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.
There is a dream I used to have
My dream swallowed me whole
There is a bridge where I hate to go
That is where I first saw her
High on the bridge I seen her red hair shining
There is a girl I never knew
She was my Aunt Virginia
They said that she, she just disappeared
They said I look just like her
High on the bridge I seen her dancing, waving to me there
She smiled and raised her head
Then she took to the air
There is a dream I can't escape
My memories come back to me
There is a hell I can't escape
My memories come back to me
I heard the truth about it
Pictures and headlines hidden away
I heard the truth about my real mom
Jumping from the bridge that day
Now I know why ever since I was 3 years old
Been having the same nightmare
Now I know the truth about Virginia
Why she took to the air
My dream swallowed me whole
There is a bridge where I hate to go
That is where I first saw her
High on the bridge I seen her red hair shining
There is a girl I never knew
She was my Aunt Virginia
They said that she, she just disappeared
They said I look just like her
High on the bridge I seen her dancing, waving to me there
She smiled and raised her head
Then she took to the air
There is a dream I can't escape
My memories come back to me
There is a hell I can't escape
My memories come back to me
I heard the truth about it
Pictures and headlines hidden away
I heard the truth about my real mom
Jumping from the bridge that day
Now I know why ever since I was 3 years old
Been having the same nightmare
Now I know the truth about Virginia
Why she took to the air
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae
Queen of the Air Lyrics as written by Craig Montoya Art Alexakis
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I Can't Go To Sleep
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No Surprises
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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.
Magical
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How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Head > Heels
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“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
Trouble Breathing
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While the obvious connections with suicide or alcoholism could be drawn easily, more subtly this song could be about someone who views the world through a negative lens constantly and how as much as the writer tries to show the beauty in the world, this person refuses to see it. It's one or another between the rope and the bottle. There is no good option for this person. They can't see it. Skiba sings it in a kind of exasperated way like He's tired of hearing this negative view constantly and just allowing that person to continue feeling the way they feel knowing he can't do anything about it. You can hear it when he says maybe you're a vampire.
he sings it so sincerely, that's what sold this song for me.
This song isn't autobiographical. It's just this story that Art made up - likely something he might have heard of where he grew up, but definitely not about him. I read about some of the song meanings a long time ago where Art was actually telling what they meant and he said that after he sang this song, Greg (who was pretty new to the band) apologized about his mom and Art was like "huh?" and he was like "the song" and Art told him it wasn't a true story. I think of that every time I hear this song.
Is this song based on a true story?
If it is, I don't think it's Art's story. It might be for Craig, but Greg seems to have had a fairly consistent life as a child. The thing I don't get is... is he saying his aunt killed herself and he looks like her or that his mom killed herself and his aunt took him in?
This song isn't based on a true story. But considering the kind of places that Art grew up in, a story like that would not be uncommon. And what's happening in his song is that he is having this nightmare of this woman jumping off the bridge when he was three. All his life he was told that his "aunt" Virginia just disappeared one day, whom he looks a lot like. He discovers, as he continues ot have the nightmare, photos and headlines hidden away that talk about a woman committing suicide. Then all his memories come back to him, and he now remembers that his "aunt" was actually his mom, and that she committed suicide by jumping off the bridge.
This song is pretty self-explainatory...I don't know if it's based on a true story...regardless, Art Alexakis is a lyrical GENIUS!
this song always makes so sad. yea Art Alexakis and Everclear are amazing
what a wonderful song
what a wonderful song
I've known several people (including first cousins) who, in their teens or later, experienced some sort of stunning revelation about their parentage. This story is not really that unusual. Parents have been known to commit suicide in front of their children. Children are sometimes raised by non-biological parents, with the identity of their biological parents kept secret from them... What is unusual is the exquisite, succinct blending of music and language and vocal emotion by Alexakis, generating such vibrancy and clarity to the story. It's as beautiful and compelling a tale as any novel or film I can think of, and as a mere 3 minute rock song, just about as good as storytelling gets. A thorough and complete masterpiece.