I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
The big wheel keeps on turning
On a simple line day by day
The earth spins on its axis
One man struggle while another relaxes
There's a hole in my soul like a cavity
Seems the world is out to gather just by gravity
The wheel keeps turning the sky's rearranging
Look my son the weather is changing
I'd like to feel that you could be free
Look up at the blue skies beneath a new tree
Sometime again
You'll turn green and the sea turns red
My son I said the power of reflections over my head
The big wheel keeps on turning
On a simple line day by day
The earth spins on its axis
One man struggle while another relaxes
We sang about the sun and danced among the trees
And we listened to the whisper of the city on the breeze
Will you cry in the most in a lead-free zone
Down within the shadows where the factories drone
On the surface of the wheel they build another town
And so the green come tumbling down
Yes close your eyes and hold me tight
And I'll show you sunset sometime again
The big wheel keeps on turning
On a simple line day by day
The earth spins on its axis
One man struggle while another relaxes
As a child solemn pray my hope hides in disguise
While satellites and cameras watch from the skies
An acid drop of rain recycled from the sea
It washed away my shadow burnt a hole in me
And all the king's men cannot put it back again
But the ghetto sun will nurture life
And mend my soul sometime again
The big wheel keeps on turning
On a simple line day by day
The earth spins on its axis
One man struggle while another relaxes
On a simple line day by day
The earth spins on its axis
One man struggle while another relaxes
There's a hole in my soul like a cavity
Seems the world is out to gather just by gravity
The wheel keeps turning the sky's rearranging
Look my son the weather is changing
I'd like to feel that you could be free
Look up at the blue skies beneath a new tree
Sometime again
You'll turn green and the sea turns red
My son I said the power of reflections over my head
The big wheel keeps on turning
On a simple line day by day
The earth spins on its axis
One man struggle while another relaxes
We sang about the sun and danced among the trees
And we listened to the whisper of the city on the breeze
Will you cry in the most in a lead-free zone
Down within the shadows where the factories drone
On the surface of the wheel they build another town
And so the green come tumbling down
Yes close your eyes and hold me tight
And I'll show you sunset sometime again
The big wheel keeps on turning
On a simple line day by day
The earth spins on its axis
One man struggle while another relaxes
As a child solemn pray my hope hides in disguise
While satellites and cameras watch from the skies
An acid drop of rain recycled from the sea
It washed away my shadow burnt a hole in me
And all the king's men cannot put it back again
But the ghetto sun will nurture life
And mend my soul sometime again
The big wheel keeps on turning
On a simple line day by day
The earth spins on its axis
One man struggle while another relaxes
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Just A Little Lovin'
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Head > Heels
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This guy didn't format the lyrics right...
The song's meaning is right there in the chorus. We're all stuck on the wheel of fate. But it's not so bad...
Basically I smoke a bowl then reflect on the day while listening to this song, it's great.
Hello there
I have a favour to ask I am an A level Drama student and part of my course was have a certain component to base our our own devised play on , it could have been anything , our was this song.
If anyone knows or has any idea of the meaning of this song could they post it up? Perhaps there are metaphores or symbalism? I have a few ideas and agree with YanYan but I am mainly lost. Any ideas on how I could draw a plot from a play on this song?
Thanks Sophie
It was on the peace not war album, against the war in Iraq.
I love the positivity of this song. (Yeah, I know right? Positivity? Massive Attack? LoL.) But to me, it basically means: the world sucks and is totally unfair. But fuck it -- let's enjoy our lives and look at what beauty there is, because life is going to go on.
I think the song references Buddhism. The Big Wheel is the clock which counts the seconds of each age of the Earth - each epoch separated from the next by an apocalypse or cataclysm of some kind. The reference to 'beneath a new tree' is also Buddhism - the tree is a metaphor for the an epoch of time, or for the world as it exists within that period. Unfortunately I think the song is a reference to the fact that according to this religion, as well as Mayan prophesies, etc. the current age of Man (the current 'tree') is about to come to an end and largely because of the damage to planet humans have caused ('On the surface of the wheel, they build another town, and so the green comes tumbling down'). Great song and very deep.