This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
We're goin' down the road towards tiny cities made of ashes
Gonna hit you on the face gonna punch you in your
Glasses, oh no!
I just got a message that said "Yeah hell is freezin' over"
I Got a phone call from the Lord sayin' "Hey boy get a
Sweater. Right now"
So we're drinkin' drinkin' drinkin' drinkin' coca-coca-cola
I can feel it rollin' right on down
Oh right on down my throat
And as we're headed down the road towards tiny cities
Made of ashes
I'm gonna get dressed up in plastic gonna shake hands
With the masses, oh no!
Does anybody know a way that a body could get away
Does anybody know a way
Were goin' down the road towards tiny cities made of ashes
I'm goin' to hit you on the face I'm goin' to punch you in your
Glasses, oh no!
I'm wearin' myself a t-shirt that says "The world is my ashtray"
Our hearts pump dust and our hairs all gray
And I just got a message sayin' that hell has frozen over
Got a phone call from the Lord sayin' "Hey boy get a
Sweater. Right now!"
Does anybody know a way that a body could get away
Does anybody know a way
Were drinkin' drinkin' drinkin' drinkin' coca-coca-cola
I can feel it rollin' right on down oh right on down my throat
And as we're headed down the road towards tiny cities
Made of ashes
I'm gonna lay down in the spa where they coat you
In molasses, oh no!
Does anybody know a way that a body could get away
Does anybody know a way
Gonna hit you on the face gonna punch you in your
Glasses, oh no!
I just got a message that said "Yeah hell is freezin' over"
I Got a phone call from the Lord sayin' "Hey boy get a
Sweater. Right now"
So we're drinkin' drinkin' drinkin' drinkin' coca-coca-cola
I can feel it rollin' right on down
Oh right on down my throat
And as we're headed down the road towards tiny cities
Made of ashes
I'm gonna get dressed up in plastic gonna shake hands
With the masses, oh no!
Does anybody know a way that a body could get away
Does anybody know a way
Were goin' down the road towards tiny cities made of ashes
I'm goin' to hit you on the face I'm goin' to punch you in your
Glasses, oh no!
I'm wearin' myself a t-shirt that says "The world is my ashtray"
Our hearts pump dust and our hairs all gray
And I just got a message sayin' that hell has frozen over
Got a phone call from the Lord sayin' "Hey boy get a
Sweater. Right now!"
Does anybody know a way that a body could get away
Does anybody know a way
Were drinkin' drinkin' drinkin' drinkin' coca-coca-cola
I can feel it rollin' right on down oh right on down my throat
And as we're headed down the road towards tiny cities
Made of ashes
I'm gonna lay down in the spa where they coat you
In molasses, oh no!
Does anybody know a way that a body could get away
Does anybody know a way
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
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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.
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.
What Modest Mouse means in Tiny Cities made of Ashes. If we take this song two lyrics at a time, I can see three reoccurring themes. The first of which is: humanity is heading for disaster and war, due to our mass manufacturerism, commercialistic habits, and our conflicting religions. The second is more on a single person level rather then the global scale. It is that he is falling apart, and that he is loosing himself to drugs and other practices that damage the body. The third major theme I can see addresses specifically religion and how is effecting him, along side the world! We are going down a road, towards tiny cities made of ashes. A. We as humanity are on a path, where he sees the aftermath of the war that has happened! B. He himself is going down (“We” maybe as in other people in the same boat) a road that is taking his body to its final resting place. C. This might be referring to Sodom and Gomorrah, which was reduced to ashes because of its filth and sin.
(I am just trying to look at all avenues not just have a closed mind to any possibility!) I'm going to hit you on the face I'm going to punch you in your glasses. A. “I” (possibly meaning the United States or another big country) am going to attack you first, attack you where you are weakest. Meaning that we are not trying to stop, the impending war, we are provoking it. B. “I”: Meaning the drugs, am going to show on you body and make you more fragile. More noticeable! C. “I” (Possibly meaning God or the Devil) am going to punish you, for being a sinful city just like he has done in the past.
(Again, I am just trying to look at all avenues not rule out any possibility!) Skipping down a few because I don’t have time to do them all!! Does anybody know a way that a body could get away? Does anybody know a way? A. How can we avoid it, there has got “to be a way” to steer clear of the impending war. B. How can he stop, and get clean again? C. How can you stop the world from its own filth and make it more presentable? (All of these are pretty much the same answer!) Lastly we are going to do four lyrics as the finally! I just got a message Saying that hell has frozen over, got a phone call from the Lord Saying, "Hey, boy, get a sweater right now!" ABC: Even when we think the evil is stopped or at least slowed the damage is already done. All we can do now is wait for the punishment: The ASHES!!
So the song seems universal with all three, same points, same ending. I think the details don’t matter as long as you understand the point. Plan Ahead, look into the future rather then the now and solve the problems of tomorrow, as if they were here today!! Drake Richardson