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,
Every time I think of you
I feel shot right through with a bolt of blue
It's no problem of mine, but it's a problem I find
Livin' a life that I can't leave behind
There's no sense in telling me
The wisdom of the fool won't set you free
But that's the way that it goes and it's what nobody knows
Well, every day my confusion grows
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for that final moment
You say the words that I can't say
I feel fine and I feel good
I'm feeling like I never should
Whenever I get this way, I just don't know what to say
Why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday?
I'm not sure what this could mean
I don't think you're what you seem
I do admit to myself that if I hurt someone else
Then I'll never see just what we're meant to be
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for that final moment
You say the words that I can't say
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for that final moment
You say the words that I can't say
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for that final moment
You say the words that I can't say
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for that final moment
You say the words that I can't say
I feel shot right through with a bolt of blue
It's no problem of mine, but it's a problem I find
Livin' a life that I can't leave behind
There's no sense in telling me
The wisdom of the fool won't set you free
But that's the way that it goes and it's what nobody knows
Well, every day my confusion grows
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for that final moment
You say the words that I can't say
I feel fine and I feel good
I'm feeling like I never should
Whenever I get this way, I just don't know what to say
Why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday?
I'm not sure what this could mean
I don't think you're what you seem
I do admit to myself that if I hurt someone else
Then I'll never see just what we're meant to be
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for that final moment
You say the words that I can't say
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for that final moment
You say the words that I can't say
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for that final moment
You say the words that I can't say
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for that final moment
You say the words that I can't say
Lyrics submitted by numb, edited by achangelica
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“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.
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Another Love
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I think the meaning is pretty clear. This person got really burned in a previous relationship, and because of this is unable to love and show care in his present one, even though he so badly wants to. It's lovely song, and very sad. You can really feel how defeated and frustrated he is with himself.
The singer is in a Bizarre Love Triangle. He loves one woman, who is now his ex-girlfriend. He is also in a relationship with another, new woman. However, the singer is not certain if he really does love the new woman or not. He wishes to go back to his ex-girlfriend and waits for her to say "come back to me!" He fears that if he makes any action he might hurt his current girlfriend.
Everytime I think of my ex-girlfriend, I get a shocked (probably by the fact that he laments over his lost relationship).
It isn't a problem of his (but it really is if you look at it). He is living a life that he cannot leave behind. He wants to live a life with his ex-girlfriend... he can't put the past behind him. He is a past dweller.
You can tell the singer that "let go, she is no longer your girlfriend, go on with life." But try telling that to anyone who is deeply in love. Love is blind and the singer still wishes to be with her despite the fact it is "wrong" and nonsensical.
No one really knows why we do these illogical things for love. Every day the internal rift between the ex-girlfriend and new girlfriend confuses the singer more and more. He loves his new girlfriend, doesn't he? Yet, he still desires his ex-girlfriend.
The singer hopes the ex-girlfriend will fall (i.e. get into a bad situation with her current boyfriend). The final words are "come back to me" or "I love you"... basically he wants his ex-girlfriend to make the move.
At this point the singer mentions how he is with another girl. He feels fine and great. But he regrets his decision.
Whenever he thinks about his love triangle, he is confused. He isn't sure what to say ... he isn't sure which girl he really loves as he still has feelings for both.
Of course, he wishes everything was back to square one. Him being back with the ex-girlfriend and the new girlfriend never meeting him... everyone all happy with no problems.
He is still confused, and he isn't sure if the new girlfriend is really someone who should be his girlfriend.
The implication here is that to hurt someone else means he is going to be more serious with another relationship. However, in doing so this seals the deal that he may never get back with his ex-girlfriend.
This somewhat contradicts my other statements, but I think it is implied that he is "hanging out" with someone else new. He should move on with his life, but he holds back because he hopes his ex-girlfriend will come back to him. If he becomes more serious with his new friend, then he dooms the old relationship forever. He fears this commitment... and thus is in the Bizarre Love Triangle.
The chorus:<br /> <br />
@ckdamascus cool interpretation
This song brings back a lot of memories for me. Back when I lived in the dorms at school there was this girl who would wake me up early every Saturday morning to do laundry with her. I would drag myself all hungover, down to the laundry room. She would bring her boom box and listen to music and dance as we did our laundry. This was one of her favorite songs. It moved me to see this girl dance and sing so early in the morning, so happy. It still moves me, it makes me happy inside, I miss doing that with her so much.
I actually read an article where New Order said the song like all their others is about drug addiction. Everytime I see you falling - .. But it can be taken / perceived about relationships as well I guess. Great song though. One of my favorites.
That makes total sense.
i feel a bit embarrassed being the first to even be saying this, but does anybody else think this song is FULL of homosexuality? i mean not necessarily saying NEW ORDER is gay, but it could even be their feelings on the decade of the AIDS scare, the 80s.
''It's no problem of mine But it's a problem I find Living a life that I can't leave behind..." (it's not wrong to be gay, but that was the way he has been brought up, that's what he was taught, making it even harder for him to accept his homosexuality. so he could also be commenting on how society feels about homosexuality)
''And it's what nobody knows well every day my confusion grows'' (again, being confused about his sexuality. he is not out of the closet yet.)
''Every time I see you falling I get down on my knees and pray'' (this is where your red light should be flashing. nobody else even touched this line. SEXUAL IMPLICATIONS GALORE!)
''I feel fine and I feel good I'm feeling like I never should'' (he is happier and more satisfied because he faces the truth when he is with the man. but he feels like he ''never should'' is more commentary on how society's treatment towards homosexuals.)
''Whenever I get this way I just don't know what to say Why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday?''
i think he is commenting on the previous line ''i'm feeling like i never should'' should be in quotations, he's wondering why he just can't BE with the guy, and he wishes there weren't any complications.
and lastly, i'd like to comment on the title of the song. mainly the reason i don't think i'm looking too deeply into the meaning as a whole is because it's a BIZARRE love triange, BIZARRE. get it?
@iamamonster I agree with you. We share the same thoughts. I personally think this song is about homosexuality.
@iamamonster Based on what do you say homosexuality is not wrong? All major religions reject it. People nonstereotypically dogmatic, like Socrates, rejected homosexual advances with the suggestion it was a misleading aspiration.
Right now this song has a lot of meaning for me. I am in the middle of my own bizarre love triangle. I've always thought this was a great song but that I'd hate to feel a close connection with the words. Now here I am, engaged and had an affair with someone from my past who happened to rock my world. My brain is swirling. I'm not a cheater, but here I am cheating. And the worst part is I feel no guilt for what I've done. This song really hits me where it hurts.
Every time I think of the guy I cheated with I get a shock right through me like a bolt of blue.
I'm trying to make things right in my head, but the wisdom of a fool won't set me free, and every day my confusion grows.
Now there's going to be so much awkwardness with my fiance and with the other guy, why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday?
This is the greatest song of the greatest band of the eighties. It means a lot to me. It's just my life's story.
The song is about the BIZARRE love triangle between him his lover and drugs. <br /> <br /> "Every time I see you falling<br /> I get down on my knees and pray<br /> I'm waiting for that final moment<br /> You say the words that I can't say "<br /> <br /> He can't make his lover get help she needs to ask for it that is why he prays for the final moment (rock bottom)<br /> <br /> "I feel fine and I feel good<br /> I'm feeling like I never should<br /> Whenever I get this way<br /> I just don't know what to say<br /> Why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday"<br /> <br /> He is feeling euphoric but knows the love is ungeniune <br /> <br />
I also agree that it could have something to do with drugs...especially the line "......feel like I never should"
I think it's safe to say that it's about the lead songer of the members' former band, Joy Division. Ian Curtis committed suicide because the bizarre love triangle going on between his wife and girlfriend was tearing him apart.
Because of the name, I'm inclined to think that this song is about the singer loving someone already in a relationship. This is reinforced further in "I'm waiting for that final moment/You say the words that I can't say," for he can't tell her that he loves her until she breaks up with her significant other.
well... ive been reading all the explanations here and they all make sense...
but personally ive always thought this about a guy who likes a girl, but the girl dosn't like him. she keeps falling in love with other ppl while he just watches...
the main reason i think this is the chorus:
Every time I see you falling I get down on my knees and pray
so yah. im prob wrong tho.
i first heard this song about 6 yrs ago when i was in a relationship with a man who was engaged. it spoke volumes to me because i was, in fact, living in the bizarre love triangle, so to speak. the song was sang through his POV (in my imagination)... the words "I'm waiting for that final moment, You say the words that I can't say" meant he was waiting, kinda hoping and praying, i would break it off. that i might tell him i've had enough, i can't do this anymore... so he wouldn't have to carry on with another woman and have the guilt from his unfaithfulness... he couldn't break it off with me because the longer we were together the more he realized he wasn't happy with the woman he was engaged to... i was ruining everything by making him more aware. another reason he could never say goodbye to me first was the passion we had between us was something he had lost with his wife to be. that one phrase is the whole song to me.
i love this song, its brilliant, i wish i knew what it meant tho, it may very well be about paranoia, Bernard Sumner is definately a pessimist so im sure theirs a catch to this song.