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.
We are climbing
Jacob's ladder
We are climbing
Jacob's ladder
Out of these boxcars
And out of these chambers
Out of the bed where we lay
With ten strangers
We are climbing
Jacob's ladder
We are climbing
On jacob, jacob's ladder
It's a fish white belly
A lump in my throat
Razor on the wire
Skin and bone
Piss and blood
In a railroad car
One hundred people
Gypsies queers
And david's star
This train is bound for glory
This train is bound for glory
This train is bound for glory now
This train
Yeah
Measure the bones
Count the face
Pull out the teeth
Did you get them all?
Do you belong
To the human race
Doctor doctor
Are you unkind
Do you shock the monkeys
Cover our eyes
With clear blue skies
Ah
This train is bound for glory
Ah
This train is bound for glory
Ah
This train is bound for glory now
Ah ah
This train
Here is a dancer
Who has no legs
Here is a teacher
Who has no face
Here is a healer
Who has no hands
Here is a runner
Who has no feet
Here is a thinker
Who has no head
Here is a builder
Who has no back
Here is a writer
Who has no voice
These are the questions
These are the answers
Stacked like wood
This train is bound for glory
This train is bound for glory
This train is bound for glory now
This train
This train is bound for glory
This train it carried your mothers
This train is bound for glory
This train it, it carried your fathers
This train is bound for glory now
This train it, it carried your sisters
This train
This train it, it carried your brothers
(Here is a teacher)
This train it, it carried my sisters
(Here is a writer)
This train it, it carried my brother
(Here is a thinker)
This train is
This train is bound for glory
These are the questions
Stacked like wood
These are the answers
Here is potential
And it's gone for good
Jacob's ladder
We are climbing
Jacob's ladder
Out of these boxcars
And out of these chambers
Out of the bed where we lay
With ten strangers
We are climbing
Jacob's ladder
We are climbing
On jacob, jacob's ladder
It's a fish white belly
A lump in my throat
Razor on the wire
Skin and bone
Piss and blood
In a railroad car
One hundred people
Gypsies queers
And david's star
This train is bound for glory
This train is bound for glory
This train is bound for glory now
This train
Yeah
Measure the bones
Count the face
Pull out the teeth
Did you get them all?
Do you belong
To the human race
Doctor doctor
Are you unkind
Do you shock the monkeys
Cover our eyes
With clear blue skies
Ah
This train is bound for glory
Ah
This train is bound for glory
Ah
This train is bound for glory now
Ah ah
This train
Here is a dancer
Who has no legs
Here is a teacher
Who has no face
Here is a healer
Who has no hands
Here is a runner
Who has no feet
Here is a thinker
Who has no head
Here is a builder
Who has no back
Here is a writer
Who has no voice
These are the questions
These are the answers
Stacked like wood
This train is bound for glory
This train is bound for glory
This train is bound for glory now
This train
This train is bound for glory
This train it carried your mothers
This train is bound for glory
This train it, it carried your fathers
This train is bound for glory now
This train it, it carried your sisters
This train
This train it, it carried your brothers
(Here is a teacher)
This train it, it carried my sisters
(Here is a writer)
This train it, it carried my brother
(Here is a thinker)
This train is
This train is bound for glory
These are the questions
Stacked like wood
These are the answers
Here is potential
And it's gone for good
Lyrics submitted by aur0ra
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
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
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.
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.
This song was written after a trip to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.
A comment on the old gospel song "This Train" but reminding us of those other trains that were bound for a horrific sort of glory during the Holocaust. They remain a symbol of the horrible things humans do to each other in the name of their feelings of righteousness as well as their personal agendas.
I find this song starkly elegant.