Red Light

Jonny Lang

Well
Yeah

You sing a song
While sitting at a red light (yeah)
You think of home
While sitting at a red light
Too slow to roll
Put your life on hold
An open path
With nowhere to go
You start to wonder
While sitting at a red light

Chorus
You could run a red light
Give up at a red light
You break the mold
When running through the tolls
Speeding through your whole life

A chance to breathe
While sitting at a red light
You look around
Reflecting on your life
A chance to think
Am I drinking too much
Should I keep going
Lose the life that I love
You second glance
When you come to a red light

Chorus

You could run a red light
Give up on your whole life
You break the mold
When running through the tolls
Speeding through your whole life

When things look low
You've got to keep strong
Feet to the grass
You've got to walk it off
The bows been tied
Too tight to laugh
Feet to the ground
You've got to walk it off (walk off)

You can run a red light
You can run a red light

Start to think
Am I drinking too much
Should I keep going
Lose the life that I love

Chorus

Hey
You can run a red light
Give up on your whole life
You break the mold
When running through the tolls
Speeding through your whole life

Woah (you can run a red light)
Woah
Yeah (you can run a red light)

You sing this song while sitting at a red light


Lyrics submitted by Jeffyhash

Red Light song meanings
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5 Comments

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  • +1
    General CommentWhen I listen to this song, I see it as the red light is symbolic for a problem or obstical in life, maybe even just some point in life. You can't seem to pass it and it just consumes you. You put your life on hold. But you can run it or just give up. At this problem, you have a chance to breath, and reflect on your life. But you have to keep you head up, feet to the groud, walk it off and so on.. i'm not very good at putting what I want to explain into words, but I tired.
    This song is one of my favorites from him, very inspiring, it even made my sister-in-law cry.
    Yardbirddon June 22, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Commentthis is a powerful song.
    about stoping and thinking about where you are going in life.
    everyone coasts through life so fast. and the only chance anyone gets to stop and think about it is when we are focred to stop at a red light.
    this song is about choices
    you dont have to stop
    you could blow through the light, speed through life untill it's over. then where are you?
    you can keep drinking, or you can stop and think about why you are and realize it's not making things any better.
    i think jonny's telling everyone thorugh this song that we shouldnt live our lives in fast forward. we should stop and think about it sometimes. live life and never give up.
    but thats just my point of view :)
    T3825on October 02, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General CommentI first heard this song on a long drive. Me and who became one of the loves of my life, had just been going out for few weeks. She was just 19, and I assumed nieve in life. We were talking about past relationships, and it got really deep. She stopped me in the middle of a long story I was telling about how I had to end a relationship with someone amazing, because it seemed like the only choice at the time. It was one of those deep conversations, that get emotional. Then this beautiful person, who I assumed knew little of life, put this song on. I couldn't believe how powerful a song could be. Or how much I loved her for creating that moment in my life. We didn't make it together. She left, I can only hope to bring moments like that to others. I got an impossibly wonderful time with her. I will always hold hope that I'll get another perfect time like that. Hearing this song for the first time, listening through tears, sitting next to her when she loved me.
    Anyway, the meaning for me, is more direct. Running the red light, means suicide. Running into a car crash. "When things look low, you've got to be strong, feet to the ground, you've got to walk it off." Sounds like a moment of desperation. That's how I saw it.
    yeahscotty33on December 06, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Commenti think this song is about missed oportunity (if you think about it on a symolic level or somethin..) The red light could represent a stopping point in your life that you have to make a choice at. do you go right, left, straight. Or you could blow right on through the red light and completely ignore the opportunity--missing something in life ("give up on your whole life")
    Then again, it could just be about someone driving who second guesses their wonderful life and decides to run the red light and end it all. or i could be totally wrong
    kdubZon June 06, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General CommentI love songs that are a bit ambiguous… open to interpretation. For me, yes, the song is about reflecting on your life… about choices. It’s also about risk… in any area of your life — relationship, career, how you’re living your life.

    He’s reflecting on his whole life. He thinks of home. He may be “putting his life on hold”. He starts to wonder if he’s “too slow to roll”. He says he loves his life, but… he questions if he’s drinking too much.

    Sometimes “things look low”, but it’s comfortable to keep doing what your doing… living like you’re living.

    Or —

    He sees an “open path” before him. He could run a red light…”break the mold”. Should he risk it? But there seems to be “nowhere to go” — he doesn’t know what his destination would be. He’d have to move out of his comfort zone.

    The way the song is structured, he keeps alternating between, my life is okay right now, and… should I take a chance?

    But then… your guess is as guess is as good as mine. That’s what makes this song so rich.
    SenseOfWonderon February 15, 2015   Link

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