In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Run up the spiral staircase to annihilation
Deserted neglected into the dark
Devitalised souls cripple the planet in greed
Proceed until we are absorbed in blood
Causing the premature burial of nature
With the spark to a powder keg
Pining up their toys on the shoulders of the nation
Turning death into universal heir
Make us die slowly
Nuclear winter
Clouds of dust will hide the sun forever, celebrate
Nuclear winter
Blows straight into your heart
Nuclear winter
Day of tomorrow we'll go through
Make your testament
Nuclear winter
Luminaries become dall structures
Atmospheric cataclysm is the result
Epileptic doom of lacerated cannibals
Wrapped up the earth in a shroud
Eternal darkness artificial brightness
Exclusive possession of death
Defaced skulls of radiation
Mutilated past recognition
Make us die slowly
Nuclear winter
Clouds of dust will hide the sun forever, celebrate
Nuclear winter
Blows straight into your heart
Nuclear winter
Day of tomorrow we'll go through
Make you testament
Nuclear winter
Slow death is what we can expect
Strike will have just this one effect
Condemned to capital punishment
By the nuclear sword of Damocles
Disappeared without leaving a trace
Mans dignity and grace
Infected by intruder organism
Changed into weak willed subjects
Ineradicable misanthropy
We stick to nothing
Instinct of self preservation
Spreading venereal disease
Gods of war and vengeance
Commander with good conscience
Use our soul for research
In favor of nuclear technology
Arrived at the end of the spiral staircase
At the doorstep to immortality
Not reached the destination of our dreams
Decided in the struggle for existence
Life has lost, death has won the game
The length of our longing shall be the strength of our glory
Damocles proud and mighty among men
Make us die slowly
Nuclear winter
Clouds of dust will hide the sun forever
Nuclear winter
Blows straight into your heart
Nuclear winter
Day of tomorrow we'll go through
Make you testament
Nuclear winter
Deserted neglected into the dark
Devitalised souls cripple the planet in greed
Proceed until we are absorbed in blood
Causing the premature burial of nature
With the spark to a powder keg
Pining up their toys on the shoulders of the nation
Turning death into universal heir
Make us die slowly
Nuclear winter
Clouds of dust will hide the sun forever, celebrate
Nuclear winter
Blows straight into your heart
Nuclear winter
Day of tomorrow we'll go through
Make your testament
Nuclear winter
Luminaries become dall structures
Atmospheric cataclysm is the result
Epileptic doom of lacerated cannibals
Wrapped up the earth in a shroud
Eternal darkness artificial brightness
Exclusive possession of death
Defaced skulls of radiation
Mutilated past recognition
Make us die slowly
Nuclear winter
Clouds of dust will hide the sun forever, celebrate
Nuclear winter
Blows straight into your heart
Nuclear winter
Day of tomorrow we'll go through
Make you testament
Nuclear winter
Slow death is what we can expect
Strike will have just this one effect
Condemned to capital punishment
By the nuclear sword of Damocles
Disappeared without leaving a trace
Mans dignity and grace
Infected by intruder organism
Changed into weak willed subjects
Ineradicable misanthropy
We stick to nothing
Instinct of self preservation
Spreading venereal disease
Gods of war and vengeance
Commander with good conscience
Use our soul for research
In favor of nuclear technology
Arrived at the end of the spiral staircase
At the doorstep to immortality
Not reached the destination of our dreams
Decided in the struggle for existence
Life has lost, death has won the game
The length of our longing shall be the strength of our glory
Damocles proud and mighty among men
Make us die slowly
Nuclear winter
Clouds of dust will hide the sun forever
Nuclear winter
Blows straight into your heart
Nuclear winter
Day of tomorrow we'll go through
Make you testament
Nuclear winter
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"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
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Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
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Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
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Little Feat
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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Radiohead
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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.
LOL