| The Chain Gang of 1974 – Sleepwalking Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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Before discussing the song's meaning three things must be understood... FIRST: The lyrics in the bridge that currently are listed on this page are incorrect. The incorrect lyrics are: "I Would care Would wait And live again More desperate Desperate Yeah" These lyrics should actually be: Why Why can't I wake And live again? I'm desperate Desperate Yeah! Listen to the song with these words in mind and you will hear that I am right. The former lyrics not only make no sense at all, but they don't even match the sounds of the words being sung. These correct lyrics both make perfect sense within the context of the song AND match the sounds being sung. SECOND: While I realize most of you discovered this song while playing the game Grand Theft Auto, the subject of the song itself has literally zero to do with the game. Set the game side in your mind and truly listen to the song lyrics. Let the song tell you what it's about instead of trying to force it to somehow fit GTA. THIRD: Don't start by trying to woodenly interpret the meaning of every line of the song. This won't work. First, listen to the song in its entirety, letting its overall message and major themes sink in, as well as the raw emotion. This is a work of art, not a term paper. Haha! SONG MEANING (OVERVIEW): The song is telling the story of a person (let's assume a man, based on the singer/songwriter) who is in an illicit relationship with (let's assume) a woman, and the pain that comes with this relationship and the way he is living his life, overall. Being in this relationship of forbidden love (likely an affair) has been like a dream to him. He's been seduced by her eyes, her lips, and the touch of her fingertips. Although fearful of this relationship and his feelings, he engaged in it with her, seeking to please her ("Despite my fears, I danced for you..."). However, over time this dream has turned into a nightmare from which he cannot wake. Affairs are like this. They may feel sweet for a time, but the secrets, betrayals, and inability to be together openly eventually cause great pain. And, yet, however much he may want to be free, he is still bound to her by his feelings and the hold they have on each other. Now, he has even become numb and hopeless in the situation. He doesn't feel like he's in control of himself or his reality anymore. It's like he's... (wait for it...) Sleepwalking! (Hahaha!) and can't wake himself up. And this has left him... "miserable." Yes. You should be able to get all of this from the first verse and the chorus. The second verse is expressing his frustration with himself and God in this predicament. At the start of the relationship, he had visions of happiness (of course he did!). But now, his hopes have turned to tears - not just tears, but tears of burning acid in his veins. He's in emotional agony. And he blames God for the choice he made by getting into this relationship. Why didn't God make us better than this? Better originally, but even improve upon us over time, so that we (and actually the singer) wouldn't make poor choices like this and so would be spared all this pain. "Can't I just sleep for now?" Anyone who has experienced serious depression knows that it usually makes a person just want to sleep - to escape the pain, and also because it's emotionally exhausting. This is almost certainly part of the meaning of this. However, at the same time, remember the context. The dream is his illicit relationship. Staying asleep is also a way of avoiding having to face the painful reality of where all of this is going. He wants to just pretend that part isn't happening - to ignore it... "for now," and stay with her in the dream, as if that's all there is. Now, we come to the bridge - the most powerful part of the song. And now you see why having the correct lyrics for this part is essential to understanding not only these particular lines, but the entire song. He's crying out to the same God he blamed earlier... He's begging for God to "wake" him up from the nightmare, so that he can "wake, and live again." He's Desperate! And you hear his primal scream in the song at this point - his cry of despair. "But you just said he wants to stay asleep, too. Which one is it?" It's both. That's the nature of our conflicted souls. He's simultaneously in love with her and addicted to what the relationship gives him, not wanting to give it up, AND recognizing that he's trapped and needs to wake up from the nightmare, so he can "live again" in the "real world," but finds he can't do it on his own. And this is where we leave him... crying out to be awakened from this sleepwalking through life, numb, because he's cut off from reality. He wants his life back. Let's all hope he gets it. It's an amazing song and the emotions are raw and real. Kamtin was inspired when he wrote this. It's brilliant. (Now, hopefully, you appreciate this song even more, and see why trying to restrict or force its meaning to be about the game GTA V is far too limiting, and results in so much richness being lost.) |
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