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”
It's time we said goodbye
Time now to decide
O' don't you feel so small
Dark is the night for all
It's time we moved out West
This time will be the best
And when the evenings fall
Dark is the night for all
It's time, yeah, to break free
It's time to pull away
For you and for me
It's time, yeah, to break free
We need to celebrate the mystery
It's time we said goodbye
Time for you and I
O' don't you feel so small
Dark is the night for all
Time now to decide
O' don't you feel so small
Dark is the night for all
It's time we moved out West
This time will be the best
And when the evenings fall
Dark is the night for all
It's time, yeah, to break free
It's time to pull away
For you and for me
It's time, yeah, to break free
We need to celebrate the mystery
It's time we said goodbye
Time for you and I
O' don't you feel so small
Dark is the night for all
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More Featured Meanings
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
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.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
The song’s meaning is plain and simple for those who understand the dark underbelly of the music industry. The song is about the band’s members (and any other artist for that matter) unable to break free from the overwhelming control and domination to which they’re being subjected by the industry’s higher ups, with them feeling utterly trapped and helpless. In fact, the disturbing video of the song makes it clear that this control seems to take the form of severe torture (mk ultra) to bring about total dissociation of the band’s personalities (it even can’t get any more obvious in the video: Morten’s core personality is shown trying to tear at / break free from his artificial “musician” persona/artificially created ego); torture is also shown in the form of spinning orbits (known to induce hypnosis), feeling drugged (core personality is shown collapsing to the floor) and perception of distorted reality (not knowing what’s real or not, individual is shown seeing half his body clear while the rest blurred and in different proportions; think Alice in Wonderland when she sees herself bigger than her surroundings), and helplessly tied to other band members who are also blindfolded from head to toe and trying to break free aimlessly. The video ends with the image of the tortured man/core personality (tied to sticks and crying out in pain) finally splitting and now “awoke” to a new world (new persona created). This song is about every musician who sells his soul to the industry and that’s why A-ha sang this particular song in an award ceremony attended by countless artists that night. In fact, the majority of A-ha’s songs narrate the aftermath of them selling their souls to the industry, and revolve around the themes of their regret, torture, helplessness, rebellion, etc.).
This song sort of makes me want to cry a little...
really sad words for a beautiful song. it's the first 'black' period for the band... they said 'pain is not only for someone... everyone has its own and we all are too little to face pain alone , like a child too little in the night.'
Curious lyric this. Initially i thought it was about breaking up and breaking away. Now that i look at it closer could it be about two of them breaking away together from a town or a situation that has them tied down ? There is some ambiguity in the lyric. Is it like Springsteen's Born to Run, about two lovers running off (it's time WE moved out west). The music (sad) however suggests the earlier breakup interpretation tho .
I can't put it better than Andrea above, who I would say is spot on.
Although, like all good lyrics, they do retain some ambiguity. For example, the well worn line "It's time we moved out West, this time will be the best" could be taken at face value as moving to America and making lots of money with the fat cats a la Tina Turners song 'Simply the Best' which ended up being played at countless corporate conferences for greedy yuppies; however, these are the oppressors in this song and I prefer to interpret it as a simple reference to all the penniless Europeans that migrated to America when it was a new land and new start, because there was nothing for them in their own lands. One of their finest songs if you ask me.