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.
Are you asleep, are you in a dream?
The copper shades of a morning
Distant lights beckon & fade
Unwritten songs of another day
I fear that you would never be
Every song in the world for me
I took your hand, led you astray
You cursed the worlds I longed to save
Is heaven to you a perfect place?
The look of sorrow on a sufferer's face?
A field of lives to sow and reap
That some of us will never see
Why is it I don't feel the same?
Are my longings to be blamed
For not seeing heaven like you would see;
Why is a song a world for me?
What is forgiveness?
It's just a dream.
What is forgiveness?
It's everything.
The copper shades of a morning
Distant lights beckon & fade
Unwritten songs of another day
I fear that you would never be
Every song in the world for me
I took your hand, led you astray
You cursed the worlds I longed to save
Is heaven to you a perfect place?
The look of sorrow on a sufferer's face?
A field of lives to sow and reap
That some of us will never see
Why is it I don't feel the same?
Are my longings to be blamed
For not seeing heaven like you would see;
Why is a song a world for me?
What is forgiveness?
It's just a dream.
What is forgiveness?
It's everything.
Lyrics submitted by patgas
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More Featured Meanings

No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead

Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.

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.

Zombie
Cranberries, The
Cranberries, The
"Zombie" is about the ethno-political conflict in Ireland. This is obvious if you know anything of the singer (Dolores O'Riordan)'s Irish heritage and understood the "1916" Easter Rising reference.
"Another head hangs lowly
Child is slowly taken
And the violence caused such silence
Who are we mistaken
-
Another mother's breaking
Heart is taking over"
Laments the Warrington bomb attacks in which two children were fatally injured on March 23rd, 1993. Twelve year old Tim Parry was taken off life support with permission from his mother after five days in the hospital, virtually braindead.
"But you see it's not me
It's not my family"
References how people who are not directly involved with the violence feel about it. They are "zombies" without sympathy who refuse to take action while others suffer.

Sunglasses at Night
Corey Hart
Corey Hart
In the 1980s, sunglasses were a common fashion for people who wanted to adopt a "tough guy" persona (note all the cop shows from that era -- Simon & Simon, Miami Vice, etc. -- where the lead characters wore shades). So I think this song is about a guy who wears shades as a way of hiding his insecurity after learning that his girlfriend is cheating on him. He's trying to pretend that he's a "tough guy" to hide the fact that his girlfriend's affair is disturbing him.
i think the setting of the song is the early morning time before most of the world is awake. the guy is up but the girl is still sleeping. these are the fears that are running through his head as he starts to think that this won't work out and they're both waste their time cuz they're in this for different reasons. she's looking for someone to hate with while he's looking for someone to give him this amazing feeling that i can't explain but its like the kind u get when u hear a truly good song (HEY! like this one!) she use to give him this feeling but its fading away now. he knows that the relationship won't work out cuz the girl in it is sotra bitter, and sorta a conformist..like she doesn't want to get to far away from the society she grew up in. i get this feeling like she's with a group of ppl that are kinda controlling her (or at least they're putting pressure on her to be like them.) while the guy isn't like that at all. he's off in his own world and he wants to bring her with him. she's a bitter girl who wants nothing more then to see the world crumble for all the pain it caused her (she doesn't like the way she is and she blames the society for her problems) but he looks at the world as being an amazing, wonderful,
oh my god oh my god this song is amazing nothing els needs to be said plus i have to get ready for school wow so good!
this song is really great to listen to to relax, it is for me anyway.
this is one of my favorite songs.
I lvoe this song
this is a great song, anybody have a clue what its about? it seems like all we're doing here is restating the obvious.
i think the setting of the song is the early morning time before most of the world is awake. the guy is up but the girl is still sleeping. these are the fears that are running through his head as he starts to think that this won't work out and they're both waste their time cuz they're in this for different reasons. she's looking for someone to hate with while he's looking for someone to give him this amazing feeling that i can't explain but its like the kind u get when u hear a truly good song (HEY! like this one!) she use to give him this feeling but its fading away now. he knows that the relationship won't work out cuz the girl in it is sotra bitter, and sorta a conformist..like she doesn't want to get to far away from the society she grew up in. i get this feeling like she's with a group of ppl that are kinda controlling her (or at least they're putting pressure on her to be like them.) while the guy isn't like that at all. he's off in his own world and he wants to bring her with him. she's a bitter girl who wants nothing more then to see the world crumble for all the pain it caused her (she doesn't like the way she is and she blames the society for her problems) but he looks at the world as being an amazing, wonderful, and beautiful place that just needs a little help. and the ending part of the song is him asking [in his thoughts tho, cuz he's never said any of this to the girl] why she can't just let go and move on and forgive those that put her through pain. if she were to let it go he thinks that maybe they would be happy again...like they once were...
i think the setting of the song is the early morning time before most of the world is awake. the guy is up but the girl is still sleeping. these are the fears that are running through his head as he starts to think that this won't work out and they're both waste their time cuz they're in this for different reasons. she's looking for someone to hate with while he's looking for someone to give him this amazing feeling that i can't explain but its like the kind u get when u hear a truly good song (HEY! like this one!) she use to give him this feeling but its fading away now. he knows that the relationship won't work out cuz the girl in it is sotra bitter, and sorta a conformist..like she doesn't want to get to far away from the society she grew up in. i get this feeling like she's with a group of ppl that are kinda controlling her (or at least they're putting pressure on her to be like them.) while the guy isn't like that at all. he's off in his own world and he wants to bring her with him. she's a bitter girl who wants nothing more then to see the world crumble for all the pain it caused her (she doesn't like the way she is and she blames the society for her problems) but he looks at the world as being an amazing, wonderful, and beautiful place that just needs a little help. and the ending part of the song is him asking [in his thoughts tho, cuz he's never said any of this to the girl] why she can't just let go and move on and forgive those that put her through pain. if she were to let it go he thinks that maybe they would be happy again...like they once were...
ahhh sorry i posted that 3 times..i have no idea how i did that...and i don't know if theres a way to delete em either..sorry again! the first one isn't even complete(so please read the second one..altho the ending is the only difference)...sorry sorry sorry!!!!!
This song is melodically brilliant. Its amazing.