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Set Yourself on Fire Lyrics
In a village in the hills
House buried to the window sills in snow
In a prison yard at night
An Alsatian barking for the stars to go
In the attic of a house
In the slats of light which creep across the room
In a forest grove at dawn
Where the animals sleep hidden in the gloom
On the 97th floor overlooking Tokyo
In Camden road in a second floor flat with Dilworth down below
There is only one thing
There is only one thing
In a cancer ward where the patients sit
Waiting patiently to die
In an aeroplane high above the place
You finally left behind
In a cage where only one thing could be free
And it's not you and I
In a cage where only one thing could be free
And it's not you and I
In every single place that has ever ever been
Hiroshima, Los Angeles and each town in between
There is only one thing
There is only one thing
One thing
In the darkest part of you that you have ever seen
In the smile of the child staring at the TV screen
In the diary of a priest, in the sheets that lie upon his bed
Out there amongst the waves and inside your lover's head
There is only one thing
There is only one thing
There is only one thing
There is only one thing
20 years asleep before we sleep... forever
20 years asleep before we sleep... forever
10 years of the coast figure it out... the weather.
another decade of getting high, until you're free.
there's nothing after that. but you and I
nothing after that but you and me.
20 years of sleep before we sleep... forever
20 years of sleep before we sleep... forever
20 years of sleep before we sleep... forever
House buried to the window sills in snow
In a prison yard at night
An Alsatian barking for the stars to go
In the slats of light which creep across the room
In a forest grove at dawn
Where the animals sleep hidden in the gloom
In Camden road in a second floor flat with Dilworth down below
There is only one thing
There is only one thing
Waiting patiently to die
In an aeroplane high above the place
You finally left behind
And it's not you and I
In a cage where only one thing could be free
And it's not you and I
Hiroshima, Los Angeles and each town in between
There is only one thing
There is only one thing
One thing
In the smile of the child staring at the TV screen
In the diary of a priest, in the sheets that lie upon his bed
Out there amongst the waves and inside your lover's head
There is only one thing
There is only one thing
There is only one thing
20 years asleep before we sleep... forever
10 years of the coast figure it out... the weather.
there's nothing after that. but you and I
nothing after that but you and me.
20 years of sleep before we sleep... forever
20 years of sleep before we sleep... forever
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
This song was obviously inspired by the video game Katamari Damacy. C'mon... it starts out with "lets roll" and it definitely just sounds like the other songs in that video game. any one agree?
@kak1n I doubt it. I think the album was written the winter before that game was released.
@kak1n I doubt it. I think the album was written the winter before that game was released.
holy shit i have 20 orgasms every time i listen to this song... "Another decade of getting high 'til you're free... There's nothing after that, but you and I, nothing after that but you and me."
I guess i think this song is talking about how we are all constantly trying to break free from the pains of this life, but we can't have everything we want to we have to make sacrifices.
The ending part is most likely talking about how we need to live life to the fullest, because since we probably already spend 20 years of our lives sleeping (i guess, at 7 hours a day or something) we need to fill every waking hour with memorable, wonderful experiences.
just my 2 cents...
i never really paid much notice of this song, but after listening to the album all day today, it's now stuck in my head.
i think the song is essentially saying how everybody dies. Whether you're in Hiroshima or Los Angeles, in a plane, on your bed, or thinking about your loved one(s), it's hard to escape the thought of death. where ever you are, death is waiting for you.
this is also reflected in the music. when he's singing about the different moments in life that you could be in, the backdrop of sound is a fast-paced, upbeat one. it's like an extension of the lyrics that basically show us deep in the throes of life. and then as the realisation sets in that you won't live forever, the music slowly comes to a meltdown as you realise that the only thing left is death. (there's nothing after that for you & i; nothing after that for you & me).
i, like maxis, also think that part of what this song means is that we have to live our life to the fullest every waking moment.
I'm siding with SuntoryTime... it sounds to me like '20 years alseep' is about middle age and how it affects people, makes them slow down. And I agree that the 'only one thing' in this song is death. The first stanzas are about the world and all the different places in it, but everything will eventually end and death is the only certain thing.
I think this song just discusses how inevitable death is. The last bit, I think, is a dismissive way of describing how most people live their lives, half-asleep.
Don't we spend a good portion of our lives sleeping?
I'm pretty sure that's what the "20 years of sleep..." refers to.
Yes, the only thing is death. Sleep seems to be preparation for death. [I'm talking about the last stanza, by the way.]
Amazing song. I love it.
Yeah, I think the "20 years asleep" refers to the following:
If you figure you spend about 1/3 of your life asleep, and most people live to be about 60 years old, that means you'll spend 20 years asleep "before you sleep forever."
To me, this song is about death, and about setting yourself on fire, meaning going out and living your life to the fullest.
I like how well the song ties in many different places with so few words; no matter which location you identify with, you can relate to the feeling of the song.
However, it's always bugged me that there isn't any building with 97 or more floors in Tokyo.
Did you Wikipedia Tokyo's tallest buildings? Because I did after you said that. And you're right. :)
Did you Wikipedia Tokyo's tallest buildings? Because I did after you said that. And you're right. :)
The title says it all after hearing the song.
Set Yourself on Fire - Burning for what you love and why you're alive.