This town is colder now, I think it's sick of us
It's time to make our move, I'm shakin' off the rust
I've got my heart set on anywhere but here
I'm staring down myself, counting up the years

Steady hands just take the wheel
And every glance is killing me
Time to make one last appeal
For the life I live

Stop and stare
I think I'm moving, but I go nowhere
Yeah, I know that everyone gets scared
But I'll become what I can't be, oh

Stop and stare
You start to wonder why you're here not there
And you'd give anything to get what's fair
But fair ain't what you really need
Oh, can you see what I see?

They're tryin' to come back, all my senses push
Untie the weight bags, I never thought I could
Steady feet, don't fail me now
I'ma run 'til you can't walk
Something pulls my focus out
And I'm standing down

Stop and stare
I think I'm moving, but I go nowhere
Yeah, I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be, oh

Stop and stare
You start to wonder why you're here not there
And you'd give anything to get what's fair
But fair ain't what you really need
Oh, you don't need

Stop and stare
I think I'm moving, but I go nowhere
Yeah, I know that everyone gets scared
I've become what I can't be
Oh, do you see what I see?


Lyrics submitted by hplssrmantcxox, edited by msyauqi

Stop and Stare Lyrics as written by Andrew John Brown Ryan Benjamin Tedder

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Downtown Music Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Stop and Stare song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

141 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +10
    General Comment

    alright so i think its about someone who has tried to please everyone around him for so long he doesnt know who he is anymore. he feels like he is watching himself from the outside and what he has become is trying to justify it to who he is supposed to be what is happening. "time to make one last appeal for the life i lead". (also explains the term "us")

    the 2nd verse is him trying to get away from it and stand up for himself. his feelings and thoughts r coming back and the weights and pressure from everyone else is falling away.

    "Steady feet, don't fail me now, Gonna run till you can't walk" he is determind to get away from it all, and what he is. but something or someone just drags him back to how he was, so he backs off and does as everyone else pleases again. "But something pulls my focus out, And I'm standing down..."

    "And you'd give anything to get what's fair But fair ain't what you really need" he is talkin to himself. fair to him is so everyone is happy, equally. but its not what he needs, or what is gonna make him happy. he needs to get out of this situation completely.

    "Oh, do you see what I see" who he is supposed to be is watching from the outside and trying to say this isnt right.

    ok i could b totally wrong. and it prob makes no sense. but thats just what i get. i suppose its cos im relating it to my situation. i feel exactly that. i do everything to make others happy that its making me miserable and question everything i do. its like i have 2 personalities, i watch myself and half the time im like wtf am i doing?? but i still do nothing to change it.

    great song tho. haha. :)

    chickygirl123on October 04, 2007   Link

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

Album art
Techno Ted
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.
Album art
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him. There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Album art
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
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”
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
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.
Album art
Blue
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.