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.
He tries to embrace her
She wants him to race her
He needs a laser
To get it through her skull
(Means and lies and hatreds)?
Tears that fall in sequence
Cold caress
Imprints
Conversation growing dull
Says he's a poet
Loudly protoazoan
And he kisses ass for free
I took a vow of silence
When he tries to talk to me
I just turn on the tv
He tries to impress her
Mentally undress her
It takes more to possess her
But in his pocket lies a hole
He's got a thousand talents
Charisma by the bagful
Aristocratic parents
A rebel with a heart of gold
Says he's a poet
This time he's gonna blow it
'Cause he's dancing with his ego
I took a vow of silence
When he reads his words to me
I swallow words like a
Placebo
He's strutting with your flesh mechanic
Gets him in a panic
He's wasting time
'Cause everybody is a star
In his eyes
Careful not to give your favours
To your lonesome fucked-up neighbours
I had one who sent me her heart
In a tupperware container
All the movies in my head
They flicker with my bleeding heart
A careless slipping of the tongue
On just another private part
Blatant search for
Stoned affection
Fights the lust that
Breeds infection
Meet me at the
Intersection
Don't forget your
Fuel injection
He's strutting with your flesh mechanic
Gets him in a panic
He's wasting time
'Cause everybody is a star
In his eyes
You think this love is bona fide
You're being taken for a ride
Wrap your lip around your head
And slowly blow yourself away
She wants him to race her
He needs a laser
To get it through her skull
(Means and lies and hatreds)?
Tears that fall in sequence
Cold caress
Imprints
Conversation growing dull
Says he's a poet
Loudly protoazoan
And he kisses ass for free
I took a vow of silence
When he tries to talk to me
I just turn on the tv
He tries to impress her
Mentally undress her
It takes more to possess her
But in his pocket lies a hole
He's got a thousand talents
Charisma by the bagful
Aristocratic parents
A rebel with a heart of gold
Says he's a poet
This time he's gonna blow it
'Cause he's dancing with his ego
I took a vow of silence
When he reads his words to me
I swallow words like a
Placebo
He's strutting with your flesh mechanic
Gets him in a panic
He's wasting time
'Cause everybody is a star
In his eyes
Careful not to give your favours
To your lonesome fucked-up neighbours
I had one who sent me her heart
In a tupperware container
All the movies in my head
They flicker with my bleeding heart
A careless slipping of the tongue
On just another private part
Blatant search for
Stoned affection
Fights the lust that
Breeds infection
Meet me at the
Intersection
Don't forget your
Fuel injection
He's strutting with your flesh mechanic
Gets him in a panic
He's wasting time
'Cause everybody is a star
In his eyes
You think this love is bona fide
You're being taken for a ride
Wrap your lip around your head
And slowly blow yourself away
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No Surprises
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Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
This is my fave Placebo song, the way brian speaks out the lyrics and i like these lines "I swallow words like a placebo" and "I had one who sent me her heart in a Tupperware container" I found an intrepetation on the lyrics at a placebo forum ; Taking into account that it may be written from several points of view, I get the impression that this is about a failing relationship. It seems the boy in it is trying his best to please the girl, but the girl is not interested, and has become bored. "Tries to embrace her, she wants him to race her" suggests that the boy is trying to be loving towards the girl, but she wants something more from the relationship, and is not satisfied. "Conversation growing dull" also shows that the relationship is becoming 'tired' and boring.
The "I took a vow of silence" parts seem to be from the girl's perspective, as she is saying that when the boy tries to open up his heart to her, she just gets gets bored and is not interested and 'turns on the tv'. I think the "Says he's a poet, this time he's gonna blow it, 'cause he's dancing with his ego" part may be the girl saying that when the boy tries to show his affection (ie. through poetry) he is not doing it for her, he is only trying to boost his own ego, and that if he carries on like this he will lose her.
The "You think this love is bona fide you're being taken for a ride" bit is the 'narrator' talking to the boy, telling him that he's putting his heart on the line but the girl is really abusing him. So the moral of the story may be to not be so vulnerable and not to wear your heart on your sleeve, as it may get broken.
~x
I'm probably the only one who sees it like this but after listening to this song so many times and thinking what it could mean, all things considered, I think the song is about shallowness, cosmetic surgery, being morally depraved, empty people and possibly drugs.
agree with most of that
love the way he sings the word "placebo" in this
agree 2 what scenefronter said....ahhhhhhhh....
i love the bit where he says 'Placebo'
is this song only available on the Flesh Mechanics rarities collection?
this sounds like Sonic Youth's stuff.
I get the feeling the choruses starting with "Says he's a poet" is from the girls point off view (if the song is about a failing realtionship that is) and everything else (or, most of it) is about how he tries to please her?
that's how I interpret it...
I llooove this song! I think it may literally be about a man trying to be a poet. And the part about the tupperware container sounds like his poem. The girlfriend is losing interest, and shes cynical. She's sick of wasting her time with someone who is wasting their time trying to be a poet.
I always thought this was about a three way relationship, kind of like the one between Max, Sally and Brian in 'Cabaret'