Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
you are sleeping off your demons
when I come home.
spittle bubbling on your lips,
fine white foam
I am young and I am good.
it's a hot southern california day.
if I wake you up, there will be hell to pay.
and alone in my room,
I am the last of a lost civilization.
and I vanish into the dark
and rise above my station.
rise above my station.
but I do wake you up, and when I do
you blaze down the hall and you scream.
I'm in my room with the headphones on
deep in the dream chamber.
and then I'm awake and I'm guarding my face,
hoping you don't break my stereo.
because it's the one thing that I couldn't live without
and so I think about that and then I sorta black out.
held under these smothering waves
by your strong and thick veined hand,
but one of these days I'm going to wriggle up on dry land.
when I come home.
spittle bubbling on your lips,
fine white foam
I am young and I am good.
it's a hot southern california day.
if I wake you up, there will be hell to pay.
and alone in my room,
I am the last of a lost civilization.
and I vanish into the dark
and rise above my station.
rise above my station.
but I do wake you up, and when I do
you blaze down the hall and you scream.
I'm in my room with the headphones on
deep in the dream chamber.
and then I'm awake and I'm guarding my face,
hoping you don't break my stereo.
because it's the one thing that I couldn't live without
and so I think about that and then I sorta black out.
held under these smothering waves
by your strong and thick veined hand,
but one of these days I'm going to wriggle up on dry land.
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
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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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
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.
Hast thou considered the tetrapod is a reference to the writers future evolution beyond a smothered sub-human creature. He's looking forward to the day he will be free from the opression of his family life, and grow into a independent, free thinking person. When he says "one of these days I'm gonna wriggle up on dry land" - he's basically making an exclamation to himself saying - "Someday, all of this will be over and you will not control me anymore."
Also, the Book of Judgement has a lot of "Hast thou's" in it too. He's also saying - remember what happened to the creatures in the slime - eventually the grew up, evolved and took over the earth - keep that in mind next time you try to hold me down. You'll eventually get yours.
It's a brilliant song title and a great song.
Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what it was like. Guarding my face. That was important.
That was in 1972. I'm nearly 50, and I cry almost every time I hear this song. As Elvis Costello said, some things you never get used to.
The stereo line is the best, it always makes me cry as well. I had the exact same thought with my father. And later when I chose a guy like him and he started doing the same things, I remember him breaking all this expensive stuff and then beating up on me and all I could think was how happy I was that he didnt' break my wine glasses. Your mind goes to funny places, I'm telling ya
"hoping you don't break my stereo because it's the one thing I couldn't live without"
I think is such a funny representation of adolescent feelings - such focusing on trivial parts of a much bigger, more serious problem. And music can offer such solace to kids in a bad place - certain songs can have such power that it seems like the only person who understands you is some musician, etc...
Darnee...I don't think it's focusing on the trivial at all. If you've been one of these kids you know, sometimes your stereo is honest-to-god the only thing keeping you alive.
John did a show at Duke in 2005 and played this live for the first time, and when he finished he sort of gasped and said: "I can tell you, I now know for sure that I've never played that in front of an audience before, because the funny thing about this record, you know, is that they're all true stories, which is not what I'm used to doing. I lie my ass off, that's why people always think I'm lying when I say I don't know how to play a song because, you know, I do lie, a lot, and so why wouldn't I be lying about that? But I'm not.
But, yeah, you play a song, one of the songs off this album for an audience the first time, there's this shock of letting a secret out. And I know there's a few people in any room who know what I'm talking about, and when you tell somebody about something bad that happened in the house where you were a kid, there's this shock of release, and it's really exciting, if...if maudlin, to talk about it on a stage, but what can I do? So, thank you for being here for that."
(Thank you bootlegs, for that lovely insight!)
this song is so sad and apparently it's autobiographical. I can't get it off my head. especially "held under these smothering waves by your strong and thick-veined hands"
John is obviously trying to portray his stepfather beating him he talks about his stepfather being angry at him and possibly beating him Dance Music and This Year he most definately talks about this in other songs in this song his stepfather is obviously drunk by the line "You are sleeping off you demons" John is in his room listening to music and trying to drown it all out he does this in Dance Music as well he may be saying that his stereo helps him forget or comforts him
This song is painfully sad, and somehow he sings it with the hope a little kid. I love it.
I think this is about his stepfather beating him. In "Dance Music" (also from The Sunset Tree), he says how the one thing that he can get away with is his stereo and listening to dance music. In that song, his stepfather throws a glass at his mother's head. It's not unlikely that this behavior might also occur with John too.
His stepfather is angry (hence the spittle on his lips?) a lot, and waking him up is something John fears to do.
Being scared about your stereo might seem trivial to adults, but remember that when you're a kid (not sure JD is supposed to be in this song) you're dependent on your parents to buy you a new one if yours breaks.
I'm an adult and would be scared about my stereo getting broken.<br /> <br /> Music is such a big part of me, and my old hifi is my most prized posession. It is irreplacable, having been mostly peiced together at various yard sales before I was even born.<br /> <br /> Probably could live without it, but losing it would crush me.