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The Happening Lyrics
they got a ranch they call
number fifty-one
they got a ranch they call
number fifty-one
can't see it all
'less your flying by
just sitting there square
baking in the sun
beneath the sky
they're gonna put it down
right on the strip
they're gonna put it down
on the Vegas strip
they're gonna put it down
and step outside
into the lights
right outta that ship
saying Hi!
i was driving doing nothing on the shores of Great Salt Lake
when they put it on the air i put it in the hammer lane
i soon forgot myeslf and i forgot about the brake
i forgot all laws and i forgot about the rain
they were talking on the 9 and all across the amy band
across the road they were turning around and headed south with me
it got so crowded on the road i started driving in the sand
my head was feeling scared but my heart was feeling free
the desert turned to mud it seems that everybody heard
everybody was remembering to forget they had the chills
then i heard the voices on a broadcast from up on the bird
they were getting interviewed by some Goodman whose name was Bill
i'm almost there to Vegas where they're puttin' on a show
they've come so far i've lived this long at least i must just go and say
hello
number fifty-one
they got a ranch they call
number fifty-one
can't see it all
'less your flying by
just sitting there square
baking in the sun
beneath the sky
right on the strip
they're gonna put it down
on the Vegas strip
they're gonna put it down
and step outside
into the lights
right outta that ship
saying Hi!
when they put it on the air i put it in the hammer lane
i soon forgot myeslf and i forgot about the brake
i forgot all laws and i forgot about the rain
they were talking on the 9 and all across the amy band
across the road they were turning around and headed south with me
it got so crowded on the road i started driving in the sand
my head was feeling scared but my heart was feeling free
the desert turned to mud it seems that everybody heard
everybody was remembering to forget they had the chills
then i heard the voices on a broadcast from up on the bird
they were getting interviewed by some Goodman whose name was Bill
i'm almost there to Vegas where they're puttin' on a show
they've come so far i've lived this long at least i must just go and say
hello
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First verse is around Area 51. Second verse is about aliens landing in Vegas. Then the story begins:
The narrator is driving in Utah, when he hears on the radio that aliens are going to land in Nevada. He floors it heading for Vegas. The CB is lighting up with the news (9 is the emergency CB channel). People going the other direction are U-turning into his lanes trying to get to Vegas as well. It's raining in the desert as they all move down I-15. They're listening to the radio as the aliens are being interviewed by Bill Goodman. They're almost there...
when i figured out what this song was about, i listened to it over and over again.
fenris is dead on.
amy band refers to AM band.
I read some interview with Charles in which he said a spacecraft landed near his neighborhood when he was a child. Everyone gathered and went to greet them. This song is his personal reference to that experience.
Anyone else heard that?
Reminds me a lot of Radiohead's Subterranean Homesick Alien. The aliens are coming, and it's gonna be scary, but most of all it's gonna be beautiful.
the end part of this song is timeless the way it shifts into a totally different style
Bill Goodman's theme song for his radio show was called "It's-a-Happening", hence the name of this song.
Yep, fenris summed it up, yadda yadda.
My God what a beautiful chorus.
i think this song is about forgetting who you are the whole thing is just so dreamy it seems like maybe a false reality francis is creating and the aliens are just some other-worldly thing that really fascinate him and he's driving through the desert looking for what hes been dreaming about i love the "i forgot" sequence and then the very last line
the last half of this song is from another pixies song called The Thing off The Complete B-Sides. an early recording. The Thing... get it. love it, fuck it.
The Pixies at their most beautiful and crazed-out. I looooooove how Frank screams "number 51" and those magnificent "aaaahhhh"s all around the chorus, joined by that guitar work so typical of Santiago... it's just plain addictive, necessary.
This is their best song hands down. Every second of it is musical perfection. Bossanova was BY FAR their best sounding album in my opinion. Go get it if you haven't already.