All We Ever Wanted Was Everything

I always thought the second line was "all we ever got was Gold". It made me think the song was about human greed. No matter how much you have "gold, jelly for breakfast, being the cream" of the crop socially, you still want more "everything". And the rest of us Factorytown have-nots eating sandwhich bars, barbed wire, and squash over and over desire to be that haves. Greed on all levels. No matter what you are given, you always want more.

I agree with everyone's interpretations of the song being about Bauhaus growing up in Northampton- 'barbed wire', 'Factorytown'. This song is in a way similar to Bowie's Life On Mars song - sorry for another Bowie comparison, Bauhaus. But, instead of asking 'is there life on Mars?' (I wish I could move away, Mars is better than England), it goes on about the desire to escape through fame ('All we ever wanted was everything'). I mean, considering this is from their last album, where the band's split was being seen as almost inevitable at the time (I imagine), the song to me sounds like a reflection on Bauhaus's original motives in comparison to their feelings after releasing 3 well received albums. I think the 'All to be the cream' part refers to the idea of wanting to be the 'creme de la creme' (best of the best), which was most likely one of the bands original desires. That line, and the whole song in general, sounds like it's written from a retrospective viewpoint, suggesting that in their early years, Bauhaus were naive, and that towards the end of their musical career, their motives changed.

alot of Bauhaus's songs are about the mundanity of normal life. I think this one was about the industrial town the grew up in.

Finding the surreal in boring reality. Reminds me of "Dirty Old Town".

"These lyrics are an universal anthem for avoiding being trapped in a dull life" - Somebody on Youtube

It's about being trapped in the vise-like grip of average adulthood after (or while) dreaming of bigger, better things.

Maybe we dream of being the cream of the crop, and maybe there was a moment when we were younger when success seemed possible, but guess what, now we're eating shitty prepackaged food and living the boring routine normie lives while scraping by, and we're trapped in it like everyone else.

They did play it during the last tour indeed, hopefully they will do so again during the upcoming tour. The song is very simple yet the words are very well chosen. It's about the point in life where routine has taken control and all days look the same, no nice perspectives, nothing to bring a spark into your life. "squash every week into a day" speaks for itself I think: very little happening, very little joys to be felt, as if time goes by slower than it really does.

This song is all I ever wanted

I do believe it's about growing in a factory town. Wanting to have a much different life and the only real glamour that the current surroundings offer is a guaranteed job with the promises of money. "Get up eat jelly, sandwhich bars and barbed wire," that's the repetitive bland breakfast before walking into the job that everyone you've ever known and will know works in. I will say that "to be the cream," is a mythology reference, since Murphy uses those a lot, which means the cream must be churned in order to be something, but if it doesn't it is just a mundane and non-risk taking life.

And why has no one commented on this? Very simple guitar, very simple lyrics and very simple drums combined to make a fantastic track. It captures the depressing essence of original goth music. Amazing