Engineers

More sci-fi from Numan. He said himself it was inspired by a story from Philip K. Dick.
A very cool yet underrated song.

"I am frightened by the liquid engineers". This whole album does a great job of tying itself together. This is actually one of the better tracks (shame so few of the songs had any commercial appeal: I always wanted Numan to do better in America). I like to listen to this album and Telekon together. Cold Metal Rythym makes it a nice tryptich.

This song kinda reminds me of 'We Take Mystery To Bed.' I don't really know why, it's just the way the music goes... I keep expecting him to say 'Confiscate letters like D.E.B.' This is a pretty good one actually, the drums are very unorthodox, especially for a Numan song, but that contributes to the interesting nature of it. I wouldn't say it's one of the better tracks though, as most of the tracks on the album are really good (Oceans and Random weren't up to much, I thought).

I keep thinking that the engineers in this song were parents. Engineers, like creators. They subconciously think that they are you and vice versa, because they raise you you become them and aspire to be them [or end up being them anyway]. They keep you alive and control you. Comparing this to a machine-type idea. Probably not what it's about but meh, think about it ;]

I think I'll go through this one line by line:

All that we are is all that we need to be = they are grown up, "superior" All that we know is you and machinery = all their life is kid[s] and work We’re engineers = they're parents, creators We are your heartbeat = they take care of you, keep you alive so to speak We are your night life = they control what you do, eg. going out at night, keeping you home We are your `low-line’ = ? We keep you alive for now = this could be a threat, as if to say "we can get rid of you whenever" We are your voice = kids tend to have similar opinions about the world as their parents We are your blood flow = blood relation? We are your eyes = they can protect you from the world, or something similar to "voice" We’re all you need to know = like above All that we are is all that you’d love to be = kids wanting to be like parents, respecting them All that we know is hate and machinery = not sure about this one. Any ideas?

i agree with DJgif the last line "All that we know is hate and machinery" i think means that all we learn from our parents is how to live and how to hate.