In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
There is nowhere left to hide
There is nothing to be done
No people to be saved
No pets we've never names
40 miles from the sun
As darkness craves the mind
We come undone without our pride
No time on the earth to come
All the pleasures just begun
40 miles from the sun
In our coats beneath the layers
Wash my skin of all the hate
We should sleep late
Everything just kind of grates
40 miles from the sun
40 miles from the sun
40 miles from the sun
I need to lose to make it right
I'll confront the stars tonight
I will babble I will bite
You will never know how much you shine
40 miles from the sun
40 miles from the sun
40 miles from the sun
There is nothing to be done
No people to be saved
No pets we've never names
40 miles from the sun
As darkness craves the mind
We come undone without our pride
No time on the earth to come
All the pleasures just begun
40 miles from the sun
In our coats beneath the layers
Wash my skin of all the hate
We should sleep late
Everything just kind of grates
40 miles from the sun
40 miles from the sun
40 miles from the sun
I need to lose to make it right
I'll confront the stars tonight
I will babble I will bite
You will never know how much you shine
40 miles from the sun
40 miles from the sun
40 miles from the sun
Lyrics submitted by Moondragon
40 Miles from the Sun Lyrics as written by Gavin Rossdale
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The rest of the album this song was on (The Science Of Things) had a very technological/scientific theme. "Jesus Online", "Letting The Cables Sleep", "The Chemicals Between Us" - so I think this song might be about something similar.
I think it's about the aftermath of a nuclear war. A man inhabiting a fallout shelter, forty miles from the site of a nuclear blast. Tonally, it's very bleak and minimalistic - suggests a feeling of desolation, following the destruction of most of the world.
Lyrically - the song suggests the loss of hope and optimism. "No people to be saved" - nearly everyone perished in the nuclear apocalypse. As someone earlier suggested, "The pleasure's just begun" sounds sarcastic - there is no pleasure in the survivor's life.
Again, someone already mentioned the correlation between "In our coats between the layers" and anti-radiation suits. "Wash my skin of all the hate" could correspond to radioactive fallout.
A nuclear war could possibly cause the eventual extinction of mankind. Earlier reviewers interpreted this song as being about facing death - nuclear apocalypse would result in not only our own personal deaths, but the death of the entire human race. Correlation?