Nothing Ever Happens Lyrics
And secretaries turn off typewriters and put on their coats
Janitors padlock the gates
For security guards to patrol
And bachelors phone up their friends for a drink
While the married ones turn on a chat show
And they'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow
Gentlemen time please, you know we can't serve anymore
Now the traffic lights change to stop, when there's nothing to go
And by five o'clock everything's dead
And every third car is a cab
And ignorant people sleep in their beds
Like the doped white mice in the college lab
Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
The needle returns to the start of the song
And we all sing along like before
And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow
Telephone exchanges click while there's nobody there
The Martians could land in the carpark and no one would care
Close-circuit cameras in department stores shoot the same video every day
And the stars of these films neither die nor get killed
Just survive constant action replay
Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
The needle returns to the start of the song
And we all sing along like before
And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow
Bill hoardings advertise products that nobody needs
While angry from Manchester writes to complain about
All the repeats on T.V.
And computer terminals report some gains
On the values of copper and tin
While American businessmen snap up Van Goghs
For the price of a hospital wing
Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
The needle returns to the start of the song
And we all sing along like before
Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
They'll burn down the synagogues at six o'clock
And we'll all go along like before
And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow
This song is not so bleak or literal as to mean that life is meaningless and the same. Rather, it is a comment on misplaced values in society, and the general public apathy seen in western culture.
This is where the synagogue line comes in- tradegies should shock us more than they do, and society should ascribe more value to such events. Similar is the line about american businessmen buying van goughs for the price of hospital wings- you have to question a society where people can spend so much money on something so trivial, when so many people in the world suffer and die.
No, this is not a look at the bleakness of life, but a call to awake from the apathetic circularity of modern life. Rather than allowing each day the be the same, this song hopes that we can make a difference each day, and thus make each day different.
Thank god for xac56, the only one who seemed to get the point of this amazing song...'apathy' is the key word i think. All these things happpen every day but we do nothing to change them and they will keep on happening. Rather than saying nothing matters he's saying everything matters but society doesnt care a lot of the time....beautiful song, I just love this band, so underrated, Justin Currie is a poet and a great singer..just gutted Ive never seen them live
I love this song. To me, it means that really, nothing at all matters at the end of the day.
I really like this song, but still I don't go along with its message.
It made me think of all the things I actually can make happen. And if it just makes a difference to me, it's enough, isn't it? Only if we don't do anything, nothing ever happens. That's what I took from this song.
The circle of life. We do the same things practically every day although we may not recognize this fact.
This song means far more than the daily routine and circle of life. It is using this notion to express whether the human race is adding anything to its continued and evolving existence. It reflects the philosophical questions of human existence and improvement - are we more materialistic, does the world evolve around money, do we care about others, etc, etc. Underrated song.
what time is it set in?
At the time it was recorded - late 80s
"They'll burn down the synagogues at six o'clock" This is the one line I've never fully understood. Or, at least, I never fully understood why it was in this song.
This seems to be another reference to the result of apathy: the Germans of Hitler's time didn't do anything to stop Kristallnacht or the march of Nazism ("They'll burn down the synagogues at six o'clock...") and we are just as passive today ("...and we'll all go along like before...") A brilliant but very bleak song.
This seems to be another reference to the result of apathy: the Germans of Hitler's time didn't do anything to stop Kristallnacht or the march of Nazism ("They'll burn down the synagogues at six o'clock...") and we are just as passive today ("...and we'll all go along like before...") A brilliant but very bleak song.
@kevinbrighton This refers to the six o\'clock news, not litereally burning down at that time but the exposure that most people will get to the event, casually watching the nightly news.
@kevinbrighton This refers to the six o\'clock news, not litereally burning down at that time but the exposure that most people will get to the event, casually watching the nightly news.
@brian0001 I think you've nailed it, thank you!
@brian0001 I think you've nailed it, thank you!
how old are del amitri? i quite lyk a few of their songs but hadnt heard of them till recently