Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Come & play the tunes of glory -
raise your voice in celebration
of the days that we have wasted in the cafe in the station.
and learn the meaning of existence in fortnightly instalments.
Come share this golden age with me
in my single room apartment
and if it all amounts to nothing - it doesn't matter, these are still our glory days.
Oh my face is unappealing
and my thoughts are unoriginal.
I did experiments with substances
but all it did was make me ill
And I used to do the I Ching
but then I had to feed the meter.
Now I can't see into the future
but at least I can use the heater.
Oh it doesn't get much better than this 'cos this is how we live our glory days.
Oh and I could be a genius
if I just put my mind to it
And I, I could do anything
if only I could get 'round to it.
Oh we were brought up on the Space-Race,
now they expect you to clean toilets.
When you have seen how big the world is how can you make do with this?
If you want me I'll be sleeping in -
sleeping in throughout these glory days.
These glory days can take their toll,
so catch me now before I turn to gold. Yeah we'd love to hear your story
just as long as it tells us where we are -
that where we are is where we're meant
to be.
Oh come on make it up yourself -
you don't need anybody else.
And I promise I won't sell these days to anybody else in the world but you.
No-one but you [x4]
raise your voice in celebration
of the days that we have wasted in the cafe in the station.
and learn the meaning of existence in fortnightly instalments.
Come share this golden age with me
in my single room apartment
and if it all amounts to nothing - it doesn't matter, these are still our glory days.
Oh my face is unappealing
and my thoughts are unoriginal.
I did experiments with substances
but all it did was make me ill
And I used to do the I Ching
but then I had to feed the meter.
Now I can't see into the future
but at least I can use the heater.
Oh it doesn't get much better than this 'cos this is how we live our glory days.
Oh and I could be a genius
if I just put my mind to it
And I, I could do anything
if only I could get 'round to it.
Oh we were brought up on the Space-Race,
now they expect you to clean toilets.
When you have seen how big the world is how can you make do with this?
If you want me I'll be sleeping in -
sleeping in throughout these glory days.
These glory days can take their toll,
so catch me now before I turn to gold. Yeah we'd love to hear your story
just as long as it tells us where we are -
that where we are is where we're meant
to be.
Oh come on make it up yourself -
you don't need anybody else.
And I promise I won't sell these days to anybody else in the world but you.
No-one but you [x4]
Lyrics submitted by hastalavictoria
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All about disillusionment with modern life. We've seen humanities great achievements (the "Space Race") and now we must accept whatever life gives us, and make do with it. Also, the lines about I-Ching show the person exchanging a magical gift (to "see into the future") for the comforts of giving in to the system, ie. heating. (Though I don't want to come across as a total hippy, this is the way things are.) Wonderful song.
This is such a great, inspired song. Along with The Day After the Revolution, it provides a very bitter, but wise ending to This Is Hardcore, perfectly transcribing Cocker's emotion into music and especially his vocals. The meaning seems to be similar to that of Party Hard, about the dangers of not taking life too serously and just burning it.
This song reminds me SO MUCH of "Hope" by REM. I can't listen to it without having that song pop into my head.
I think the other interps are more or less spot-on. One day you'll look back on your days of cleaning toilets and sleeping in as the best days of your life.
I think it's also about how you always think your youth has to be so special and cool, so you don't have to regret anything afterwards. But in reality you end up spending your youth doing mostly boring stuff. This is how you spend "the best time of your life". I can relate very good with to song, or to how i understand it. I'm 21 and spend so much time on facebook, or just hanging out. I think if thats how i spend my youth, wich is supposed to be the best and most exciting time of my life, how is the rest of my life going to be? (I don't mean it to sound so serious or depressed:)
I don't think it's that bitter at all. To me it's about how we long for the past (or the future) and how when we are sixty think of the days that we have now as glory days. Maybe you won't have to wait that long till your glorify the past, as he sings: So catch me now before I turn to gold. That means to me, that it's only a short time until you blur your memories to a great time. I'm 30 watching friends settle down and maybe it doesn't take long till they start telling "when I was young everything was better" and stuff. My father uses to talk about his youth a lot (and already did so when I was a child) and I think this is one of the saddest things that can happen to you for you always have the Glory Days, as long as you're not stuck in a nursing home or plagued by pains and disesases forever. You can just try and have a good time now, if you look around, go out, meet people, and so on. And if you enjoy just what you're doing once in a while. I mean, I like to remember the past and have a bit of nostalgia when listening to music (not by Pulp, I've just been so addicted to them for a few months now) but most of my youth was crap and now it's much better (I love my life, ha ha). The thing is, it's good to know you can do something to help your life and yourself get better and make the present special. Create your Glory Days! :D
The song is about someone who when they were younger dreamt of a bright future "The Space Race", "Golden Age", "Glory Days"
They seem an below average person "Oh, my face is unappealing and my thoughts are unoriginal" who has tried things to improve "Substances" "I Ching" but they havent worked, are they lazy looking for short cuts?
When he was young he wanted to be an astronaut but ended up being a toilet cleaner.
A dreamer who makes excuses "And I could be a genius if I just put my mind to it And I could do anything if only I could get round to it"
Has the same tune as "Cocaine Socialism" which wrote a few years earlier after Tony Blair became Prime Minister
One of the best Pulp songs. I'm not sure I fully appreciated that in 1997 when I was 16 but it's stayed with me all these years. The lines "Before I turn to gold Yeah we'd love to hear your story" seem to reference Leonard Cohen's A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes; which says "I'd like to tell my story," Said one of them so young and bold, "I'd like to tell my story, Before I turn into gold."