I love how this songs sounds. Martin's voice seems to kind of drown in the music, as if he's standing right in the middle of it and singing out. The sounds swell around his voice and sort of echo. Love it.
I’m probably wrong about this, but this is what came to my mind while listening to this. As for the lyrics, now that I read through them, it seems the person in this song is being watched by some powerful source - "they/them". It could be some governmental power/higher power/etc. ("They got one eye watching you/One eye on what you do") The person, however, acknowledges this and wants to fight back against whatever is watching him. ("So be careful what it is you're trying to do/And be careful when you're walking into view")We can assume that whatever it is watching him isn't pleasant. ("So be careful cause nothing they say is true.")He's very against whatever "they" are and tries to convince others to rise up against whatever "they" is.(“No, no don't believe a word/It's just us against the world/And we just got to turn up to be heard.") In the end, "they" come for him ("You could hear them climbing the stairs") and while he wants to fight back, he's still afraid of what "they" will do/are capable of. ("I Got my right side fighting/While my left hides under the chairs.")
The lyric with the crocodiles (“Hear the crocodiles ticking round the world/Hear those crocodiles ticking, they go ticking round the world.”) reminds me of Peter Pan, for some reason. Captain Hook is deathly afraid of the crocodile that swallowed the alarm clock. The way I see it, the crocodiles could either be the things that comes for the man at the end of the song that he ends up fighting. Or they could be the small voices of rebellion that arise in the world due to the man’s efforts. (“they go ticking round the world”)
Overall, this songs reminds me of those dystopian novels- like 1984. A big, all powerful government watching its citizens and everything they do. It’s a creepy thought, but it doesn’t make me love this song any less.
I love how this songs sounds. Martin's voice seems to kind of drown in the music, as if he's standing right in the middle of it and singing out. The sounds swell around his voice and sort of echo. Love it.
I’m probably wrong about this, but this is what came to my mind while listening to this. As for the lyrics, now that I read through them, it seems the person in this song is being watched by some powerful source - "they/them". It could be some governmental power/higher power/etc. ("They got one eye watching you/One eye on what you do") The person, however, acknowledges this and wants to fight back against whatever is watching him. ("So be careful what it is you're trying to do/And be careful when you're walking into view")We can assume that whatever it is watching him isn't pleasant. ("So be careful cause nothing they say is true.")He's very against whatever "they" are and tries to convince others to rise up against whatever "they" is.(“No, no don't believe a word/It's just us against the world/And we just got to turn up to be heard.") In the end, "they" come for him ("You could hear them climbing the stairs") and while he wants to fight back, he's still afraid of what "they" will do/are capable of. ("I Got my right side fighting/While my left hides under the chairs.")
The lyric with the crocodiles (“Hear the crocodiles ticking round the world/Hear those crocodiles ticking, they go ticking round the world.”) reminds me of Peter Pan, for some reason. Captain Hook is deathly afraid of the crocodile that swallowed the alarm clock. The way I see it, the crocodiles could either be the things that comes for the man at the end of the song that he ends up fighting. Or they could be the small voices of rebellion that arise in the world due to the man’s efforts. (“they go ticking round the world”)
Overall, this songs reminds me of those dystopian novels- like 1984. A big, all powerful government watching its citizens and everything they do. It’s a creepy thought, but it doesn’t make me love this song any less.