1
I ponder of something great
My lungs will fill and then deflate
They fill with fire, exhale desire
I know it's dire, my time today
I have these thoughts so often, I ought
To replace that slot with what I once bought
'Cause somebody stole my car radio
And now I just sit in silence
Sometimes quiet is violent
I find it hard to hide it, my pride is no longer inside
It's on my sleeve, my skin will scream
Reminding me of who I killed inside my dream
I hate this car that I'm driving, there's no hiding for me
I'm forced to deal with what I feel
There is no distraction to mask what is real
I could pull the steering wheel
I have these thoughts so often, I ought
To replace that slot with what I once bought
'Cause somebody stole my car radio
And now I just sit in silence
I ponder of something terrifying
'Cause this time there's no sound to hide behind
I find over the course of our human existence
One thing consists of consistence
And it's that we're all battling fear
Oh dear, I don't know if we know why we're here
Oh my, too deep, please stop thinking
I liked it better when my car had sound
There are things we can do
But from the things that work there are only two
And from the two that we choose to do
Peace will win and fear will lose
And there's faith and there's sleep
We need to pick one please because
Faith is to be awake and to be awake is for us to think
And for us to think is to be alive
And I will try with every rhyme
To come across like I am dying
To let you know you need to try to think
I have these thoughts so often, I ought
To replace that slot with what I once bought
'Cause somebody stole my car radio
And now I just sit in silence
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
And now I just sit in silence
And now I just sit in silence
And now I just sit
And now I just sit in silence
And now I just sit in silence
And now I just sit in silence
And now I just sit
I ponder of something great
My lungs will fill and then deflate
They fill with fire, exhale desire
I know it's dire, my time today
I have these thoughts so often, I ought
To replace that slot with what I once bought
'Cause somebody stole my car radio
And now I just sit in silence
My lungs will fill and then deflate
They fill with fire, exhale desire
I know it's dire, my time today
I have these thoughts so often, I ought
To replace that slot with what I once bought
'Cause somebody stole my car radio
And now I just sit in silence
Sometimes quiet is violent
I find it hard to hide it, my pride is no longer inside
It's on my sleeve, my skin will scream
Reminding me of who I killed inside my dream
I hate this car that I'm driving, there's no hiding for me
I'm forced to deal with what I feel
There is no distraction to mask what is real
I could pull the steering wheel
I have these thoughts so often, I ought
To replace that slot with what I once bought
'Cause somebody stole my car radio
And now I just sit in silence
I ponder of something terrifying
'Cause this time there's no sound to hide behind
I find over the course of our human existence
One thing consists of consistence
And it's that we're all battling fear
Oh dear, I don't know if we know why we're here
Oh my, too deep, please stop thinking
I liked it better when my car had sound
There are things we can do
But from the things that work there are only two
And from the two that we choose to do
Peace will win and fear will lose
And there's faith and there's sleep
We need to pick one please because
Faith is to be awake and to be awake is for us to think
And for us to think is to be alive
And I will try with every rhyme
To come across like I am dying
To let you know you need to try to think
I have these thoughts so often, I ought
To replace that slot with what I once bought
'Cause somebody stole my car radio
And now I just sit in silence
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
Whoa, oh-whoa-oh
And now I just sit in silence
And now I just sit in silence
And now I just sit
And now I just sit in silence
And now I just sit in silence
And now I just sit in silence
And now I just sit
I ponder of something great
My lungs will fill and then deflate
They fill with fire, exhale desire
I know it's dire, my time today
I have these thoughts so often, I ought
To replace that slot with what I once bought
'Cause somebody stole my car radio
And now I just sit in silence
Lyrics submitted by tavman, edited by raveman001, Whetever, chloehasalife, thinge123, kirstenv
Car Radio Lyrics as written by Tyler Joseph
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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@CaptiveL As Keith and others note, it's both literal and a metaphor. And as metaphors go, I think this one is unusually brilliant. Unlike just about every other component of a car, the radio serves no functional purpose -- it is solely there to entertain and provide distraction from the tedium of driving. And if it gets stolen, it leaves an empty slot in the dash, and one must then drive in silence. Metaphorically, the car is his life, and the radio was something that provided distraction. But now that something is gone, leaving a hole in his life, and freeing his mind to think thoughts both deep ("something great") and depressing ("something terrifying").
One recurring thought involves refilling the hole in his life by going back to the old distraction ("replace that slot with what I once bought"). This is suggestive of an addiction of some sort, but it doesn't have to be.
But the ultimate message of the song involves "the things we can do" about our lives, of which "there are only two" that matter: we can choose "faith" or "sleep," which he goes on to develop as life vs death, being full of life and thinking vs being mindless or even literally dead (suicide). We can pay attention and drive the car safely, or we can "pull the steering wheel" and crash it. The plea is for faith = life = thought, a similar message to "Holding on to You".