Life's the same I'm moving in stereo
Life's the same except for my shoes
Life's the same you're shakin' like tremolo
Life's the same it's all inside you

It's so easy to blow up your problems
It's so easy to play up your breakdown
It's so easy to fly through the window
It's so easy to fool with the sound

It's so tough to get up
It's so tough
It's so tough to live up
It's so tough on you

Life's the same I'm moving in stereo
Life's the same except for my shoes
Life's the same you're shakin' like tremolo
Life's the same it's all inside you

Life's the same I'm moving in stereo
Life's the same except for my shoes
Life's the same you're shakin' like tremolo
Life's the same it's all inside you


Lyrics submitted by caramelized

Moving in Stereo Lyrics as written by Ric Ocasek Gregory A. Hawkes

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Moving In Stereo song meanings
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20 Comments

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  • +8
    General Comment

    To me this song is a challenge.

    its soo easy to let life get to you. the mundane, everything is just the same. You blow up your problems and get carried away in the breakdown, everything spirals out of control til you're moving in stereo - not like stereo that you listen too but living a dual life, you feel like one person on the inside but the conflict is with who you project on the outside. Flying through the window - getting things blown out of proportion. Its so tough to get up - everyday you can just let it keep you down. But like i said its a challenge to get up, live your life, who cares, don't buy into the hype of your tantrums.

    Or maybe i can just relate to every single lyric in this, i had a case of acopia - an inability to cope with things. Everything just blew out of proportion and played into the breakdown and couldn't get out of bed and the conflict of living in stereo. But i got over it, and thats why i think its a challenge becaues he says 'its soo easy ' to do it, so why do the easy way.

    its harder to deal with shit, but once you do its worth it.

    i dunno. just late night ramblings

    twilightprincesson May 04, 2010   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    phoebe cates getting out of a slo-mo swimming pool and removing her top!

    THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is superb filmmaking!

    roger wilcoon June 16, 2002   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    I think the song it talking about how some people become drama queens and let ever little thing get to them. The reality is that life is the same for everyone, we all have our problems, we just need to deal with them and get on with our lives. Ric Ocasek was known to date beautiful models so he may have encountered a few tantrums from some of them. The "Moving in Stereo" may have been due to the fact that Ric was a musician and that he related his problems to the mixing board and that he could use the pan pot to move a particular sound from one speaker to the next at his whim. If you have a problem with life, just pan it somewhere else and get on with your life.

    Scifiboy2002on May 22, 2009   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    I find it pretty significant that this was the last song Kurt Cobain played live before cancelling his future tours and taking his life a month later.

    To me, it's about lack of willpower and the incapacity to change.

    I remember one time when I was trying to "better myself" in college, I downloaded one of those "improve your concentration," or "care less what others think of you" or "let go of your past" hypnosis tapes. There was always an introduction at the beginning where the hypnotherapist talked about how we were hardwired to perpetually act on the same habits and how difficult it was to change that on a conscious level.

    That may have been bullshit to sell the tapes, and the tapes themselves probably didn't work. But sometimes I take a moment and look at things, and really do realize that there aren't many things I can do to make long term changes on a grander scale.

    When I'm depressed, this becomes a truth instead of a possibility, and one that's very difficult to escape from. Something about the sinister and crawling tones of this song makes me feel that the songwriter knew what that felt like.

    mkay17on February 25, 2015   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I can say with conviction that this is an excellent song to listen to when one is in an altered state. Through Headphones is a must for the full effect.

    Red Octoberon March 23, 2010   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    One word.. Anxiety.

    mike108399on January 26, 2022   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I always see this song as an opening to All Mixed Up, like maybe they follow a similar storyline. Considering the two songs do meld into each other. And also in All Mixed Up he talks about her "She's always out the window" and in Moving In Stereo he says "It's so easy to fly through a window"

    ThePythonon June 03, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    the best song they ever did!

    ledzeppelinon October 15, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I think the song is trying to say that everything is inside of your head, and that it is really easy to blow things out of proportion, or get down on your breakdowns, and all you have to do is play with the sound or chance your thinking about the situation, change your head.

    life is the same life out there, it is just how we perceive it. You might get so down on yourself that the world seems to be mono, but life's the same, I'm right here moving in stereo. It's all on your head.

    chodmcvon July 21, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    This is the perfect song about having a nervous breakdown. Trembling/shaking, having disturbing thoughts of flying out a window. Trying to calm himself by being reminded life’s the same, he’s still the same person he was before, even if he feels like a mess in his current state of mind.

    Beeteaon September 19, 2019   Link

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