Techno Ted may be a person who caused Chris incredible emotional pain & trepidation as well as moments of peace & happiness but now is removed and awaiting his fate. Darling may be a different person who is also free of him and can live her life free of Ted's tyranny. "In between all the laughing, and daydreams ... lies: a desert of truth" Lies are like a desert or the omission of Truth: Where there were Lies then Truth was absent. The song, "Techno Ted", may be a cathartic celebration of the downfall of this person.
I was a lover, before this war
Held up in a luxury suite, behind a barricaded door
Now that I've cleaned up, gone legit
I can see clearly: round hole
Round whole, square peg don't fit
I'm locked in my bedroom, so send back the clowns
My clone wears a brown shirt, and I seduce him when there's no one around
Mano why mano, on a bed of nails
Bring it on like a storm, till I knock the wind out of his sails
And we don't make eye contact, when we have run-in's in town
Just a barely polite nod, and nervous stares towards the ground
I once joined a priest class, plastic, inert
In a slowdance with commerce
Like a lens up a skirt
And we liked to party
And we kept it live
And we had a three volume tome of contemporary slang
To keep a handle on all this jive
Ennui unbridled, let's talk to kill the time
How many styles did you cycle through before you were mine?
And it's been a while since we went wild and that's all fine
But we're sleepwalking through this trial
And it's really a crime it's really a crime it's really a crime
It's really criminal
We're just busy tempting, like fate's on the nod
Running on empty, bourbon and god
It's been a while since we knew the way
And it's been even longer since our plastic priest class
Had a goddamned thing to say
I was a lover before this war
Held up in a luxury suite, behind a barricaded door
Now that I've cleaned up, gone legit
I can see clearly: round hole
Round whole, square peg don't fit
I'm locked in my bedroom, so send back the clowns
My clone wears a brown shirt, and I seduce him when there's no one around
Mano why mano, on a bed of nails
Bring it on like a storm, till I knock the wind out of his sails
And we don't make eye contact, when we have run-in's in town
Just a barely polite nod, and nervous stares towards the ground
I once joined a priest class, plastic, inert
In a slowdance with commerce
Like a lens up a skirt
And we liked to party
And we kept it live
And we had a three volume tome of contemporary slang
To keep a handle on all this jive
Ennui unbridled, let's talk to kill the time
How many styles did you cycle through before you were mine?
And it's been a while since we went wild and that's all fine
But we're sleepwalking through this trial
And it's really a crime it's really a crime it's really a crime
It's really criminal
We're just busy tempting, like fate's on the nod
Running on empty, bourbon and god
It's been a while since we knew the way
And it's been even longer since our plastic priest class
Had a goddamned thing to say
I was a lover before this war
Lyrics submitted by .tommy doll, edited by monomania
I Was a Lover Lyrics as written by David Andrew Sitek Babatunde Omoroga Adebimpe
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, O/B/O DistroKid, Capitol CMG Publishing, Hipgnosis Songs Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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Techno Ted
Audioslave
Audioslave
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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"
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
Hayalperest
This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Since when was the US all lovers before 9/11? That's a weak analysis. The other political stuff is just vague enough to be interpreted that way. George Bush doing coke barricaded in his luxury suite? That's a ridiculous analysis. If this IS a political song, it's not a very good one.
I like the interpretation that it is about a relationship going bad.
i cant believe no one has commented on this song. its such a good opener to Cookie Mountain. i love the horn samples and the drum beat. its different. one of the best CDs of 06. i really have no idea what its about. i need to look into it more.
My favorite song so far.
i think this song is basically about conflicting moral and ethical issues, and the hypocrisy of institutions like religion and government
Class song.I think that it's about a relationship thats broken down but it's so complex!Its like gibberish to me in some parts.
I'm going to go ahead and disagree with the very interesting interpretation by JonnyRamone. It's pretty cool, but I really don't think this song is about a relationship, I think it's about the current political climate. Allow me to break it down for you:
I was a lover before this war - obviously he's upset about the war, but I almost think this is written from the pov of Bush, "holed up in a luxury suite behind a barricaded door"..."cleaned up, gone legit, we liked to party" (reference to alleged cocaine use and drunk driving convictions prior to political office). The priest class is his newfound religion helping him justify things to himself.
The brown shirt is a soldier, and the seduction is the idea of convincing people that the war is just/noble/worth the sacrifice. But he won't look him in the eye b/c he knows it's bullshit. The slow dance with commerce is a nod towards his economic fascination, but it's a slow dance b/c the economy has been slow to recover since the recession of 2001.
"Talk to kill time" references the flailing admin. trying to worm their way out of commitment to the war, everyone keeps talking but no one's doing anything. "It's been a while since we went wild" alludes to diminishing patriotism, and the sleepwalking through the trial is that we went into the war blindly.
The bourbon and god this is a southern pride allusion, and how people who voted based on religion are running out of excuses. "It's really a crime," well...duh.
I didn't mean to go on a political rant, I just think TV on the Radio did.
xoxox
I think it is pretty clearly a homosexual affair with a priest and repression of these feelings
this song is responsible for making tv on the radio my new favorite band.
kickinarse2nite: spot on!
I was a lover, before this war
for those of us living in williamsburg diring 9/11 - we had quite the view. On the island you don't get the perspective- from across the bridge in brooklyn, we saw everything. It was quite unsettling.
held up in a luxury suite, behind a barricaded door
We used to live in what not are SOHO style lofts, in old factories with cement floors and high celings. Kyp from TV on the Radio served coffee for years at a local watering hole. We were all able to scrape by on shit jobs and drink on rooftops at night, it retrospect it ws a time and a place that we'll never get back.
now that I've cleaned up, gone legit
we try to get "normal jobs"
I can see clearly: round hole round whole, square peg don't fit