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.
You've been taught that this won`t do
They put me in the picture but the film turned blue
A glimpse of you, turning the town red.
A head full of brand new words and a mouth full of shocks
You`re a big boy now, with a face to stop clocks.
Turning the town red. (x2)
You made your bed, and now you better dream in it.
The word that you once whispered, now you`re screamin` it.
Days drip down like bad wallpaper.
Pictures plastered on the ivy creeper between your old toy soldiers
And your mother`s sleepers.
Turning the town red. (x2)
You made your bed, you better face the consequence.
A black pool opened at my feet into a dream sequence.
Turning the town red. Aah. (x4)
You know I heard her call my name
Least, I think that`s what she said.
Surely I`m the correlation that`s gonna cause her shame
So, what`s she doing in my bed?
Turning the town red. Aah.
(Repeat)
They put me in the picture but the film turned blue
A glimpse of you, turning the town red.
A head full of brand new words and a mouth full of shocks
You`re a big boy now, with a face to stop clocks.
Turning the town red. (x2)
You made your bed, and now you better dream in it.
The word that you once whispered, now you`re screamin` it.
Days drip down like bad wallpaper.
Pictures plastered on the ivy creeper between your old toy soldiers
And your mother`s sleepers.
Turning the town red. (x2)
You made your bed, you better face the consequence.
A black pool opened at my feet into a dream sequence.
Turning the town red. Aah. (x4)
You know I heard her call my name
Least, I think that`s what she said.
Surely I`m the correlation that`s gonna cause her shame
So, what`s she doing in my bed?
Turning the town red. Aah.
(Repeat)
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Dreamwalker
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Yo La Tengo
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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,
When We Were Young
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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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.
Punchline
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.