Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
She's gone in a word, and tanked-up
And I can't sleep at all, I can't sleep at all
She's gone in a word, the ephedrine
Got caught halfway down, the pretty anti-ground
Don't wanna miss such an American scene
And I said to myself I'm not turning off
I said to myself I'm not turning off
And I said to myself I'm not turning off
And I said to myself I'm not turning off
Oh honey, oh please, it's just a machine
Oh honey, please, it's just a machine
Oh honey, oh please, it's just a machine
Oh honey, oh please, it's just a machine
There's something about, you're up late
Your can tastes like tin, aluminum
There's something about, I'm not the only one
That can't sleep at all
That can't sleep at all
And I don't want to miss such an American scene
And I said to myself I'm not turning off
I said to myself I'm not turning off
Well I said to myself I'm not turning off
And I said to myself I'm not turning off
So connect, connect, connect, connect to me
Connect, connect, connect, connect to me
Oh honey, oh please it's just a machine
Oh honey, oh please, it's just a machine
Oh honey, oh please, it's just a machine
Oh honey, oh please, it's just a machine
It's just a machine
And I can't sleep at all, I can't sleep at all
She's gone in a word, the ephedrine
Got caught halfway down, the pretty anti-ground
Don't wanna miss such an American scene
And I said to myself I'm not turning off
I said to myself I'm not turning off
And I said to myself I'm not turning off
And I said to myself I'm not turning off
Oh honey, oh please, it's just a machine
Oh honey, please, it's just a machine
Oh honey, oh please, it's just a machine
Oh honey, oh please, it's just a machine
There's something about, you're up late
Your can tastes like tin, aluminum
There's something about, I'm not the only one
That can't sleep at all
That can't sleep at all
And I don't want to miss such an American scene
And I said to myself I'm not turning off
I said to myself I'm not turning off
Well I said to myself I'm not turning off
And I said to myself I'm not turning off
So connect, connect, connect, connect to me
Connect, connect, connect, connect to me
Oh honey, oh please it's just a machine
Oh honey, oh please, it's just a machine
Oh honey, oh please, it's just a machine
Oh honey, oh please, it's just a machine
It's just a machine
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More Featured Meanings
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
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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.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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.
A) This song is incredible - Britt Daniels is simply the coolest lead of any rock band out right now, and nobody seems to know it. At the end, with those short-burst screams - so cool. B) This song is about drugs. It's about 2 people who take drugs together. "She's gone in a word, and tanked-up" is clearly a reference to being intoxicated. Ephedrine's synthetic derivatives are amphetamine and methamphetamine. "There's something about, I'm not the only / who can't sleep at all". That refers to how they're both "tanked up". When you're on meth it's a very mechanical feeling, like your body is a machine (I've never taken it, but that' what I've heard). Here's what one meth user had to say about it : "It was like all of the switches in my body and in my brain felt like they finally got turned on." (Check out the link to that quote here: sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3) So yeah, clearly he's "turned on" and "not turning off". I don't think that the quote "your can tastes like tin, aluminum" refers to a beer in a can. I think he's talking about the girl he's with, how she's like a robot, or a machine. "Connect to me" he says. Obviously a sexual reference (meth increases libido, incidentally). Ok, that's it from me.
Well it's definitely about insomnia, forced or otherwise. Ephedrine is a drug, a stimulant. Aluminum taste is from the beer can he's drinking from. The machine reference I think is vague on purpose. WHAT machine? I can think of a few, but I think that reference is meant to be eerie & mysterious.
I agree with you, person from texas before me. this man is highly underrated, sadly.
This doesn't have any song meaning, but for some reason I think of the Nightmare on Elm Street films when this song plays.
Oh honey, oh please, it's just a machine. The third film where that one girl walks up to the television and freddy slams her into it.
The can tastes like tin, aluminum. Just reminded me of a scene in one of the films where a girl is mixing diet coke and coffee to stay awake.
And I don't want to miss such an American scene reminds me of the guy in the first movie who falls asleep to the television.
and of course
Not turning off is just not going to sleep.
This is pointless, not the point of the song, just some connections.