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.
Twenty-thousand miles to an oasis
Twenty-thousand years will I burn
Twenty-thousand chances I've wasted
Waiting for the moment to turn
I would give my life to find it
I would give it all
Catch me if I fall
Walking through the woods, I have faced it
Looking for something to learn
Thirty-thousand thoughts have been wasted
Never in my time to return
I would give my life to find it
I would give it all
Catch me if I fall
All my life
Waiting to find
Forty-thousand stars in the evening
Look at them fall from the sky
Forty-thousand reasons for living
Forty-thousand tears in your eyes
I would give my life to find it
I would give it all
Catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall, catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall, catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall, catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall
Twenty-thousand years will I burn
Twenty-thousand chances I've wasted
Waiting for the moment to turn
I would give my life to find it
I would give it all
Catch me if I fall
Walking through the woods, I have faced it
Looking for something to learn
Thirty-thousand thoughts have been wasted
Never in my time to return
I would give my life to find it
I would give it all
Catch me if I fall
All my life
Waiting to find
Forty-thousand stars in the evening
Look at them fall from the sky
Forty-thousand reasons for living
Forty-thousand tears in your eyes
I would give my life to find it
I would give it all
Catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall, catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall, catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall, catch me if I fall
Catch me if I fall
Lyrics submitted by Nelly, edited by esok, MrHorrible, SanibelMan
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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Plastic Bag
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Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
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In the 1980s, sunglasses were a common fashion for people who wanted to adopt a "tough guy" persona (note all the cop shows from that era -- Simon & Simon, Miami Vice, etc. -- where the lead characters wore shades). So I think this song is about a guy who wears shades as a way of hiding his insecurity after learning that his girlfriend is cheating on him. He's trying to pretend that he's a "tough guy" to hide the fact that his girlfriend's affair is disturbing him.
Such a good roadsong! To me it suggests the loneliness of a person on their first great roadtrip alone. Family, lover, home are all half a world away and the speaker has to confront himself as self-alone-in-the-world for the first time, which is often both a wrenchingly painful and joyously exuberant feeling.
This song is so good, it's almost just a perfect tune and idea.
I moved from Austin, Texas to Texarkana, Texas and I can tell you, this is the worst town on earth. A papermill makes the place reek of death.
Texarkana is a city that belongs to two states, as it sits directly on the border of Texas and Arkansas.
I see the narrator describing a journey passing quickly through the decades of his 20s, 30s and 40s. At the same time that he is taking this journey in time, he is also able to stand outside of himself and watch his journey as if he were watching three different men at these different times in his life. He sees how the different stages of his life and their challenges intersect, as his observation intersects time and timelessness. I'm sure there's much more to it, when you get into looking at the lyrics, but that's a first impression.
The lyrics in the demo of the song are nothing like the released version. In the chorus of the demo, Michael Stipe sings "When I live in Texarkana, where's that county line" instead of "I would give my life to find it, I would give it all." So, the title carried over even if the lyrics didn't.
re: the demo version. I'm surprised no one has related the story behind this song. As always, the band wrote the music without lyrics, then Stipe wrote words to fit. He got as far as the chorus mentioned earlier, and some at the end, before he gave up: (he slurs what I transcribe as "I'm there" - it could be something else) <br /> <br /> ======<br /> When I’m there in Texarkana<br /> Where’s that county line, <br /> another county line.<br /> <br /> I can only see, what’s in front of me.<br /> You’re not here<br /> <br /> You are just a memory<br /> You’re in my memory<br /> And I can’t see<br /> <br /> 10 minutes, 10 hours, <br /> 10 days, 10 years<br /> 10 miles, 10 thousand miles away.<br /> ======<br /> <br /> Stipe quit the song at that point. Bass player/keyboardist Mike Mills thought the song deserved to be finished, and insprired, he quickly dashed out the lyrics that he would sing on the album version. About the only bits from Stipe that were retained were the song title (they couldn't come up with a decent new song title so they just kept the old one); and the final line - ten thousand miles - got changed to twenty thousand and made the first line and the major theme of the new lyrics. <br /> <br /> additional: Mills was quoted as saying "...Texarkana is an unhappy song as well. They're pop songs, but they aren't pop lyrics. They're just not lyrics about the state of the world - they're more lyrics about the state of our minds or our lives."
A Canticle for Liebowitz (sp?) is the novel being referred to (a classic of Science Fiction).
Society is rebuilt after a devastating nuclear war by using the relics of Saint Liebowitz (an engineer from the 20th century) since all books are burned and all intellectuals killed after the "flame deluge" (nuclear war). In the end two new superpowers destroy each other, the North American superpower has its capitol in Texarkana.
Twenty thousand are the years of savagery. He would give his life to find the technology to rebuild society. The forty thousand tears in your eyes is the sadness that after all was rebuilt even greater than before the first war, the second war wipes in all away.
The best song on Out of Time and one of my all time favorite REM songs. I'm still not sure why they titled it Texarkana, but the cryptic title adds to my love.
Many years ago, a good friend of mine lived there, but he moved before I had the chance to visit and smell the town's putrid air.
Another great Mills-lead-vocal song.
Another great Mills-lead-vocal song.
I remember looking this up a while back and it said somewhere it was based off a book by the same title. I've wanted to read the book since then, but can't find any information on it anymore.