Miner At The Dial-A-View

Grandaddy

I found your house and I saw your car
But I've no idea where you are
From the dial-a-view

Tire scraps on the federal roads
Look like crash landed crows
From the dial-a-view

Hello welcome to dial-a-view
To locate the area in which you wish to observe
You must program in the longitude and the latitude
For a closer more detailed picture
Use either the zoom or micro-zoom controls
Good luck

I dream at night
Of going home someday
Somewhere so far away
So dream alright
I know it's going to take some time
I'm going home someday

Fifteen years is almost done
And I don't recognize anyone
From the dial-a-view

My home my friends and you
I watch them fade but what can I do?
From the dial-a-view

Hello welcome to dial-a-view
To locate the area in which you wish to observe
You must program in the longitude and the latitude
For a closer more detailed picture
Use either the zoom or micro-zoom controls
Good luck

I dream at night
Of going home someday
Somewhere so far away
So dream alright
I know it's going to take some time
I'm going home someday

I dream at night
Of going home someday
Somewhere so far away
So dream alright
I know it's going to take some time
I'm going home someday

I dream at night
Of going home someday
Somewhere so far away
So dream alright
I know it's going to take some time
I'm going home someday


Lyrics submitted by jt

Miner at the Dial-A-View Lyrics as written by Jason Lytle

Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY

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Miner At The Dial-A-View song meanings
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23 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment
    God, the sighs after '..at night'; just beautiful. the guy's isolated and with no contact to his old life and slowly it forgets him.
    benfoldsfanon May 12, 2003   Link
  • +2
    General Comment
    "tire scraps on federal roads look like crash-landed crows" always seemed to signify to me that the miner was looking at earth, or wherever he used to live, from above. grandaddy has always had some space-age-type content in their songs, so i always imagined the miner on the moon or some planet. however, i believe that the closer-to-home meaning of this song is more about living a life so detatched that you have to look at it through some sort of machine, as if you're not really living it. or, of course, that you've just not been home in a really long time.
    emmdithyon October 19, 2004   Link
  • +2
    General Comment
    I see this song as an expression of nostalgia, but not as much for other people, as for the other life he might have lived. I see this song as a beautiful little metaphor of the longing felt for the other life, the other one that might have been lived. And I believe we all can relate to that, because, as we grow older, we see how the people we know tend to live their own little lives as so do we all... similar I guess to the feelings expressed by Lennon in "In My Life".
    tere_tulemaston July 11, 2006   Link
  • +2
    General Comment
    Isn't the title a very obvious pun? "Dial-a-view" - remove the D, say it out loud and see what you get... I don't really see the album as post-apocalyptic; it's about today. Alienation, reliance on technology, experiencing life not through your own eyes but through machines that choose what you get to see... Of course, you could argue that this world IS post-apocalyptic, or at least apocalyptic, but that's another discussion.
    beer goodon August 23, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    Pretty self-explanitory. Some sort of miner who is kept down in the mines for years at a time, and uses a device called a "Dail-A-View" to see place where he used to live. He dreams of going back to home.
    wesczon June 14, 2003   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    It definately makes me imagine a miner on another planet, who was sent there to mine for more resources to send back to earth, so that we can continue "progress". Meanwhile, he's looking back at his home, and his old life, looking for those he loves and will probably never see again.
    lololeelaon February 28, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    A thought... If you take this as being part of some future, that doesn't necessarily mean the miner is underground... Science Fiction is FULL of stories of people signing long contracts to mine one resource or another in some far away sector of space, very often asteroids (capturing/processing) from a ship or EVA suit... just putting that out there... For me the feeling of longing is what I always get, whatever it's for... it drips from this song... another amazing one from a truly awesome album.
    grenon May 03, 2015   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    I love this song (I love this entire album actually). But the meaning of it seems to be overpowered by the feelings it conveys. I guess I can see it as a view of ... ya know, actually, it's a struggle to put the meaning of this song into words. I'll just go back to enjoying it for what it is...just a great song.
    trantjdon April 08, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    Its strange and has an element of irony because although it sounds like he is looking from a "birds eye view" if you will..he is a miner..and miners are underground. ironic. I also believe that the Emmdithy is right--maybe the lyricist was trying to convey the feeling of when you are living your life but you dont feel like you're living at all even though...you are...
    Proximity311on May 15, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    Just to add one final thought: I, too, have always imagined the miner as being on an asteroid and looking down to his home planet. I've heard on more than one occasion that the theme of the album, The Sophtware Slump, is that of a postapocalyptic future, a common theme throughout the album's futuristic nostalgia.
    tere_tulemaston July 11, 2006   Link

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