The elevator, in the hotel lobby has a lazy door
The man inside is going to a hotel room
He jumped out right after seeing just the very sight of me
Decided he better hike it to the second floor

Its temporary, this place I'm in
I permanently wont do this again
My belongings scattered across the hotel floor

Now then later, I was thinking it over by the snack machine
I thought about you and a candy bar
The now and laters, now that I've got, stuck between my teeth
I fell asleep to the greatest movie of the year

A man gets lonely, for heavens sake
He's wondering only what did you do today
The worlds spinning around into an old, sad song

Well it's coming down outside like Ive never even seen before
I fell into some kind of sorry state
But looking back now, I think it's time for me to laugh about it
And get my things together and find something to say

Well I feel awful, and I believe
That time gets wasted in this misery
And darling, I never wanna come back home


Lyrics submitted by gadsby, edited by jmidd3374

Factory Lyrics as written by Benjamin Bridwell

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Factory song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

16 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +2
    General Comment

    Taking part of what RamblinRoger said into perspective, I think maybe it could be about a man looking back on a past relationship that he still hasn't gotten over. And it's really changed him, physically and emotionally. Maybe they broke up because of his busy lifestyle touring. He's trying to convince himself that this is just temporary, what he's currently feeling, but then he's saying he never wants to go through it again. I think the line my belongings scattered all across the hotel floor can be taken metaphorically too, meaning he's all over the place and isn't doing well keeping himself together. I'm not really too sure why the snack machine bit is relevant, maybe it's just saying that he thinks about the person all the time. He should be deciding what type of candy bar he wants and intead he is just thinking about her. Later he eats the candy bar and even though he's watching the greatest movie of the year it isn't exciting him because he feels too depressed. Then he says it's normal to be lonely and all he wants to know is what she's doing. Then the world spin around me to an old sad song line I think means that he's just watching the world go by and to him everything seems sad because that's the way he's feeling, it seems like there is a sad song behind everything because he's only thinking about the bad stuff because he's so down and upset. The coming down outside part could be literal, meaning it's raining, or metaphorical meaning again he's thinking about the bad things going on in the world and say ing that everything is coming down, and this puts him into a sorry state and makes him sad. Looking back now I think it's finally time for me to laugh about it, I think that line means it's been so long since the relationship ended and he thinks he finally needs to get over it and put himself back together. Then the last verse, he feels awful. I think maybe he was the one who ended the relationship because it was so hard to have a relationship when he was so busy touring and going to so many places, so he regrets doing that and feels awful. He believes he is wasting his life being so miserable and the last line I think is the hardest to decipher, at least for me. Maybe it means if they stayed together he would never want to leave her and wouldn't be so successful? Not too sure on that. And obviously I could be wrong about my whole interperetation, I might be looking too far into it. But this is what I think it means, and I rather prefer having my own interperetation sometimes, that's what is so wonderful about lyrics, you can make them mean almost anything you want.

    ilovethekillers21on July 29, 2010   Link
  • +1
    Lyric Correction

    Hi - you beat me to getting this one on! What a fantastic song, I saw this live having never heard the song and was blown away - Tyler's guitar work was really something! You got a couple of lines I didn't, nice one, I have a couple of suggestions though...

    Verse 2,

    Line 1 it's AN HOUR LATER rather than NOW OR LATER Line 3 I think is wrong but is a bit indecipherable! Does he mention some American brand of candy bar? Certainly the word MOUNTAIN is in there somewhere.

    The 2nd chorus is...

    A man gets lonely for heaven’s sake He’s wondering only what did you do today The world spin around me to an old sad song

    The 3rd verse starts IT'S COMING DOWN OUTSIDE... (ie raining)

    3rd chorus, 2nd line is THAT TIME GETS WASTED IN THIS MISERY

    Hope this helps. Still more than 3 weeks until I can get my hands on this CD!!

    Regards, Ian.

    iangurteenon April 25, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I just like that "I fell asleep to the greatest movie of the year" line, it simply justifies the whole song. I fell asleep during Lord of the Rings. And during the first Harry Potter too! And maybe even more. Didn't even bother go seeing Avatar.

    But really, this line just says a lot about the person and the state he's in, that's what great lines are about.

    hadaron January 04, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Wow, I fell asleep during Avatar 3D too!

    negatyveon April 25, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    their new stuff is so good.

    hemersonon May 19, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    In what I picked up from this is that it's about a man who lived life tumultuously and by himself at that, a very self indulged man who at first in the first part of the song feels sorry for himself and won't respect himself to adhere to what he's even doing. This is written in 2nd person perspective as if the singer is going through it as well.

    And I think the title "Factory" is very literal and metaphorical at the same time, Factory meaning that this has happened before (Like a factory does". That's what I got from it

    Honeyedon May 31, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I thought this song was about some guy going into a hotel room with a hooker, and feeling guilty.

    vsxon July 16, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Woah...didn't realize that was that long.

    ilovethekillers21on July 29, 2010   Link
  • 0
    Lyric Correction

    The last line is, "And darlin' I DON'T ever want to come back home"

    much more defined that way I think...The last line is what really stuck with me...

    silverosepetalson March 28, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I thought this song might be about a cross-dresser. He's living in a hotel room because his wife found his women's clothes and threw him out. The man in the elevator jumped out because he clocked him in as a man in a dress.

    Looking back now at the breakup, he laughs, because when his wife found his panties, she first accused him of cheating on her. Now he's in the hotel, taking his first steps out in public in dress (short trip to the snack machine). He realizes that even though he doesn't pass (see: elevator man), he's finally able to show himself in public, and he doesn't want to go home to where his wife doesn't accept him.

    Doowagaon May 15, 2011   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
Grand Theft Auto
Insane Ian
The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
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
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."