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.
There is a house by the sea
Two jealous sisters, they're waiting for me
And one is laid on the floor
And one is changing the locks on the doors
And I've been buying the time on my knees
And I've been selling their blankets to bleed on
Around the house by the sea
The scent of roses and raspberry leaves
And there is smoke in my clothes
Too much time with just smoke in my nose
And I've been making the meaning they lack
And I've been burning that book they come back to
There is a house by the sea
And an ocean between it and me
And like the shape of a wave
The jealous sisters will sing on my grave
And I've been living to run where they led
And I've been dying to rise from their bed
But I've been sparing my neck from their chain
And they've been changing the sound of my name
And I've been swimming to them in my sleep
And I've been dreaming our love and our freedom
Two jealous sisters, they're waiting for me
And one is laid on the floor
And one is changing the locks on the doors
And I've been buying the time on my knees
And I've been selling their blankets to bleed on
Around the house by the sea
The scent of roses and raspberry leaves
And there is smoke in my clothes
Too much time with just smoke in my nose
And I've been making the meaning they lack
And I've been burning that book they come back to
There is a house by the sea
And an ocean between it and me
And like the shape of a wave
The jealous sisters will sing on my grave
And I've been living to run where they led
And I've been dying to rise from their bed
But I've been sparing my neck from their chain
And they've been changing the sound of my name
And I've been swimming to them in my sleep
And I've been dreaming our love and our freedom
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More Featured Meanings
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Magical
Ed Sheeran
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How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Page
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There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
The song seems to me to be talking about the fundamental difference between men and women, how men have an instinct to spread seed and then move on and how women try to make a home, try to keep them around. The "house by the sea" mentioned in each verse is the happy medium that the male and the girls in this song wish to achieve.
In the first verse, I feel that the sisters have something amorous going on with the singer, who is clearly male; this is perhaps the cause of their jealousy towards each other, or towards any other women he looks at. The one laying on the floor is being inviting and enticing, and the one changing the locks is conspiring to keep the man there. The part about buying their time on his knees seems to refer to the fact that, in lots of hormone-centered relationships like this one, the guy humbles himself before the girl to get into her pants.
The second verse is describing how heavenly the house by the sea is; how great it is when everybody's natural instincts co-incide and love-making is what's going down. Roses and raspberry leaves smell pretty good, and having smoke in your nose, whether it's tobacco or a more illicit substance, is a fun, meaningless thing you do in luxury. Maybe this also links to their being two girls instead of your normal one-on-one relationship - the house by the sea is an irresistable male fantasy."Making the meaning they lack" could refer to the man thinking up reasons to be there, and him "burning the book they come back to" means that he's rejecting their reasons - they think he should stay there, start a family.
In the third verse, the man has left the sisters and has travelled far away, putting an ocean between himself and that heavenly house. "Like the shape of a wave," their regard from him goes from a zenith of love and mating to a nadir of celebrating his death.
The final six lines are particularly potent, amptly and poetically summarizing the relationship. 1: he lives for them, hopelessly in love, and he goes whenever they do. 2-3: Their control over him tightens, and his instincts want him to escape and roam. This goes from simply wanting to leave to trying to escape the metaphysical bondage he's in. 4: They don't call him Sam Beam (or whatever) like they used to, now the name is full of responsability and expectations. 5-6: Having left, he still dreams of the pleasure of that house, and he dreams of "love and freedom" co-existing somehow.