Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Blá Nótt Yfir Himininn
Blá Nótt Yfir Mér
Horf-Inn Út Um Gluggann
Minn Með Hendur
Faldar Undir Kinn
Hugsum Daginn Minn
Í Dag Og Í Gær
Blá Náttfötin Klæða Mig Í
Beint Upp Í Rúm
Breiði Mjúku Sængina
Loka Augunum
Ég Fel Hausinn Minn Undir Sæng
Starir Á Mig Lítill Álfur
Hleypur Að Mér En Hreyfist Ekki
Úr Stað – Sjálfur
Starálfur
Opna Augun
Stírurnar Úr
Teygi Mig Og Tel (Hvort Ég Sé Ekki)
Kominn Aftur Og Alltalltílæ
Samt Vantar Eitthvað
Eins Og Alla Vegginna
Blá Nótt Yfir Mér
Horf-Inn Út Um Gluggann
Minn Með Hendur
Faldar Undir Kinn
Hugsum Daginn Minn
Í Dag Og Í Gær
Blá Náttfötin Klæða Mig Í
Beint Upp Í Rúm
Breiði Mjúku Sængina
Loka Augunum
Ég Fel Hausinn Minn Undir Sæng
Starir Á Mig Lítill Álfur
Hleypur Að Mér En Hreyfist Ekki
Úr Stað – Sjálfur
Starálfur
Opna Augun
Stírurnar Úr
Teygi Mig Og Tel (Hvort Ég Sé Ekki)
Kominn Aftur Og Alltalltílæ
Samt Vantar Eitthvað
Eins Og Alla Vegginna
Lyrics submitted by shut
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Zombie
Cranberries, The
Cranberries, The
"Zombie" is about the ethno-political conflict in Ireland. This is obvious if you know anything of the singer (Dolores O'Riordan)'s Irish heritage and understood the "1916" Easter Rising reference.
"Another head hangs lowly
Child is slowly taken
And the violence caused such silence
Who are we mistaken
-
Another mother's breaking
Heart is taking over"
Laments the Warrington bomb attacks in which two children were fatally injured on March 23rd, 1993. Twelve year old Tim Parry was taken off life support with permission from his mother after five days in the hospital, virtually braindead.
"But you see it's not me
It's not my family"
References how people who are not directly involved with the violence feel about it. They are "zombies" without sympathy who refuse to take action while others suffer.
Sunglasses at Night
Corey Hart
Corey Hart
In the 1980s, sunglasses were a common fashion for people who wanted to adopt a "tough guy" persona (note all the cop shows from that era -- Simon & Simon, Miami Vice, etc. -- where the lead characters wore shades). So I think this song is about a guy who wears shades as a way of hiding his insecurity after learning that his girlfriend is cheating on him. He's trying to pretend that he's a "tough guy" to hide the fact that his girlfriend's affair is disturbing him.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Staring Elf
Blue Night Over The Sky Blue Night Over Me Dis-Appeared Out Of The Window Me With Hands Hidden Under My Cheek I Think About My Day Today And Yesterday I Put On My Blue Nighties Go Straight To Bed I Pull The Soft Covers Over Close My Eyes I Hide My Head Under The Covers A Little Elf Stares At Me Runs Towards Me But Doesn’t Move From Place - Himself A Staring Elf I Open My Eyes Take The Crusts Out Stretch Myself And Check (If I Haven’t) Returned Again And Everything Is Okay Still There Is Something Missing Like All The Walls
This song, to me, is so incredibly epic. Every time I listen to it I feel like I'm on some great adventure. It starts out in an almost paradoxical racing lull which just seems to draw me into the song.
What is so amazing though is the small nuances I notice for the first time each time I listen to it. Like what sounds to be a television broadcast or the sounds of birds chirping. And just as my mind starts to slip, the song pulls my entire being into it around 2:28 with the most amazing... I don't even know what to call it. Bliss?
Words just can't describe the feeling. It's as though I've let go everything within me. And that's when the song stops and the acoustic guitar begins, filling the emptiness within with a satisfying nothingness. And just as my mind's eyes begin float away, the song pulls me back in with the spectacular sounds of what sounds like a heartbeat or shots of a cannon.
The song then builds and builds into a glorious climax that is a myriad of strings, each one singing a song of overwhelming emotion. Sadness, happiness, triumph and disappointment... all emotions and states of beings blend into one great orchestra of sound.
And just as the song ends, just as the light faded from the eyes of this beautiful giant, the thing that always comes to my mind is "This is the way the world ends/ Not with a bang, but a whimper"...
this song makes me want to cease to exist, like i should stop holding onto my physical self and melt into the universe. it's painful, it's hopeful, it's epic, it's too beautiful to understand... or maybe it's understandable in an innate way but i cannot pin it down in words. i love the common sounds they scattered through it and the raw sound of the guitar in contrast with the refined orchestral sound. the bumping noise like travelling down the highway. oddly, it reminds me of "2001: a space odyssey".
You like Pearl Jam? You my friend are the idiot.
i love this song so much.. and honestly when i listen to it, it doesn't matter what language it's in. it's like sigur ros transcends language barriers.. you make the song what you want it to be. and i think it's much more personal in that sense.
love that song, it's my favorite. but according to the band they do not sing in either icelandic or english or any other language. they use the vocals as another instrument. so how did you translate that?
i believe they sing a combination of icelandic and "hopelandish" which is just words they made up.
On their last 2 albums they sung in icelandic and hopelandic, which is just something Jónsi the singer made up, but on their new album they won't be singing at all, which kind of sucks:P
I enjoy Sigur Ros, sort of makes me wish I could understand what they were saying on a majority of their music.
they will be singing on the new album, but it's all in hopelandic. they would rather fans come up with their own lyrics. they're including tissue paper inside the cd case for fans to write down their lyrics, and then they'll be able to submit them to the official sigur ros website where a computer program will be able to recognize words, and after they've gotten enough all the submitted word will "become" the lyrics.