I can't seem to take you anywhere
We ditched your friends at Williamson Square
Where the rank and file shoot us dirty looks
Hail a taxicab, don't want to walk

The nighttime here is a plastic box
Gently amplifying in the basement rock
The distant tones from the detainees
Friendly girls who pack it full of these

When you're not around, this is our sound

I can't seem to take you anywhere
We ditched your friends at Williamson Square
Where the rank and file shoot us dirty looks
Hail a taxicab, don't want to walk

The nighttime here is a plastic box
Gently amplifying the basement rock
The distant tones from the detainees
Friendly girls who pack it full of these

When you're not around, this is our sound
When you're not around, this is our sound

When you're not around, this is our sound
This is not a song, 'cause there's nothing wrong
When the light inside is not as bright


Lyrics submitted by stickista, edited by alin1

This Is Our Sound Lyrics as written by Daniel Hunt

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

This Is Our Sound song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

6 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song is too awesome not to have a single comment. I LOVE IT!!!

    I have no idea what it means, though. Wanna help me out, anyone? Ladytron rules

    Gwirleybeeon August 28, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I have no idea either.. though its a great song!!!

    Who Leads You?on August 14, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    "gently amplified in the basement blocks"?

    fbaubeon March 24, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    "When your not around, this is our sound"

    Individuality, unique style, personal preference, when your not around, this is their jam.

    majic316on December 15, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    First couple times I started listening to this song I thought Helen was saying

    "We ditched your friends in the Ipswich square"

    cheirospasmon January 07, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    I'm probably completely off-base, but I get the impression that this is about a couple whom the general public doesn't like to see out together and thus stays home when they want to be together. "I can't seem to take you anywhere" "the rank and file shoot us dirty looks"

    "The night time here is a plastic box, gently amplified in the basement rock." Maybe they have a basement apartment? Wherever they are, they hear distant voices. Then the narrator says that "when you're not around, this is our sound." By this she may mean that when her significant other is not with her, she and her friends sound just like those distant voices. They're outside, at night, presumably having a good time.

    In the next verse, the couple goes out again, to a different square, and again has to leave their friends while the "rank and file" shoot them dirty looks. The narrator tells her SO to call a taxi since she doesn't want to walk back. That she has to ask implies that they could have walked home from where they were, but she preferred not to. The reason for that could be that she doesn't want to deal with more "dirty looks" or she feels those looks might escalate into something more dangerous. Or maybe she's just lazy; I don't know.

    Finally, "this is not a song, because there's nothing wrong when the light inside is not as bright." She wants to be outside with friends, where things are brighter, but she's stuck inside. Still, she reassures her SO that there's nothing wrong. It's not really their fault at all.

    As for why people don't want to see them together, there are a couple of potential reasons: 1) they're a lesbian or interracial couple in a repressed area 2) the SO has a very public negative reputation. or, 3) the SO actually behaves horribly in public, and the people shooting them dirty looks are completely justified.

    IceCreamSandwichon August 11, 2014   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
In regards to the meaning of this song: Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.” That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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"
Album art
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Album art
Holiday
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday". I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Album art
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it. “I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.