This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Boy
Boy
Down in the street there is violence
And a lots of work to be done
No place to hang out our washing
And I can't blame all on the sun, oh no
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Workin' so hard like a soldier
Can't afford a thing on TV
Deep in my heart I'm a warrior
Can't get food for them kid, good God
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh no
Oh no
Oh no
Oh no, oh no
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Who is to blame in one country
Never can get to the one
Dealin' in multiplication
And they still can't feed everyone, oh no
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher, oh no
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher, oh
Out in the street
Out in the street
Out in the daytime
Out in the night
Oh, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Out in the street
Out in the street
Out in the playground
In the dark side of town
Oh, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher, hey
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue (oh, yeah)
And then we'll take it higher
Rocking in the daytime (we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue)
Rocking in the nighttime (And then we'll take it higher)
Rocking in Miami, ma-ma-me (Electric Avenue)
(And then we'll take it higher) (Electric Avenue)
(We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue)
Boy
Down in the street there is violence
And a lots of work to be done
No place to hang out our washing
And I can't blame all on the sun, oh no
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Workin' so hard like a soldier
Can't afford a thing on TV
Deep in my heart I'm a warrior
Can't get food for them kid, good God
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh no
Oh no
Oh no
Oh no, oh no
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Who is to blame in one country
Never can get to the one
Dealin' in multiplication
And they still can't feed everyone, oh no
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher, oh no
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher, oh
Out in the street
Out in the street
Out in the daytime
Out in the night
Oh, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Oh we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher
Out in the street
Out in the street
Out in the playground
In the dark side of town
Oh, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we'll take it higher, hey
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue (oh, yeah)
And then we'll take it higher
Rocking in the daytime (we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue)
Rocking in the nighttime (And then we'll take it higher)
Rocking in Miami, ma-ma-me (Electric Avenue)
(And then we'll take it higher) (Electric Avenue)
(We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue)
Lyrics submitted by Ainttellinu2, edited by Roma0424
Electric Avenue Lyrics as written by Eddy Grant
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Capitol CMG Publishing, Missing Link Music
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"Deep in my heart I'm a warrior"? No way. It's "Deep in my heart I abhor yah."
@mbrachman <br /> <br /> Gotta agree. Not only do i hear the "b" sound in the song here, but it fits better with the overall feel. I work hard and don't make enough to feed my kids, let alone enough "disposable" income to buy frivolous crap on tv.<br /> <br /> So, yeah, I abhor yah: the society that set up this whole situation.
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"We gonna rock onto Electric Avenue, and then we'll take it higher." Song was inspired by riots that occurred on Electric Avenue. "Then we'll take it higher" is implicit statement about going to rich neighborhoods to burn down their homes rather than tearing up their own poor neighbhorhoods. Notice lyrics such as, "can't afford a thing on TV," "can't get food for the kid," and "and they still can't feed everyone." Notice the metaphorical pool, they are drowing the poor."Electric Avenue" is a song by Eddy Grant, from his 1982 album Killer on the Rampage. It was released as as single in 1982, and went on to be very popular, reaching #2 on both United States and United Kingdom singles charts. The song's lyrics refer to the 1981 Brixton riot, the title referring to Electric Avenue, a market street in the Brixton area of London, England. The song has been covered by several other artists since its release. It is often sampled in commercials and other media, such as advertisements for Montgomery Ward, the opening sequence of Pineapple Express, the opening to one episode of Everybody Hates Chris, and a montage on The Simpsons episode, "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes". In the Family Guy episode "And the Wiener Is...", the high school marching band plays the song during halftime. LSU first baseman Sean Ochinko uses this song as his intro for each plate appearance. The ending of issue #17 of Deadpool (vol. 2) features a scene where the titular character sings part of the song while on a mission. It is also featured in Jackass 3D in the stunt Electric Avenue. The B-Side to this song is a Non-LP track entitled "Time Warp." Electric Avenue was re-released in 2001. The single featured the "Ringbang Remix", and reached number 5 in the UK Singles Chart in June 2001.
"We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue And then we'll take it higher "
A FEW YEARS BACK..... I was walking through Brixton (S. London) looking to see if a ghetto actually exists Europe & take flix of Graffiti ..... I was chiefin' on some HASH i picked up in Amsterdumb the previous week. I was pretty wasted and was getting lost, as I looked up to see where I was....
What luck, I was take'n it higher on Electric Avenue.
BigUps Eddie .... Jah.... Jah... Jah.... Rastafari !
Yeah, a lot of people don't look much into the lyrics.
Actually, despite the first posters uh.... whathaveyou... a friend of mine and I grew up with this song, and it's my karaoke favorite, if it's in the books. I did a really weak cover of this and a different friend of mine told me "yeah you really brought out how dark it was". The darkness was already there! This is a very intelligent song, gloomy, yet catchy. It's too bad Eddy Grant pretty much rested on his laurels as a proto-typical reggae act through most of his other material, he could have ushered in a new sound if he'd kept this up. Romancing the Stone has a similar sound, but the lyrics are trite and repetitive, and War Party is gloomy and political, but it's not as energized. There's nothing better than doing this song in front of a bar full of 45+ drunks who, themselves, sing nothing but country, and having them go wild for it.
I used to think he must be from kingston, Jamaica b/c of his Reggae and b/c THAT is the world's WORSE hood. (But Brixton ain't too hot neither)
He was born in Guyana and his family moved to North West London when he was a child.
Heard this song in Pineapple Express and had to get it! Awesome song..
idk but if ur going 2 texas from arkansas u WILL pass a sign that says electric ave..... oh how badly i wanted to steal it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eddy Grant's biggest hit but by far not his only one. First big worldwide hit was with his British quintet The Equals in the '60s, "Baby Come Back." The Equals were one of the first major racially integrated English bands. Grant was born in Guyana and his parents moved to the UK when he was a young kid. He grew up in Kentish Town, London.
Hard to understand why so many misunderstood this song. Sure it has an upbeat tempo, irresistible hook, and energy, but the lyrics couldn't be more explicit: this is one angry, politically engaged song.