This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Ooh, hey hey, oh
What we're living in
Let me tell ya
And it's a wonder man can eat at all
When things are big that should be small
Who can tell what magic spells we'll be doing for us?
And I'm giving all my love to this world
Only to be told
I can't see, I can't breathe
No more will we be
And nothing's gonna change the way we live
'Cause we can always take but never give
And now that things are changing for the worse, see
Whoa, it's a crazy world we're living in
And I just can't see that half of us immersed in sin
Is all we have to give these
Futures made of virtual insanity
Now always seem to be governed by this love we have
For useless, twisting of our new technology
Oh, now there is no sound for we all live underground
And I'm thinking what a mess we're in
Hard to know where to begin
If I could slip the sickly ties of earth that man has made
And now every mother can choose the color
Of her child
That's not nature's way
Well that's what they said yesterday
There's nothing left to do but pray
I think it's time to find a new religion
Whoa, it's so insane
To synthesize another strain
There's something in these futures that we have to be told
Futures made of virtual insanity
Now always seem to be governed by this love we have
For useless, twisting of our new technology
Oh, now there is no sound for we all live underground, whoa
Now there is no sound
If we all live underground
And now it's virtual insanity
Forget your virtual reality
Oh, there's nothing so bad as a meddlin' man
Oh yeah
I know, yeah
(Ooh)
Futures made of virtual insanity
Now always seem to be governed by this love we have
For useless, twisting of our new technology
Oh, now there is no sound for we all live underground, oh
(Livin' in, virtual insanity) Now this life that we're living
It's all going wrong, it's out of the window
(Livin' in, virtual insanity) You know that there is nothing worse than
(Livin' in, virtual insanity) A rambling man, there is nothing worse than
(Livin' in, virtual insanity) A foolish mind, yeah
Virtual insanity is what we're living in
Yeah, well it's alright
What we're living in
Let me tell ya
And it's a wonder man can eat at all
When things are big that should be small
Who can tell what magic spells we'll be doing for us?
And I'm giving all my love to this world
Only to be told
I can't see, I can't breathe
No more will we be
And nothing's gonna change the way we live
'Cause we can always take but never give
And now that things are changing for the worse, see
Whoa, it's a crazy world we're living in
And I just can't see that half of us immersed in sin
Is all we have to give these
Futures made of virtual insanity
Now always seem to be governed by this love we have
For useless, twisting of our new technology
Oh, now there is no sound for we all live underground
And I'm thinking what a mess we're in
Hard to know where to begin
If I could slip the sickly ties of earth that man has made
And now every mother can choose the color
Of her child
That's not nature's way
Well that's what they said yesterday
There's nothing left to do but pray
I think it's time to find a new religion
Whoa, it's so insane
To synthesize another strain
There's something in these futures that we have to be told
Futures made of virtual insanity
Now always seem to be governed by this love we have
For useless, twisting of our new technology
Oh, now there is no sound for we all live underground, whoa
Now there is no sound
If we all live underground
And now it's virtual insanity
Forget your virtual reality
Oh, there's nothing so bad as a meddlin' man
Oh yeah
I know, yeah
(Ooh)
Futures made of virtual insanity
Now always seem to be governed by this love we have
For useless, twisting of our new technology
Oh, now there is no sound for we all live underground, oh
(Livin' in, virtual insanity) Now this life that we're living
It's all going wrong, it's out of the window
(Livin' in, virtual insanity) You know that there is nothing worse than
(Livin' in, virtual insanity) A rambling man, there is nothing worse than
(Livin' in, virtual insanity) A foolish mind, yeah
Virtual insanity is what we're living in
Yeah, well it's alright
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
No Surprises
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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.
Punchline
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
This song tell's so much about the world we live in today... take a minute to think about it...
@raundall Ah an old comment from 2002. I doubt you care about the song now but it's now 2020. I wasn't even born in 2002 but from when I was in kindergarten to now as a high schooler in 2020 technology and the way that technology is used now is crazy. In ways we couldn't even imagine in 2006. Technology has advanced in wild ways.We truly are living in a virtual insanity.
technology is as much as me as my body is. and mind?
Strangely prescient back in 1996. Here we are in 2012, and certainly seems we're heading down that useless, twisting road.
if u need a song about the world of today... virtual insanity i couldn't say it better
Technology is great. Enjoy it!.. but challenge yourself to live for real with practical skills and knowledge alfresco independent from society, debt and electronics!
Craig
A thought. We all now -live- in the 'digital underground' i.e., what 'the Internet' was known to be in the mid-90s, and largely populated by those who'd been on the BBS before, versed on IRC, and so on.
And there is no sound. Because nobody picks up the phone anymore. We all text. We all type.
Scary.
in the future we will be so dependant on technology, we won't have to do anything for ourselves. Anything can be done by our will. This is a bad thing.
i think that whoever submitted the lyrics for this may have made a slight error. the last line of the set after the first chorus. There's something in these futures that we have to be told. Im pretty sure that instead of "be told", that its "veto." you know? like, something in our future that we've gotta stop before it happens. the songs all about warning us so we think a bit. jay kay is trying to change the world.
@orangetomorrow ...yea man u seem the only one around to have noticed that..even 'when performed live u can clearly hear jk saying veto...but the main argument is that it makes a lot of sense
yes it is
love it... i think most people have covered the basic principals JK is trying to put across... i.e. technology is becoming so overwhelming in this day and age that we are becoming / have become totally dependant on it. it was a bit of a wake up call back in the 90's for people to open their eyes and see that there's more to life. personally i think this song is still as poignant and relevant now as it was when first released. and on top of it all - IT SOUNDS GREAT and has a video to match! (quite ironic when you think about the car collection JK owns though - how many million pounds worth of useless technology has he got sitting in his garage?)