I know this song is about Grease, but I can't help think it's about life in general. How we struggle to make it, how we make mistakes, but how nothing (well, almost nothing) is final and fatal. How we can always "bounce back" after a mistake. "Are you aching for the blade/grave" is the person unable to cope with his/her mistakes, believing he/her is not worthy of living anymore.
I also thought the lyrics to this song followed "That's ok, we'ren't sure" (of course you can't write it like that..) as if telling the person that you don't know how life is either. We're getting away with it all messed up because we're human and flawed.
I also viewed Daniel saving Grace because she couldn't handle the life she was living and Daniel tried to talk to her and make her feel better about herself.
I never saw grease. I hope it's a decent movie, cause this song should be deep and inspiring.
I don't think this song is about Grease: there is a Daniel/Danny in Grease, but no Grace. Also, since Travolta plays Danny, it would be silly to say Daniel dances LIKE Travolta.
I don't think this song is about Grease: there is a Daniel/Danny in Grease, but no Grace. Also, since Travolta plays Danny, it would be silly to say Daniel dances LIKE Travolta.
The first lines are obviously about it doesn't mattering if you want to die, because we all will. Getting away with it all messed up - I love how this can be read as: "Getting awway with it. All messed up" or "Getting away with it all. Messed up", so either: since we are getting away with it, means the world is all messed up or we...
The first lines are obviously about it doesn't mattering if you want to die, because we all will. Getting away with it all messed up - I love how this can be read as: "Getting awway with it. All messed up" or "Getting away with it all. Messed up", so either: since we are getting away with it, means the world is all messed up or we are getting away with it all, which is messed up. The combined meaning would be that is it all messed up that we are getting away with it all/everything: we can do whatever we want. That's the living, alright, but we are also getting away with everything negative and self-destructive, because nobody cares about anyone else.
Then comes Daniel - a nice allusion to John Travolta, who is merely being mentioned as a great dancer, IMO, but also to the Biblical Daniel, who is a dream-interpreter who is taken away from his homeland aged ten, never to return, being more or less locked in a golden cage at the royal court of Babylon. Daniel is saving Grace, who is in deep water. Daniel cares about at least ONE other person, apparently. But it can also be read as: "Daniel's saving grace", as in: the thing in Daniel that makes up for his faults, apparently being in trouble at the moment. The second verse explains Daniel to be a heavy drinker (literally or figuratively), partying to a great extent. Well, he would need a saving grace for that, I reckon :-)
Daniel plays his ace - he shows his best feature or he uses it up (too quickly perhaps)... Or maybe his ace is the ace of spades, alluding to him committing suicide or maybe even killing someone else (Grace or grace maybe?). Deep inside his temple - more religion, but his temple would be his own private place, probably the part of his mind his keeps hidden from others. Then the next bit I believe is officially "He knows how to serve her", but I think that here another ambiguity is being introduced by the pronunciation: serv-(h)er and suf-fer are both quite recognisable. So he knows how to serve her (Grace? grace?) and/or he knows how to suffer/what suffering is. Combined with the previous phrase, it could again mean he knows how to serve Grace (who is probably also his saving grace) by killing her (well, with the opening referring to a death wish, it is not depression talking here, but the actual song! I am a very happy person, thank you very much :-)) and that he knows how to suffer and therefore wants to commit suicide.
Picture the people one reads about in newspapers so often: they are depressed and hate life (e.g. because their childhood has been taken from them, like it happened to the biblical Daniel), drink heavily and party all the time to beat the emptiness, yet they end up being more miserable and then their last saving grace, their girlfriend/wife (who could be called Grace), leaves them and they snap. They know plenty of suffering and what is 'good' for their ex-partners: they both have to die and be re-united in death. So they commit homocide and then suicide.
"Daniel's 'saving' Grace" (yes, from the 'mistake' she is making by leaving him, no doubt) "He was all but drowning / Now they swim like dolfins" - well, Daniel almost 'drowned' in his drinking problem, e.g. he almost hit rock bottom or even died from his bad habbits, but now he is together with 'Grace' again. Not happily swimming with dolfins, maybe more like 'sleeping with the fish'.
I think the music and the opening lines set the proper tone for the song and the rest of the text seems deceptively positive. I am not some emo who wants to read about suicide all the time, but I genuinely think this song is about the story I have written down here. There is no way anyone would make a song about Grease that had such a serious sound to it, instrumentally. Grease is all about happiness and feeling good and happy endings. Don't spoil Grease by linking this song to it and don't spoil this song by linking it to Grease; they are both marvellous and very enjoyable in the right state of mind. But the right state of mind is totally opposite for them!
@leethal I assumed it was about the singer "Daniel Johnston" who (like lead singer Tim Booth has/had Bipolar Disorder.) Daniel never achieved big commercial success but touched and influenced the lives of many, including Kirt Cobaine (who also suffered from Bipolar Disorder.)
@leethal I assumed it was about the singer "Daniel Johnston" who (like lead singer Tim Booth has/had Bipolar Disorder.) Daniel never achieved big commercial success but touched and influenced the lives of many, including Kirt Cobaine (who also suffered from Bipolar Disorder.)
I know this song is about Grease, but I can't help think it's about life in general. How we struggle to make it, how we make mistakes, but how nothing (well, almost nothing) is final and fatal. How we can always "bounce back" after a mistake. "Are you aching for the blade/grave" is the person unable to cope with his/her mistakes, believing he/her is not worthy of living anymore. I also thought the lyrics to this song followed "That's ok, we'ren't sure" (of course you can't write it like that..) as if telling the person that you don't know how life is either. We're getting away with it all messed up because we're human and flawed. I also viewed Daniel saving Grace because she couldn't handle the life she was living and Daniel tried to talk to her and make her feel better about herself. I never saw grease. I hope it's a decent movie, cause this song should be deep and inspiring.
I don't think this song is about Grease: there is a Daniel/Danny in Grease, but no Grace. Also, since Travolta plays Danny, it would be silly to say Daniel dances LIKE Travolta.
I don't think this song is about Grease: there is a Daniel/Danny in Grease, but no Grace. Also, since Travolta plays Danny, it would be silly to say Daniel dances LIKE Travolta.
The first lines are obviously about it doesn't mattering if you want to die, because we all will. Getting away with it all messed up - I love how this can be read as: "Getting awway with it. All messed up" or "Getting away with it all. Messed up", so either: since we are getting away with it, means the world is all messed up or we...
The first lines are obviously about it doesn't mattering if you want to die, because we all will. Getting away with it all messed up - I love how this can be read as: "Getting awway with it. All messed up" or "Getting away with it all. Messed up", so either: since we are getting away with it, means the world is all messed up or we are getting away with it all, which is messed up. The combined meaning would be that is it all messed up that we are getting away with it all/everything: we can do whatever we want. That's the living, alright, but we are also getting away with everything negative and self-destructive, because nobody cares about anyone else.
Then comes Daniel - a nice allusion to John Travolta, who is merely being mentioned as a great dancer, IMO, but also to the Biblical Daniel, who is a dream-interpreter who is taken away from his homeland aged ten, never to return, being more or less locked in a golden cage at the royal court of Babylon. Daniel is saving Grace, who is in deep water. Daniel cares about at least ONE other person, apparently. But it can also be read as: "Daniel's saving grace", as in: the thing in Daniel that makes up for his faults, apparently being in trouble at the moment. The second verse explains Daniel to be a heavy drinker (literally or figuratively), partying to a great extent. Well, he would need a saving grace for that, I reckon :-)
Daniel plays his ace - he shows his best feature or he uses it up (too quickly perhaps)... Or maybe his ace is the ace of spades, alluding to him committing suicide or maybe even killing someone else (Grace or grace maybe?). Deep inside his temple - more religion, but his temple would be his own private place, probably the part of his mind his keeps hidden from others. Then the next bit I believe is officially "He knows how to serve her", but I think that here another ambiguity is being introduced by the pronunciation: serv-(h)er and suf-fer are both quite recognisable. So he knows how to serve her (Grace? grace?) and/or he knows how to suffer/what suffering is. Combined with the previous phrase, it could again mean he knows how to serve Grace (who is probably also his saving grace) by killing her (well, with the opening referring to a death wish, it is not depression talking here, but the actual song! I am a very happy person, thank you very much :-)) and that he knows how to suffer and therefore wants to commit suicide.
Picture the people one reads about in newspapers so often: they are depressed and hate life (e.g. because their childhood has been taken from them, like it happened to the biblical Daniel), drink heavily and party all the time to beat the emptiness, yet they end up being more miserable and then their last saving grace, their girlfriend/wife (who could be called Grace), leaves them and they snap. They know plenty of suffering and what is 'good' for their ex-partners: they both have to die and be re-united in death. So they commit homocide and then suicide.
"Daniel's 'saving' Grace" (yes, from the 'mistake' she is making by leaving him, no doubt) "He was all but drowning / Now they swim like dolfins" - well, Daniel almost 'drowned' in his drinking problem, e.g. he almost hit rock bottom or even died from his bad habbits, but now he is together with 'Grace' again. Not happily swimming with dolfins, maybe more like 'sleeping with the fish'.
I think the music and the opening lines set the proper tone for the song and the rest of the text seems deceptively positive. I am not some emo who wants to read about suicide all the time, but I genuinely think this song is about the story I have written down here. There is no way anyone would make a song about Grease that had such a serious sound to it, instrumentally. Grease is all about happiness and feeling good and happy endings. Don't spoil Grease by linking this song to it and don't spoil this song by linking it to Grease; they are both marvellous and very enjoyable in the right state of mind. But the right state of mind is totally opposite for them!
@leethal I assumed it was about the singer "Daniel Johnston" who (like lead singer Tim Booth has/had Bipolar Disorder.) Daniel never achieved big commercial success but touched and influenced the lives of many, including Kirt Cobaine (who also suffered from Bipolar Disorder.)
@leethal I assumed it was about the singer "Daniel Johnston" who (like lead singer Tim Booth has/had Bipolar Disorder.) Daniel never achieved big commercial success but touched and influenced the lives of many, including Kirt Cobaine (who also suffered from Bipolar Disorder.)