Our Last Common Ancestor

Fightstar

If you, you are
The bolts that are
Making the Earth spin

Then I have failed
To embrace the touch
Of my own skin

So please
Please make me love
To be better
Than this machine
Has grown to be

If we, we are
The conscience
The roads
That we once walked

So please
Please make me learn
That we're better
Than these machines
Have grown to be

My shadow grabbed me
By the feet and
Grew much taller
Than I am

So please
Please make me learn
That we're better
Than these machines
Have grown to be

So please
Please make me see
That I'm better
Than this machine
Cause now I know



Lyrics submitted by leeham

Our Last Common Ancestor Lyrics as written by Charles Robert Simpson Alexander Derek Westaway

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC

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Our Last Common Ancestor song meanings
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3 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    I'm really not sure the lyrics are so cryptic, but since no one else has, let me take a stab at it anyway. I think the words are a plea to God, which makes sense because Charlie's a Christian and this has been a theme in their songs before. I think it's about spirituality and the way that commercialism and modern technology have made our lives so vacuous, and that maybe it would get to the point one day where we've become just like these "machines" and just become empty shells who've forgotten how to love. The only section that doesn't seem to conform to this would be the "my shadow grabbed me" bit. I suppose the shadow could be man's shadow cast over the world, so technology and progress for the sake of progress has undermined everything that being human is supposed to mean, or maybe that the fact man can love and should therefore be "better than this machine" counts for nothing, because the shadow has grown "much taller than I am". The entire album has a post- apocolyptic feel to it just like the one before, so I guess that would have something to do with it as well. The way Charlie sings the song is haunting, the whole thing sounds like a whisper from the dark, a desperate plea. I still find it darkly beautiful even if I can't figure out what it means.

    SillyHatManon February 16, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    A random thought:

    Could it be about Blade Runner?

    strider3005on January 04, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    A vague reference to the terminator films, makes sense. If we, we are The conscience The roads That we once walked for example ;)

    zd909on May 01, 2010   Link

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