Taken for a Ride

I know exactly how he feels in this song. He's talking about a relationship, one where he felt helpless from start to finish, he wanted to read his journals before they were written to know what would happen before it happened, wondering through the whole thing if he's happy. he fakes a smile to help the mood between them for the day, even though the "chemistry" (which is slang for love and/or sex) is gone.

I think the moral is supposed to be that if everything was meant to go wrong in the end, let it, it's pointless to worry about it, just be happy you've got something..... but even still, he knows that some lovers are making it through and it breaks his heart that he lost in the game.

I think he's thinking this all through on a hill listening to the silence, watching the lights.... this song actually means a lot to me...

"Marvin walked into a helpless land and wondered lightly am I happy, is this happy Following the footsteps left by man he stepped to reprimand the mystic, who's sadistic took a step into the elevator who said guess i'll see you later, don't you worry fifteen flights that lasted nights and days that spent without a cent for creatures, with their beat shirts"

The 'helpless land' is Earth. He, like every other person, wonders about happiness in the context of 'Is this really all there is?' 'Following the footsteps left by man,' (doing what other people have been doing since the awn of time), he blames 'the mystic' (God) for not receiving the happiness he believes he deserves or was promised, thinking maybe it doesn't exist at all and it is just a false promise told by a sadistic power. I think the elevator symbolizes the passing of time in his life in which he doesn't o anything or accomplish anything, only ages; heading to his estinations (death) without actually going anywhere, so to speak. "I'll see you later," then, applies to the many that will come after hi whol will have the same mindset, who will also waste their life wondering why they aren't happy and believing they can do nothing about it. In the case of the "creatures with beat shirts," I believe the following definition of "beat would be the most helpful: Beat -- adj. of or belonging to a group of young persons, esp. of the 1950s, rebelling against conventional attitudes, dress, speech, etc., largely as an expression of social disillusionment.

"listening to painted whispered light on top forgotten hill"

This piece, I believe, is meant mostly to be descriptive of something beautiful so as to represent the simple everyday beauty that people take for granted rather than finding happiness in them.

"Next the stranded senate of the white brick house with flowers asked some questions for their story all feeling now he took his bow and left the stage of time with no answers to no questions lonely paperbacks that wanted just a taste of feeling to implode them before living tiptoed to the wooden sign that said now take your place in line for happy, this is lovely"

When he dies, he dies without ever having learned anything. The people he leaves behind are the 'stranded senate' looking to live vicariously through his memories in order to enhance their own life-stories. Waiting for him in the after-life, he meets the souls that have yet to be born, otherwise known as the 'lonely paperbacks.' They wait excitedly to begin living, wanting "just a taste of feeling" to know what living is like before they start it on their own. They are happy, and excited for the happiness they are promised when they begin their lives. "This is lovely."

"one secondary smile to go that extra mile to make me feel today to make it go away the chemistry is gone taken for a ride far away from you no longer left inside"

Overall, this song is about disillusionment with life. A faked joy keeps us going. We pretend to be happy, to know hapiness, in order to ignore the fact that we're not. The chemistry, the spark, in our love-affair with life is gone, and we feel tricked ('taken for a ride').

"The actor with his world renowned was thinking 'bout his last real day of silence, was it over or is it just we all think that our answer isn't real it's just a picture of a letter bumble mumble make the rounds no matter what you'll seem profound it's useless just to worry something normal happens somewhere far away in clouds so please just stop thinking this is happy"

I'm not sure about this verse. I think it has something to do with going through the motions in our lives without living; for example, talking without speaking or saying anything important.

"There's no secrets in the door just a moment doing chores"

In the end, there is no mystical secret to life and happiness, just living it.

"And there's something and there's something and there's something and there's something next to nothing and there's something and there's something but you're gone"

We get so close to finding a reason to be happy, we can almost touch it ('there's something!'), but, in the end, most of us don't see the joys of life before it's over and we're 'gone.'

This is an excellent song, one of Tally's best. I don't really think this song's supposed to mean anything. It's just a bunch of words that sound good together. This is supported by the line that says "Lonely paperbacks that wanted just a taste of feeling to implode them before living".

I think the song is about going to heaven, maybe being a little confused at the time and not knowing quite where you are.

I don't think this song is "just a bunch of words." The lonely paperbacks line is actually a sentence. It connects with the line after. It's like this (in sentence mode): Lonely paperbacks, that wanted just a taste of feeling to implode them before living, tiptoed to the wooden sign that said, "Now take your place in line for happy, this is lovely."

Yep...I'm still not very sure on what this song means, but I'm sure that each verse is like a different story of a different person.

I don't know what it's supposed to mean, but I guess Andrew Horowitz is just too deep for me. iheartTH. :)

I have to agree with 13Oblivion13 for the most part. I'm not sure exactly what the verses are all about, but my idea of the chorus is:

"One secondary smile, to go that extra mile, to make me feel today, to make it go away" - The man simply smiling because he is happy now, and knows that better things are on the horizon now that this has gone away.

"The chemistry is gone, taken for a ride, far away from you, no longer left inside" - Now that the relationship between the couple is gone, he will begin on a new journey, looking for a new woman, and it's one journey that doesn't involve that woman any more.

My favorite Tally Hall song. By far. And my first post!

the beginning sounds like the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme. Then it turns into The Polyphonic Spree

I'm not sure how no one has made the connection between this song and the second Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

Marvin walked into a helpless land and wondered lightly "Am I happy, is this happy?"

In the H2G2 series, Marvin the Paranoid Android is famous for being completely depressed. He's never felt a single inkling of happiness in his digital life.

Following the footsteps left by man he stepped to reprimand the mystic, who's sadistic

Not exactly sure how this relates, to tell the truth. It may refer to Zaphod Beeblebrox the First, who was just transported to the planet that houses the Hitchhiker's Guide's main building by his late great grandfather, Zaphod the Fourth.

Took a step into the elevator who said "Guess I'll see you later, don't you worry."

When Marvin and Zaphod go inside of the H2G2 building, they take an elevator, who doesn't want to go up to the floor that a man named Zarniwoop is at.

Fifteen flights that lasted nights and days that spent without a cent for creatures, with their beat shirts.

The floor that Zarniwoop is on is the fifteenth floor.

I'm not sure how the rest of the song relates, but the first bit is definitely a nod towards Douglas Adams.

ZeeGeeEmm

I was getting on today to say the exact same thing.

I'm glad someone thinks the same thing.