One day I will be back in our old street
Safe from the noise that's falling around me

And we'll release this town from the people
Who are trying to knock it down
And then only city lights will brighten the night sky
And there will be no sound

Open the bars and open the markets
Open the banks and open the churches

And we'll release this town from the people
Who are trying to knock it down
And then only city lights will brighten the night sky
And there will be no sound

We've been cowering so long
Oh, what I would give, I ask so little
Oh, what I would give to stand at the bus stop
Or browse in a bookshop to sleep and always be still

And we'll release this town from the people
Who are trying to knock it down
And then only city lights will brighten the night sky

And I will be set free from the people
Who are trying to bury me
And then only fireworks will light the sky at night
For all the world can see


Lyrics submitted by allactionandy

The Night Sky Lyrics as written by Timothy James Rice-oxley Richard David Hughes

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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The Night Sky song meanings
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    General Comment

    Like so many of the finest Keane songs, this one gripped hold of me and presented a puzzle with few clues as to the reason for the personal impact. Ostensibly it tells the emotional side of a civilian war, perhaps in a hometown, perhaps from an adult’s perspective as a child.

    Perhaps I feel I bit guilty co-opting this message, for War Child, but perhaps my interpretation will resonate with others. For the past four years, culminating with the death of my mother a few weeks ago, I have really come to grips the extremes of the abuse I suffered growing up. I was bullied relentlessly at school – and then when I fled to come home – the endless emotional and physical rage and abuse of my mother that lasted my entire childhood.

    There was no war in my hometown, but how I quietly and with no one’s knowledge I suffered nonetheless. Worse, this merely seemed “normal” to me as I knew no other way of life. In a sense, I was also a “war child.”

    Still, memories are purified and bring back such cravings amid the disappointments that the words of this song evoke. I remember waiting at the bus stop in the seventh grade, and the book store on Main street in my hometown – and I want to go back in time to experience it again. I would give anything for this! I would only ask that I could bring with me a 3 x 5 card with the lessons of past 30 years so that as I relived the hell, I could somehow fix it and change my present outcome.

    Once again, Keane is my muse and constant companion for deep meditation.

    talkaboutsongson November 06, 2016   Link

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