole movie she was telling us what happened....
a man meets a stranger on a train, bumps into him, the stranger tells him of a dream, where he kills someone for somebody and in turn the other guy kills his dad. then he kills the guys wife.
it's really intense. like this song.
yeah, i'm definitely going with the hitchcock film reference here. the lines 'met a stranger on a train' and 'you kill him and i'll kill her' definitely elude to it. but without prior knowledge of the film, the other ideas (infidelity, etc) are very plausible.
this is my favourite song of all time. i am not sure why, either. it is just so intense and beautiful, distant and intimate at the same time. it is unlike anything i've heard before, and i never ever get sick of it. kim's voice is amazing. her whisper holds so much emotion and power, just the right amount for this kind of song. and the instrumention is so minimal, but i adore it, there's atmosphere, intensity, urgency and desperation.
hmm i think its about how kim met a guy (no the train, obviously) and a one night stand that she regrets looking back on it.
ryan adams lists this song in his top 10 saddest songs of all time, thats how i found out about this song. it has a very sad feel to it but its not as sad as some songs i know.
i always thought that this song was about getting married, about living your life with another person ("You take me and i'll take you") but first "leaving" your other life, or your life before the wedding ("you kill him and i'll kill her") The "Kiss me in the shadow of a doubt" refers to the uncertainty of everything and the love and strenght you get from your man/wife
wow. not bad sean, i think you might be right
This is like the most depressing song ever. But great.
I'd agree that there's an element of infidelity of here, but I sense more ambivilence. It seems like a dream now, a thousand years ago, she says, seemingly distancing herself from it, as if speaking to her love (Thurston?), but at the same time she sounds perhaps more erotic here than on almost any other Sonic Youth recording. "Kiss me," he whisper playfully, repeatedly, while shouts of "No," also echo in the background. In some sense, it's the basic plot of Eyes Wide Shut reified.
the song refers to hitchcock's movies shadow of a doubt and strangers on a train.
Your interpretations make more sense than mine, considering the specific phrases connected to a movie. Yet I always thought of this song as kim bumping into a man on a train, falling in love, and without words she communicated "You'll kill him and I'll kill her" (as in each others spouses), then loosing eye contact and realizing it was all just her imagination. Regardless of interpretation, this is a very good song.