In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Help me, somebody help me
I wonder where I am
I see my future before me
I'll hurt you when I can
It seems like I've been here before
It seems like I've been here before
It seems like I've been here before
It seems like I've been here before
Confusion sprung up from devotion
A halo that covers my eyes
It sprung from this first estrangement
No one have I ever despised
Is this the way that you wanted to pay
Won't you show me, please show me the way
Is this the way that you wanted to pay
Won't you show me, please show me the way
Show me, show me, show me, show me, show me
I wonder where I am
I see my future before me
I'll hurt you when I can
It seems like I've been here before
It seems like I've been here before
It seems like I've been here before
It seems like I've been here before
Confusion sprung up from devotion
A halo that covers my eyes
It sprung from this first estrangement
No one have I ever despised
Is this the way that you wanted to pay
Won't you show me, please show me the way
Is this the way that you wanted to pay
Won't you show me, please show me the way
Show me, show me, show me, show me, show me
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
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.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.
Is it just a coincidence that this song sounds just like "Blue Monday", or is it an early version of the song or something?
@samwalton Quite likely they built on it when they did Blue Monday.
"Won't you show me, please show me the way" From what I understand, New Order had no idea what they were doing in the beginning. This song is probably a reflection of that.
it sounds A LOT like Blue Monday though I think it's intentional
@diana_x it precedes Blue Monday.
This song is the proto-Blue Monday, and in my opinion, better. I love the sequencer through out. I believe this song was made as a song o be played at the Haccienda night club owned by Factory.
@Stray Cat it's astonishing. Nothing else sounds like it before or since.<br />
I wish I had have seen New Order play this song live just before or after it had been released.
I imagine the band would have belted this song out when being played live, judging by a few bootlegs I've heard.
I had the "1981 — Factus 8 — 1982" EP on cassette tape and used to listen to it nearly every single day back in 87/88.
I have NO idea...but the feel of the song is from when I listened to it early 20's. It feels angsty and trippy and something for drunken dancing in a warehouse style nightclub.
I have no idea if this is true or not, but I heard once that the title of this song refers to an incident where Peter Hook sneezed in Bernard Sumner's face. Or was it the other way around?
@Schadenfreude I've never read that before.<br />
Same as the last post, I also recall reading somewhere - in print - not online - from one of the band members, that it was the colour of the light outside the studio after the evening recording session. Like a lot of new order, the lyrics are hard to interpret plainly but the power of the music is undeniable. I also recall this was their first recorded use of a sequencer. Pretty cutting edge considering it was 1981.
I've never seen the full lyrics before. I thought the lines at the end were 'is this the way that you want us to go' or something, rather than what's written above. And on that basis I took it as Bernard asking Ian Curtis if he thought moving into electronic music was the direction to take.
Oh yeah, and I read once the title came about just becuase they walked out of the studio after recording it and there was a greenish light about. Could mean everything's going well as well.