Risingson

In the song we are introduced to this "girl", his lover. However, this does not mean it is a love, or break-up, song at all. Repeating what "cdagger1024" said, just feel the atmosphere of the song.

"I seen you go down to a cold mirror It was never clearer in my era so You lick a shine upon your forehead or Check it by the signs in the corridor"

-- We are introduced to this woman as someone familiar, however, she seems slightly distant. We are "watching" her as she checks her appearance, even in the reflection of signs in the hallway, we pick up on her vanity.

"You light my ways through the club maze We would struggle through the dub daze"

-- This suggests that she is the reason he is there in the first place. She is kind of dragging him along with her.

"I see myself in there upon my lover It's how you go down to the men's room sink Sad we talk of how madmen think I see myself in there upon my lover"

-- They are getting it on in the bathrooms. 3 main points here:

a) He is SEEING himself upon her - like a dream, like it's not really him, like it's mechanical. From the alcohol/drugs and club atmosphere in general.

b) He is UPON her - this is pure lust, they are drugged up, she wants him to take her over, they assuming the traditional gender roles.

c) She is simply known as "lover" - she has no name, she is nameless, it's purely physical...

which leads up to the next lines:

"I don't know her from another miss I don't know you from another"

-- Confirmation that it's all physical and could also mean that she is, but hasn't always been, like all the other [shallow] girls there.

"Why you want to take me to this party and breathe I'm dying to leave Every time we grind we know we severed lines"

-- He doesn't want to be there, and every time they go they end up separated from each other (easy to get lost amongst the crowd).

"Where have all those flowers gone Long time passing Why you keep me testing, keep me tasking You keep on asking"

-- What ever happened to how they USED to be? Their relationship seems to have developed into something very shallow and meaningless. The testing might be her asking such questions, or even testing in regards to fidelity.

"Toy-like people make me boy-like"

-- All of these attractive, lusty woman around flirting with him make him go back to his "male instinct".

"They're invisible, when the trip it flips They get physical, way below my lips"

-- All the woman are basically invisible, he's not really conscious of who they are etc, when the drug sets in/or over powers him.

"And everything you got hoi-polloi like"

-- Hoi-polloi refers to "the masses".

"Now you're lost and you're lethal"

-- His lover is extremely intoxicated by now and "lost" could be that she is lost literally or figuratively, or both.

"And now's about the time you gotta leave all These good people...dream on"

-- The "good people" are the people from the scene.

"Nicer than the bird up in the tree top Cheaper than the chip inside my lap top All the variations you could do with me Nicer than the girl up in your mind you're free"

-- I think he's referring to the ladies around him again? Nice, but cheap?

"Automatic crystal remote control, They come to move your soul"

-- The sense that everything is being made mechanical by the drugs, and that the whole scene in general is very machine-like.

"You're gonna fade into the background"

-- His lover is now just apart of the scene. She is just another one of the scene-sters, invisible.

"Like a better smoke'll bring you back round Like a man slide inside you my dear Your cheap beer's filled with crocodile tears See 'em run now you're gone...dream on"

-- Her lust has led her to other men. "Crocodile tears" refers to the deceit. The men run away after they get what want, perhaps?

"I found a reason I found a reason"

-- A reason to be "boy-like" maybe? Because there is nothing left to them and what they used to be.

"Dream on"

-- Chanted throughout the song... Maybe "dream on", the hope that there is anything left to them?

Anyways, just some thoughts to mull over on the old noggin. (Always wanted to say that)

Happy listening - Massive Attack pwnz!