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A Tune for Nowhere Lyrics
She wonders if the flags are waving still
She likes to see their colors on the hill
Almost like a rainbow over all of this
She will fly the flag of nowhere
Hidden with the ribbons in her hair
Anywhere she goes, she knows it's always there
Never far away from nowhere
Nowhere is a place inside her head
Though she is not its only citizen
No one knows how many souls there may remain
Carrying a torch for nowhere
Nowhere doesn't have a government
No one can decide how far it may extend
She will not surrender nowhere
So, she is learning how to play the flute
Just because she always wanted to
She practices her lessons every afternoon
Up and down the scales of nowhere
Stumbling across Au Claire de Lune
Hour after hour in her basement room
Making up a tune for nowhere
She likes to see their colors on the hill
Almost like a rainbow over all of this
She will fly the flag of nowhere
Anywhere she goes, she knows it's always there
Never far away from nowhere
Though she is not its only citizen
No one knows how many souls there may remain
Carrying a torch for nowhere
No one can decide how far it may extend
She will not surrender nowhere
Just because she always wanted to
She practices her lessons every afternoon
Up and down the scales of nowhere
Stumbling across Au Claire de Lune
Hour after hour in her basement room
Making up a tune for nowhere
Song Info
Submitted by
songmeanings On Feb 06, 2012
More Richard Shindell
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Are You Happy Now?
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So Says the Whippoorwill
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When asked, on twitter in 2023 about his inspiration for the song (from his 1994 album), Shindell replied,
First, "motivation". I understand what you mean, but that word implies a kind of thematic purposefulness that doesn't quite jibe with my experience of writing. Something like "generative occasion" feels more accurate. But "spark" sounds less pretentious!
Circa '94 I heard a story about a Bosnian Muslim family in Sarajevo during the siege, humans trying to stay maintain their humanity while during a genocide. One daughter was determined to carry on with her flute lessons. She was the spark.
Onto meaning, which is more complicated. Again, I prefer to let songs lead their own lives. But it was written such a long time ago. It feels now almost like someone else's song. In a way, it is. That puts me in a similar position to any other listener.
Hearing it now I think of Russia's genocidal invasion of Ukraine, and the word "nowhere" as referring to the strategy of severing a people's identification with, connection to, presence in and memory of a place.
But why "nowhere"? Isn't that what the aggressor seeks, to make a nowhere of one people's place in order to make it a somewhere for others? The choice of "nowhere" is a risky one. But I interpret it as an affirmation of the girl's (a people’s) subjective agency.
Yes, her place is a real place, and it is hers. But it's also history, memory, society, kinship, language, and culture. It lives as long as she and they keep practicing. Slava Ukraini.