its amazing how far music can come.. 24 years after it released and its one of the most heartfelt songs ive heard
I hear that you got yourself a house
And all your friends you finally figured out
But you go out in the night til you got no place to go
I see you on the corner where you're trying to use the phone
And everyone will say you missed your chance
And everyone will say you've lost you're edge
But it's just something that you've heard about a thousand time before
And every time you're falling then you'll see me on the floor
And someday when you turn around
You'll take a wife, and start a life
It won't be long
I hear that you got yourself a job
And all your friends you finally nailed down
But you go out in the night till you got no place to go
Something you ain't doing right is haunting you at home
Now we've been hanging round for quite a while
So let's get out of here and take a drive
On the parkway tonight
You can hear the engines roar
The flashing lights will nab you when you're driving your way home
And someday when you turn around you'll see the door is closing
And all your friends you finally figured out
But you go out in the night til you got no place to go
I see you on the corner where you're trying to use the phone
And everyone will say you missed your chance
And everyone will say you've lost you're edge
But it's just something that you've heard about a thousand time before
And every time you're falling then you'll see me on the floor
And someday when you turn around
You'll take a wife, and start a life
It won't be long
I hear that you got yourself a job
And all your friends you finally nailed down
But you go out in the night till you got no place to go
Something you ain't doing right is haunting you at home
Now we've been hanging round for quite a while
So let's get out of here and take a drive
On the parkway tonight
You can hear the engines roar
The flashing lights will nab you when you're driving your way home
And someday when you turn around you'll see the door is closing
Lyrics submitted by ophelia219, edited by karritevoyager
138th Street Lyrics as written by Matthew Frederick Barrick James Hamilton Leithauser
Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
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Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
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There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
"a thousand time before" should be "a thousand times before"