In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Lyrics submitted by magicnudiesuit
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.
As others have said, this song is actually about hippies protesting a curfew at their favorite night-clubbing spot. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_What_It%27sWorth%28Buffalo_Springfield_song%29
However, FWIW was written broadly so that it resonates with the spirit of protest everywhere. It quickly became an antiwar anthem. Today the song can be heard at Occupy rallies, and its lyrics still fit perfectly.
Yes, I agree. I remember when the song was new. I always associated it with Mike Nesmith of the Monkees talking about the Sunset Strip riots on the Monkees TV show.<br /> <br /> But now it fits so perfectly OWS. When I participate in my local Occupy Movement I find myself singing it aloud just as I sing "Give Peace a Chance" and "Power to the People." Those three songs are the trifecta of protest songs for me.
Our national debt sure isn't going down and neither is taxation. Let's protest THAT ! Everybody now...Kumbaya.....
@Foobar not just a "favorite spot", the entire Sunset Strip
I was 20 when this song came out and it was powerful then tho I have to admit it got somewhat overplayed over the years. One line that always puzzled me-"Young people speaking their minds,getting so much resistance from behind".I interpreted this to mean that in our OWN generation we had many right wing kids who supported the Establishment,the cops and the military.And we often had to fight THEM in the streets as well. What the lyric meant to Steven Stills I don't know.But thats my take on it.
@Riverman94610 love this take what a cool point of view, hope you don't mind that i'll be quoting you in my social studies project lmao. actually though, love how you worded this.
This song is indeed about the Sunset Strip riots that happened in 1966/1967. So, democracys was right. Many people think it's about the Vietnam war, but it really isn't, even though I guess each person can interpret it that way, but that's not what composer Stephen Stills particularly had in mind when he wrote it.
this song is deffinately about the sunset strip... not the kent state masacre. this song was written 4 years before the kent state masacre
A protest song, one of the best.
In August '66 the local citizenry had tried to clear the area around the Sunset Strip club Pandora`s Box, whose long haired clientele detered legitimate tourism, by having the police enforce a curfew. Protests followed,things turning ugly when the police weighed in with the night-sticks. Witnessing this upon return from a trip to Nicaragua , Stills was inspired: "All the kids on one side of the street, all the cops on the other side - in Latin America that meant there'd be a new government in about a week. "Both a warning and a barricade-manning counter-culture rallying cry
i got this from thrasherswheat.org/tfa/bufspring.htm
awesome song! we're learning about the vietnam war in history and heard all these counter-culture songs and this one really stood out to me.
awesome song! we're learning about the vietnam war in history and heard all these counter-culture songs and this one really stood out to me.
FWIW, this song is actually about a protest over the closing of some of the clubs on Sunset Strip... why they were closed, I can't recall...
yes i just read a book on jim morrisson and that was in it<br /> protesting youth in los angeles<br /> now in canada it is used in a telus commercial
This is the greatest song ever written. Screw VH1's list. "Satisfaction" wouldn't make my top 50. "For What It's Worth" is the ultimate song.