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(You Were) Going Somewhere Lyrics
I saw you the just the other day
Watched you walk a little way
You vanished 'round a corner
When I got there, you were gone
You might have heard me if I'd called
We could have spoken, but I stalled
And let the moment slip
And in a moment, it was gone
I saw you see
But you did not see me
You were going somewhere
I saw you driving down the road
I waved at you, you never slowed
I watched you as the distance
Made you small and were gone
A haze of dust rose on the air
Suspended for a moment there
It settled to the road again
It didn't last too long
I saw you see
But you did not see me
You were going somewhere
Time was all I had
But the timing was bad
When I looked your way
You neglected to stay
You were going somewhere
My timing's bad, your time's been sold
You're looking young, you're feeling old
You're looking straight ahead of you
I'm standing on the side
Silver spoon is tarnished, old
But still you'll turn it into gold
Ambition's going to get you there
I hope you like the ride
You were going somewhere
You were going somewhere
You were going somewhere
You were going somewhere
You were going somewhere
Watched you walk a little way
You vanished 'round a corner
When I got there, you were gone
We could have spoken, but I stalled
And let the moment slip
And in a moment, it was gone
But you did not see me
You were going somewhere
I waved at you, you never slowed
I watched you as the distance
Made you small and were gone
Suspended for a moment there
It settled to the road again
It didn't last too long
But you did not see me
You were going somewhere
But the timing was bad
When I looked your way
You neglected to stay
You were going somewhere
You're looking young, you're feeling old
You're looking straight ahead of you
I'm standing on the side
Silver spoon is tarnished, old
But still you'll turn it into gold
Ambition's going to get you there
I hope you like the ride
You were going somewhere
You were going somewhere
You were going somewhere
You were going somewhere
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This song is about someone he wants to have a chance at something with (I won't say 'fallen in love with' but it's probably that), but who isn't reciprocating, and has bigger, different, better plans.
This is a bitter, resentful song. Here's this girl that didn't give him the time of day because she's got better things to do and the timing was wrong for her, and he thinks she's being daft - "Silver spoon is tarnished old but still you'll turn it into gold" - not very possible, but she'll try - "Wishing's going to get you there, I hope you like the ride." He knows that she's going nowhere, in fact. Can't turn a tarnished silver spoon into gold, no matter how hard you wish for it. And I just love the way he says "I hope you like the ride" -- sarcastic and harsh, the way he means it.
The lyrics here are genius... the imagery and metaphor, just superb. "I watched you as the distance / Made you small and you were gone." What a line. It's no one's action, just the distance that makes her small. Even the dust she leaves in her tracks "didn't last too long." What a song.
Like most of Wilcox's songs, this song has at least two levels of meaning. You can hear it as a song of unrequited love.
It's also, as Wilcox says in his liner notes, a song about the singer himself being too distracted to notice "all that help from above". In this meaning, the singer is imagining the "...I hope you like the ride" verse being said to him.