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The Day the World Turned Day-Glo Lyrics

I clambered over mounds and mounds of polystyrene foam
Then fell into a swimming pool filled with fairy snow
And watched the world turn day-glo, you know you know
The world turn day-glo, you know, you know, oh oh

I wrenched the nylon curtains back as far as they would go
Then peered through perspex window panes at the acrylic road
And watched the world turn day-glo, you know you know
The world turn day-glo, you know, you know, oh oh

I drove my polypropolene car on wheels of sponge
Then pulled into a wimpy bar to have a rubber bun
And watched the world turn day-glo, you know you know
The world turn day-glo, you know, you know, oh oh

The x-rays were penetrating through the latex breeze
Synthetic fiber see-through leaves fell from the rayon trees
And watched the world turn day-glo, you know you know
The world turn day-glo, you know, you know, oh oh

And watched the world turn day-glo, you know you know
The world turn day-glo, you know, you know
The world turn day-glo, you know, you know
The world turn day-glo, you know, you know
The world turn day-glo, you know, you know, oh oh
3 Meanings

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Cover art for The Day the World Turned Day-Glo lyrics by X-Ray Spex

Punk's answer to "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", a declaration to the inavoidable pervasiveness of synthetic materials in the contemporary lifestyle idiom. Didn't Poly Styrene have a kind of like/dislike for the materials mentioned in the lyrics ? They looked fantastic doing this on Top Of The Pops, coming across much better than Sham 69, PIL, Siouxsie etc.

My Interpretation
Cover art for The Day the World Turned Day-Glo lyrics by X-Ray Spex

I see this song as a subtly haunting vision of a falsified, plastic world, as exemplified by the frequent usage of soft materials such as "sponge and fairy snow," and other "wimpy" adjectives.

I don't think it necessarily has anything to do with softness, perspex is lucite, that's not very soft, they make furniture out of it. I'd say its more of an observation of a rise in the use of synthetic materials... Wimpy Bar is an actual restaurant, I think the commentary comes in with the rubber bun... Fairy snow is a flower who's origin is Asia, this song was written around a time when America saw a dramatic increase of synthetic materials coming from Asia... Day-glo started making an appearance around the same time marking the beginning of a new era,...

Cover art for The Day the World Turned Day-Glo lyrics by X-Ray Spex

It's about a dystopian future that's synthetic and remote from the natural world.

 
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