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.
Grim-faced and forbidding,
Their faces closed tight,
An angular mass of New Yorkers
Pacing in rhythm,
Race the oncoming night,
They chase through the streets of Manhattan.
Headfirst humanity,
Pause at a light,
Then flow through the streets of the city.
They seem oblivious
To a soft spring rain,
Like an English rain
So light, yet endless
From a leaden sky.
The buildings are lost in the limitless rise.
My feet catch the pulse and the purposeful stride.
I feel the sense of possibilities,
I feel the wrench of hard realities.
The focus is sharp in the city.
Wide-angle watcher
On life's ancient tales,
Steeped in the history of London.
Green and grey washes
In a wispy white veil
Mist in the streets of Westminster.
Wistful and weathered,
The pride still prevails,
Alive in the streets of the city.
Are they oblivious
To this quality?
A quality
Of light unique to
Every city's streets.
Pavements may teem with intense energy,
But the city is calm in this violent sea.
Their faces closed tight,
An angular mass of New Yorkers
Pacing in rhythm,
Race the oncoming night,
They chase through the streets of Manhattan.
Headfirst humanity,
Pause at a light,
Then flow through the streets of the city.
They seem oblivious
To a soft spring rain,
Like an English rain
So light, yet endless
From a leaden sky.
The buildings are lost in the limitless rise.
My feet catch the pulse and the purposeful stride.
I feel the sense of possibilities,
I feel the wrench of hard realities.
The focus is sharp in the city.
Wide-angle watcher
On life's ancient tales,
Steeped in the history of London.
Green and grey washes
In a wispy white veil
Mist in the streets of Westminster.
Wistful and weathered,
The pride still prevails,
Alive in the streets of the city.
Are they oblivious
To this quality?
A quality
Of light unique to
Every city's streets.
Pavements may teem with intense energy,
But the city is calm in this violent sea.
Lyrics submitted by shed27
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Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
Somewhere Only We Know
Keane
Keane
Per the FAQ on Keane's website, Keane's drummer Richard Hughes, stated the following:
"We've been asked whether "Somewhere Only We Know" is about a specific place, and Tim has been saying that, for him, or us as individuals, it might be about a geographical space, or a feeling; it can mean something individual to each person, and they can interpret it to a memory of theirs... It's perhaps more of a theme rather than a specific message... Feelings that may be universal, without necessarily being totally specific to us, or a place, or a time..."
With the nostalgic sentiment and the overall tone of the song, I think Keane is attempting to express a Portuguese term known as 'saudade', which does not have a direct English translation but roughly means "that which we remember because it is gone."
The first half of the song describes a street scene in New York. The second half describes one in London. Musically, the song is composed of two very similar halves, one for each city. Aside from statements that find both cities (perhaps all cities) very positive for their energy, there's not too much indirection here -- every line says what it means.
The New York scene includes a rain "like an English rain", detailing one facet in which New York is like London.
There aren't too many phrases that actually capture the nature of either city. New York has a limitless rise. London has history and is weathered. This could just as well be about Chicago and Rome.
I think Neil Peart must have been reading some Lewis Mumford when he wrote this lyric. Mumford's masterpiece, The City in History, explores the dynamic of city growth. He weighs the pros and cons of organic city growth versus urban planning. He notes, specifically, how light is unique to every city's street. Mumford also has a lot to say about function and form in urban planning, which is a phrase that appears in another of Peart's lyrics on "Moving Pictures" (Vital Signs).
Mumford explores livability in the urban environment, studying things like commuter patterns right down to city tourism and how a city impacts a new visitor ("my feet catch the pulse and the purposeful drive").
Mumford also discusses how the urban form can bring comfort and security to a citizen and, despite the population density of urban living, the urban form is still an organic one; a natural place for human existence ("Pavements may teem with intense energy, But the city is calm in this violent sea."0
This song is amazing, but the lyrics are not straight forward. The lyrics must be read in context of the whole album, particularly the first and last songs, "Tom Sawyer" and "Vital Signs". Their next album, "Signals," carried on the same theme. It is said of "Today's Tom Sawyer" that his "skies are wide" and his "eyes are wide", as would be"wide angle watchers" as mentioned in "Camera Eye". All others seem oblivious of such things as beauty and quality. The most difficult phrase is: Pavements may team with intense energy But the city is calm in this violent sea.
What is "this violent sea"? Is the violent sea this general disconnect, this general oblivion to what is mentioned in "Tom Sawyer": The world is The world is Love and Life are deep. This "focus is sharp in the city." The last song, "Vital Signs", identifies the many various indications of this general disconnect and concludes that "Everybody has to elevate from the norm".
i like this song. the complex world of the big city. so brilliant, so alive, yet...so dangerous.
I like this song. It's not one of Rush's most well known, but the synth opening is great.
wtf only 3 posts?!?! this song is great
I love this song too. I found it interesting to read some of the reviews concerning Rush's greatest hits compilations on Amazon and it struck me as a bit odd that this one has never been included.
hey everyone..i love this song...could someone please help me with finding a detailed meaning for this song..i need it for school, cheers.
At 10:56, this was the last song Rush recorded that was over 10 minutes long.
At 10:56, this was the last song Rush recorded that was over 10 minutes long.