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,
In space, the stars are no nearer
Just glitters like a morgue
And I dreamed I was a spaceman
Burned like a moth in a flame
And our world was so fucking gone
I'm not attached to your world
Nothing heals, nothing grows
I'm not attached to your world
Nothing heals, nothing grows
'Cause it's a great big white world
And we are drained of our colors
We used to love ourselves
We used to love one another
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
In a world so white, what else could I say?
And hell was so cold
All the vases are so broken
And the roses tear our hands open
Mother Mary, miscarry
But we pray just like insects
And the world is so ugly now
'Cause it's a great big white world
And we are drained of our colors
We used to love ourselves
We used to love one another
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
In a world so white, what else could I say?
'Cause it's a great big white world
And we are drained of our colors
We used to love ourselves
We used to love one another
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
In a world so white, what else could I say?
Just glitters like a morgue
And I dreamed I was a spaceman
Burned like a moth in a flame
And our world was so fucking gone
I'm not attached to your world
Nothing heals, nothing grows
I'm not attached to your world
Nothing heals, nothing grows
'Cause it's a great big white world
And we are drained of our colors
We used to love ourselves
We used to love one another
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
In a world so white, what else could I say?
And hell was so cold
All the vases are so broken
And the roses tear our hands open
Mother Mary, miscarry
But we pray just like insects
And the world is so ugly now
'Cause it's a great big white world
And we are drained of our colors
We used to love ourselves
We used to love one another
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
In a world so white, what else could I say?
'Cause it's a great big white world
And we are drained of our colors
We used to love ourselves
We used to love one another
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
All my stitches itch
My prescription's low
I wish you were queen, just for today
In a world so white, what else could I say?
Lyrics submitted by piesupreme
Great Big White World Lyrics as written by Jeordie White Brian Hugh Warner
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Magical
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Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
American Town
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MissVladTepes17 and Trinixy, I love your interpretations. The song describes Manson as a spaceman, looking down on Earth, and seeing a revolting and depressing sight which is our destroyed world. Everyone is mechanical, self-destructive and hollow. And instead of doing something about it, they wait for God to do something about it. Instead of making the world a better place, they pray just like insects to God to make it better, and all the while the world is just dying. By saying 'I'm not attached to your world' Manson is also saying he feels alienated from everyone and everything aorund him, and that he doesn't want to take part in the murder of this planet any longer. Moving further along, by saying 'It's a great big white world, we are drained of our colors' he's calling the world fake, lifeless, ugly and empty. I like this song a lot, it's a song for everyone. If people could only try to understand it, they'd learn to start helping themselves before it's too late for all of existence.
Very well said.
Well, the album is divided into two "halves": Marilyn Manson and Omega and the Mechanical Animals. The Manson half, or as Wikipedia calls it, "Alpha", is about all the things wrong in the world from when he falls to earth to when the Omega character, or from the Triptych, Adam, becomes disassociative and like in Holy Wood, kills himself. Meanwhile, Omega's "half" shows the reason for things gone wrong: the celebrities and television. If you have seen the videos, excluding Rock Is Dead, it shows his crashing to Earth (Dope Show), along with the self-sufficiency of celebrities, it shows how obsessed everyone in this world is with television (Drugs), and Coma White shows not only a prequel to the subject matter of Holy Wood, but the crucifixion of Marilyn F. Kennedy. In this context, it is saying we all have someone who is so influential, they act as a "Messiah", in this case, Omega and his songs about consumption, drugs, and sex.
About how shallow the world is. Love this song
The first verse seems like all the things he was yearning for in the beginning are not greater once he's close to them...being a spaceman now he burns up (out) and it wasn't as glittery as he thought stardom would be (or any place higher than the norm for the general public)
and as unsatisfactory as the star studded life is, he doesn't miss the lacking world he left behind, where all there is is pain and digression.
The corus... Everything is white...everything. so he's pointing out how monotonous people are, cities are all the same, everywhere is white (the default standard form). We don't know what love is anymore really, we hate ouselves trying to be better, we hate other people, not even giving them a chance...people don't even try to make new friends really anymore. He's in a state of discomfort and isn't being looked after by anyone. Wishing that this girl was queen... maybe she'll be able to fix everything wrong with this world... all he can do is wish and hope though...that's all he can say.
Hell froze over...so something that wasn't supposed to happen happened, wether he wanted it to or not. Thr rose a simbol of love or friendish is hurting him, the thing that held those friends is broken and they're all falling away. and the rest is his usual jesus mary part, but what's interesting about it is he's saying it the way it didn't happen, saying taht even if jesus wasn't born people would still be praying... like first nature... like a praying mantis does automatically.
and no matter which way you cut it, the world is ugly now, all the same, mindless, no evolution... ugly.
I really love this song. I think this song is about how terrible the world is."our world is so fucking gone" It really is one of my favorite manson songs...
You are all taking it really literally. This song, and most of the album if you think about it is about Conformity aswell as drugs.
Because it's a great big white world and we are drained of our colors (All our individuality is taken away)
We used to love ourselves, we used to love another (A reference to everyone being exactly the same)
damn good song just like all of mansons songs
first time i heard this song i thought it was about drugs becasue i misheard they lyrics, this is what i thought i heard "how much did you take? my prescription is low, wish u were clean, just for one day, in a world thats so white what else can i say" this made perfect sense to me, wishing the person was clean an off of drugs, an a world thats so white, world thats full of coke but as i learned when i read the REAL lyrics this song has nothing to do with drugs
I think the line "we used to love ourselves, we used to love one another" means that we used to accept and love everyone for who they were/are (love thy neighbor) and we used to appreciate our lives and didn't do self-destructive things.
the great big "white" part of this world is that everything and everyone is/are the same, but now b/c we are all the same we no longer love each other. b/c everone is the same to us now and we hate ourselves, then that means taht we hate other people for being just like us as well. people instead of looking to each other for love and help they seak God but he doesn't give a shit about us so the world just decays.