Right Here, Right Now

These comments are sooo far off... except for Zoster's.

This song is about the end of the Cold War and the Fall of the Soviet Union. The line is not "I saw the decade in" but "I saw the decade END" as in the last year of the 80's, 1989, the Berlin Wall basically gave way to popular revolts and marked the beginning of the fall of the Soviet Union. It's obvious this is what the song is about just from watching the video, but anyone who was old enough to watch the evening news in that time period knows EXACTLY what the song is about and how the writer feels. The "woman on the radio" who "talks about revolution when it's already passed her by" might be a more specific reference than I know of, but the point is that the revolution was quick and sudden, and in most cases before the leaders/dictators of the USSR and satellite countries even knew what was happening.

this song is about the end of the cold war, the autumm of nations: "watching the world wake up from history".

zoster and nylentone have it absolutely right. This isn't a timeless song about any good thing. It's about one very specific thing. This song came out in 1991 and reflects the joy and astonishment for those of us who "were alive and waited" for this. On numerous occasions from 1956 to 1988, there were signs of the Eastern Bloc becoming more democratic, and they were always crushed by purges, arrests, and/or tanks.

Then when it finally happened, it happened so fast it was unbelievable. After some gradual signs of change in Poland and Hungary early in 1989, everything accelerated in the final weeks of the year. The Berlin Wall was opened on November 9 and by Christmas the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe were virtually wiped off the map without a war. Virtually all of these changes happened in the final few weeks of 1989, hence the line about the decade ending.

Bob Dylan sang about revolution but he didn't (in his heyday) have THIS to sing about. The band can hardly pack enough joy into the lyrics that the world was changed so much and so suddenly for the better and that they (and many of us) got to see it happen. It was like winning a war without the war.

The posted lyrics have some significant glitches. A woman on the radio talks (not "talked") Bob Dylan didn't have this to sing about (no "you" at the end) I saw the decade end (not "in")

I always though the "Woman on the radio talked about revolution" is Tracy Chapman songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858554163/

This appears to be about the Fall of the Berlin Wall representing the final WWII Victory in Europe with the subsequent freeing of the Captive Nations and dissolution of the Soviet empire. Unfortunately, the West has squandered the victory over the past few decades and we now suddenly find ourselves transported back to the Cold War era with Ukraine War, threats by China and North Korea in the far east, and the recent outbreak of war in the middle east.

Well I found the meaning of the song quite different than what people think here. In the late 80's Mainstrim music was far away from classic rock songs. The 90's brought a new life to the Rock industry and this is the real meaning of the song. In the early 60's it was all about Rock & Roll with suits and class, than Bob dylan talked about a revoloution and a change that was coming and Jonas Jones mentioned it in their song. It arrived with the British Invation with bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and the rest is history. In the late 80's The Hard Rock / Arena Rock was big with bands like Gunz & Roses and Bon Jovi. But there was another genre that arrived, The Indie Rock with bands Like R.E.M and The La's. Then, this song "right here right now" has arrived and peaked the major charts and symboled the change that is coming in mainstream music. The Indie Rock then devoloped into Brit-Pop with bands like Oasis and Blur, and Punk-Revivel with bands like Green day and The Offspring, And Grunge music with bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. So in the lyrics of the song "Right here Right Now" they talk about the revolution of music in the new dacade that is coming - The 90's! What do you think?

This song is about savoring the moment and to me it's about change

Yep, it's all about right now, and just finally feeling alive and living in the moment, and it's what you live for everyday, to feel alive.

This song is about living in the 1980s when it was written, where everyone talked about the "60's revolution that had already passed us all by.

It is about right here right now intesad of living in the past for a revolution that was long over. And how everyone talked about how great the music was in teh 60s and 70s. He wanted everyone to know that current music was where it was all about.

I saw Jesus Jones interviewed about this song 15 years ago and that pretty much summed up what he had to say bout it.

I can very much relate to nylentone. The funny thing here is how Mike Edwards weaves quotes from other songs in the political/historical context. I guess the woman on the radio in the first verse is Tracy Chapman's "Talking 'Bout A Revolution". I'm no Dylan expert so I can't pinpoint the reference, but Dylan had from "The Times They Are A-Changin'" his own share of revolutionary songs. In the second verse Mike Edwards seem to tip his hat to Princes "Sign O The Times". Both - Chapman's and Prince's songs - are rather disillusioned about revolution and change, so it makes sense if he puts these references that might have been very present for the listener behind him in the chorus when he goes "Right here, right now". I always liked how clever he used the context here.