This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
I'm not waiting for the answers
On a Sunday afternoon
I'm just too drunk to remember
Why I always slip through
The drugs and fake ambition
Have been helping me to hide
But it's the endless television
That has kept me inside
Where does it stop?
Where does it end?
Where do we go?
Why am I always complaining?
I can be good
I can be bad
I can be loved
But everything's gone black
You're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
Black, you're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
Big green monkey, everyone's a junkie
I'm not asking for forgiveness
For the things that I don't know
But I'm really not that different
You just made me think so
Where does it stop?
Where does it end?
Where do we go?
Why am I always complaining?
I can be good
I can be bad
I can be loved
But everything's gone black
You're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
Black, you're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
Big green monkey, everyone's a junkie
Big green monkey, everyone's a junkie..
Big green monkey, everyone's a junkie..
Big green monkey, everyone's a junkie
Big green monkey, everyone's a junkie
You're the big green monkey, everyone's a junkie
Black
You're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
Black, you're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
And I'll remember this someday
Black, you're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
Black, you're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
Big green monkey, everyone's a junkie
On a Sunday afternoon
I'm just too drunk to remember
Why I always slip through
The drugs and fake ambition
Have been helping me to hide
But it's the endless television
That has kept me inside
Where does it stop?
Where does it end?
Where do we go?
Why am I always complaining?
I can be good
I can be bad
I can be loved
But everything's gone black
You're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
Black, you're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
Big green monkey, everyone's a junkie
I'm not asking for forgiveness
For the things that I don't know
But I'm really not that different
You just made me think so
Where does it stop?
Where does it end?
Where do we go?
Why am I always complaining?
I can be good
I can be bad
I can be loved
But everything's gone black
You're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
Black, you're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
Big green monkey, everyone's a junkie
Big green monkey, everyone's a junkie..
Big green monkey, everyone's a junkie..
Big green monkey, everyone's a junkie
Big green monkey, everyone's a junkie
You're the big green monkey, everyone's a junkie
Black
You're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
Black, you're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
And I'll remember this someday
Black, you're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
Black, you're looking for that sun
You're looking for that light
Lonely, you're not the only one to feel this way
Big green monkey, everyone's a junkie
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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/
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
"I'm really not that different, you just made me think so.."
I love that line.
Duuuude.... Lyrics are reeeeally off.
Anyways, as far as I can tell, this song is about trying to be righteous in a world that's gone "black", about conquering all of the negative influences- "looking for that light".
and yeah, that line "I'm really not that different, you just made me think so..." suggests another person's influence; a college junkie making someone innocent feel like they're in the minority in the world.
Am I totally off?
no, i pretty much agree with you. and yeah the lyrics are way off. this is a great song though
this song is an anti television song. look at spritual machines as an album it talks about how the advances in technology can hurt the human race and we allow it to happen. television is the biggest drug in the world, hence "everyone's a junkie" so many people look at the television for answers and to be told how to live their lives. " the drugs and fake ambitions have been helping me to hide, but its the endless television that has kept me inside." it is saying how drugs and hopes and dreams are not the problems in life. it is the television keeping you inside and not letting you live your life, instead of living your life you watch others live there lives. especially in the age of reality tv. " i am not diffrent u just made me think so" people have a low self esteem and a poor self image and think they are diffrent because that is what the television tells you, if u are not a certian height, weight or wear the right clothes you are diffrent. so go out and kill your tv. shun the TV and learn on your own enlighten your mind and go get stoned
yeah this song does have somthing to do with addiction to things other than drugs.
Nicey done, Baseline. I see it both ways, you have enlightened me, man. But I agree with your television theory, I hate t.v. and everything alike. Brainwashes the weak, I tell you.
i think this is a reference to the book 'brave new world' by adolus huxley. In it, the government uses this drug called soma to give its subjects false happiness so they wouldn't be unhappy and cause political instability. In the song, soma is compared to television and alchohol: things that give normal people 'happiness.' The song is about looking for a way out, but realizing that you can't find one because all of the other people who are still watching TV ostracize you. "i'm really not that different you just made me think so"
This song is about religion.. Raine was raised Catholic but doesnt practice anymore.. its speaking out against religion and questioning it
The reason these lyrics are different from those that were in the version recorded on Spiritual Machines is because these were likely transcribed from a live recording of this song made during the Summersault 2000 tour. I was at the Montreal show, and I have a live recording of the Montreal set, and the lyrics above are just the way they are sung in the live, early version of the song. The lyrics were just changed (a lot) for the finished version of the song.
Everyone has addictions; for some it's drugs, for others it's machines. If you listen to RK1949-97, it outlines events in which computers take over various aspects of our lives: first they govern us (1984), then they read for us (reading machines) and then they think for us (Deep Blue). We have all these technologies and we become so reliant on them that we no longer realize how little we can do with out them. "Where does it stop/ where does it end/where do we go/" We can't figure out what to do without machines.
Machines are becoming more and more human. They can do things for us, or even instead of us. It's almost as if computers aren't that different, but we just "make them thinks so".