I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Suburbia, where the suburbs met Utopia
(Where the suburbs met Utopia)
Lost in the high street, where the dogs run
Roaming suburban boys
Mother's got a hairdo to be done
She says they're too old for toys
Stood by the bus stop with a felt pen
In this suburban hell
And in the distance a police car
To break the suburban spell
Let's take a ride, and run with the dogs tonight
In Suburbia
You can't hide, run with the dogs tonight
In Suburbia
Break a window by the town hall
Listen, the siren screams
There in the distance, like a roll call
Of all the suburban dreams
Let's take a ride, and run with the dogs tonight
In Suburbia
You can't hide, run with the dogs tonight
In Suburbia
I only wanted something else to do but hang around
I only wanted something else to do but hang around
(Hang around, hang around)
It's on the front page of the papers
This is their hour of need
Where's a policeman when you need one
To blame the colour TV?
Let's take a ride, and run with the dogs tonight
In Suburbia
You can't hide, run with the dogs tonight
In Suburbia
In Suburbia
In Suburbia
Run with the dogs tonight
You can't hide
Run with the dogs tonight
You can't hide
(You can't hide, you can't hide)
In Suburbia
(Suburbia, where the suburbs met Utopia)
(What kind of dream was this, so easy to destroy?)
(A world together, the cities of the past)
(Mews, slums of the future)
(Suburbia, where the suburbs met Utopia)
(Suburbia, where the suburbs met Utopia)
(Where the suburbs met Utopia)
(Where the suburbs met Utopia)
Lost in the high street, where the dogs run
Roaming suburban boys
Mother's got a hairdo to be done
She says they're too old for toys
Stood by the bus stop with a felt pen
In this suburban hell
And in the distance a police car
To break the suburban spell
Let's take a ride, and run with the dogs tonight
In Suburbia
You can't hide, run with the dogs tonight
In Suburbia
Break a window by the town hall
Listen, the siren screams
There in the distance, like a roll call
Of all the suburban dreams
Let's take a ride, and run with the dogs tonight
In Suburbia
You can't hide, run with the dogs tonight
In Suburbia
I only wanted something else to do but hang around
I only wanted something else to do but hang around
(Hang around, hang around)
It's on the front page of the papers
This is their hour of need
Where's a policeman when you need one
To blame the colour TV?
Let's take a ride, and run with the dogs tonight
In Suburbia
You can't hide, run with the dogs tonight
In Suburbia
In Suburbia
In Suburbia
Run with the dogs tonight
You can't hide
Run with the dogs tonight
You can't hide
(You can't hide, you can't hide)
In Suburbia
(Suburbia, where the suburbs met Utopia)
(What kind of dream was this, so easy to destroy?)
(A world together, the cities of the past)
(Mews, slums of the future)
(Suburbia, where the suburbs met Utopia)
(Suburbia, where the suburbs met Utopia)
(Where the suburbs met Utopia)
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It's not about London it's about Downey, California--but not Karen Carpenter's Downey--Downey by way of the 1984 movie Suburbia--dissaffected punk youth, middleclass anomie, and a motley pack of runaway dogs gone feral.
Another glorious example of how to write catchy pop about something everyone can relate to, this time we're out of the West End and into council estates but the romance is somehow drawn from the violent imagery of the barking dogs and litter/graffitti strewn pavements.... good comment again on the state of 80's Britain! Due for a cover this one methinks
A bunch of hopeless suburban boys are making their usual mess around their town and I assume it's for expressing a kind of revolt over the 'social system' where they are forced to live in, since they tend to consider they are excluded from it ("I only wanted something else to do but hang around"). And the line "Break the window by the town hall" serves to show how revolted they are indeed... At the same time this same 'social system' repress their revolt with the policemen, but without considering to offer to them good opportunities for trying to conquer a better life for themselves.
If this song was written today, It would be about chavs, infact it certainly relates to chavs,
For once this is is a song that relates to the common hoodie, Instead of saying "Lets revolt against these vandals" Its saying "These are the members of the community that the rest of the community has failed"
Its a masterpiece in my opinion
"You can't hide, run with the dogs tonight In Suburbia" I can think of at least a couple of meanings for this metaphor.
I love this song so much! It's catchy and typically PSB! I agree with what you all have said about 80's teen rebellion in the suburbs.
Leeeeets take a ride run with the dogs tonight! In suburbia!