I came across a cache of old photos
And invitations to teenage parties
"Dress in white" one said, with quotations
From someone's wife, a famous writer
In the nineteen-twenties
When you're young you find inspiration
In anyone who's ever gone
And opened up a closing door
She said: "We were never feeling bored

'Cause we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"
And we were never holding back or worried that
Time would come to an end"

When I went I left from the station
With a haversack and some trepidation
Someone said: "If you're not careful
You'll have nothing left and nothing to care for
In the nineteen-seventies"
But I sat back and looking forward
My shoes were high and I had scored
I'd bolted through a closing door
I would never find myself feeling bored

'Cause we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"
And we were never holding back or worried that
Time would come to an end
We were always hoping that, looking back
You could always rely on a friend

Now I sit with different faces
In rented rooms and foreign places
All the people I was kissing
Some are here and some are missing
In the nineteen-nineties
I never dreamt that I would get to be
The creature that I always meant to be
But I thought in spite of dreams
You'd be sitting somewhere here with me

'Cause we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"
And we were never holding back or worried that
Time would come to an end
We were always hoping that, looking back
You could always rely on a friend

And we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"
And we were never being boring
We were never being bored
'Cause we were never being boring
We were never being bored


Lyrics submitted by Mina-dupe

Being Boring Lyrics as written by Neil Tennant Christopher Lowe

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

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Being Boring song meanings
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    Question

    This song is easy to identify with, even if you're from a later generation and never actually knew anyone who died of HIV/AIDS: although it is implied that the friend who isn't "sitting somewhere here with me" is someone who died, it might have been from drug OD, suicide, accidents (especially automobile), various other diseases, etc. I learned a few years ago that the younger daughter of my next-door neighbours when I was a child died — I think she was in her 20s — from septicaemia caused by MRSA that got into her IV catheter when she was in the hospital being treated for injuries from an automobile accident. It doesn't seem so long ago, but hospitals didn't understand the significance of antibiotic resistance in bacteria like S. aureus and didn't follow strict sterile procedures nearly as strictly as they do today (plus the misuse of antibiotics was commonplace — still a problem in a lot of countries, notably India). The point is, I think most of us, by the time we reach 30 or so, have a friend (even if not a really close friend) who was close to our age who died.

    OK, that said...my question is, what does the "In spite of dreams..." part mean? Any ideas?

    GwiberWyrddon March 06, 2018   Link

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