Warren wanted a Beach Boys thing for this one, and Carl Wilson and Billy Hinsche came in, with Carl arranging the vocal parts. The other harmony vocalists (credited as the "Gentlemen Boys") were Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Zevon's longtime backers Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderon, and Linda Rondstadt/Stone Poneys guitarist Kenny Edwards.
The dust has settled
Replace the bulbs in all the lights
I guess I'll get no sleep tonight
A revolution happened
Oh, sorry, you haven't heard?
We are the children of the new world
If you're quiet you can watch if you like
They say the future's beginning tonight
Whole empires will crumble, civilizations will fall
Lie on the bed, hear the sound of it all
No anger, no guilt and no sorrow
It sounds unlikely, I know, but tomorrow
You will wake up to find that your whole life has changed
Although nothing looks different, a revolution took place
I love the way you do it
I love the way you put them on
You know the answers but you get it wrong
Just to confuse things
Why did it seem so difficult to realise a simple truth?
The revolution begins and ends with you
Now all the breakdowns and nightmares look small
Now we decided not to die after all
'Cause the meek shall inherit absolutely nothing at all
If you stopped being so feeble you could have so much more
The answer was here all the time, you see
Just how I missed it is a mystery to me
I have waited and waited for this day to arrive
The revolution was televised
Now it's over, bye bye
It's over, bye bye
It's over, bye bye
Yeah, we made it
Just by the skin of our teeth
Perfection is over
Sheffield is over
The Fear is over
Guilt is over (please leave the building quietly)
Bergerac is over
The hangover is over, men are over, women are over
Cholesterol is over
Tapers are over
Bergman is over, irony is over
Bye-bye
Replace the bulbs in all the lights
I guess I'll get no sleep tonight
A revolution happened
Oh, sorry, you haven't heard?
We are the children of the new world
If you're quiet you can watch if you like
They say the future's beginning tonight
Whole empires will crumble, civilizations will fall
Lie on the bed, hear the sound of it all
No anger, no guilt and no sorrow
It sounds unlikely, I know, but tomorrow
You will wake up to find that your whole life has changed
Although nothing looks different, a revolution took place
I love the way you do it
I love the way you put them on
You know the answers but you get it wrong
Just to confuse things
Why did it seem so difficult to realise a simple truth?
The revolution begins and ends with you
Now all the breakdowns and nightmares look small
Now we decided not to die after all
'Cause the meek shall inherit absolutely nothing at all
If you stopped being so feeble you could have so much more
The answer was here all the time, you see
Just how I missed it is a mystery to me
I have waited and waited for this day to arrive
The revolution was televised
Now it's over, bye bye
It's over, bye bye
It's over, bye bye
Yeah, we made it
Just by the skin of our teeth
Perfection is over
Sheffield is over
The Fear is over
Guilt is over (please leave the building quietly)
Bergerac is over
The hangover is over, men are over, women are over
Cholesterol is over
Tapers are over
Bergman is over, irony is over
Bye-bye
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
Spirit Within
Bertoldi Brothers
Bertoldi Brothers
Corpse I Fell In Love With
Gadjits, The
Gadjits, The
He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
Step
Ministry
Ministry
Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
Techno Ted
Audioslave
Audioslave
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.
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
To me this means that everything we've believed is wrong, religion, and our revolutions, they were just putting us on. Whoever ultimately runs the world knows that everything is meaningless, they know all the answers but they get it all wrong just to confuse things.
The meek won't inherit anything, if you want change you have to do it for yourself, and all the revolutions are in the end meaningless because everything will still be the same afterwards.