5 Meanings
Add Yours
Share
Momentum Lyrics
Oh, for the sake of momentum
I've allowed my fears
to get larger than life
And it's brought me to my current agendum
Whereupon I deny fulfillment has yet to arrive
And I know life is getting shorter
I can't bring myself to set the scene
Even whin it's approaching torture
I've got my routine
Oh, for the sake of momentum
Even thought I agree with that stuff
about seizing the day
But I hate to think of effort expended
All those minutes and days and hours
I've have frittered away
And I know life is getting shorter
I can't bring myself to set the scene
Even whin it's approaching torture
I've got my routine
But I can't confront the doubts I have
I can't admit that maybe the past was bad
And so, for the sake of momentum,
I'm condemning the future to death
so it can match the past
Momentum is about someone who is stuck in a self-destructive pattern. She can't move forward because she's too scared. At the same time, this fear and apathy is also keeping her going, in some dysfunctional way. She's not moving forward, but it keeps her moving in the same pattern/rut she's always known. Her fear of going forward and failing, combined with her past failures, are her reasons for "condemning the future to death so it can match the past." In a way, it's almost comforting to her.
what a great song... i know, i know, all of her songs are great. but THIS one... :)
it's about keeping up with time and not being able to look back, just having to keep on moving on forward even if we don't want to.
the crescendo in the melody and the ascension of the notes when she sings "and i know life is getting shorter" is awesome.
has anyone else seen the movie "magnolia" ? this song is playing in the background when claudia is playing her music too loud while snorting. the cop is banging on her door. the song is a great song to play in the background because the message in the song fits the theme of the movie well, and the chorus suggests some sort of frantic grappling with the present.
bravo, aimee
I think EnidCaulfield is dead right. My immediate response to these lyrics was "Aimee Mann has been reading my diary!" I think that it is a small message of hope. If you recognise how hopeless your position is, you might get up the momentum to change things.
The other thing I like about it is that she deals with a bad situation without treating it as a tragedy but by sending herself up. And there is an unspoken, "you know what I'm talking about." because she knows many of the people she is talking to have the same "momentum" in their own lives.
I think it's about how she tends to think of her problems as worse than they really are because it's easier to feel sorry for herself than to admit that her life is uneventful and without meaning, which is in its own way still miserable.
I think this is one of Aimee Mann’s best songs. It’s about fearing change. Even when you know the path you’re on is dysfunctional and going nowhere, it’s often preferable to keep on going with it than to making a change. Change is unknown and scary, but at least the nightmare you’re currently living is familiar. I think these lyrics must ring true to every human being because we’ve all been there at one time or another.
I think this is one of Aimee Mann’s best songs. It’s about fearing change. Even when you know the path you’re on is dysfunctional and going nowhere, it’s often preferable to keep on going with it than to making a change. Change is unknown and scary, but at least the nightmare you’re currently living is familiar. I think these lyrics must ring true to every human being because we’ve all been there at one time or another.
yet another great aimee song...i can't believe there aren't any posts about it...its frustrating that most of her songs expose certain situations but dont provide a way to get out of them...oh well this song is still pretty cool~