1
(In the western sky)
(My kingdom come)
So still so dark all over Europe
And I ride down the highway 101
By the side of the ocean headed for sunset
For the kingdom come
for the
[Chorus x2]
Black
Black planet
Black
Black world
Run around in the radiation
Run around in the acid rain
On a
Black
Black planet
Black planet hanging over the highway
Out of my mind's eye
Out of the memory
Black world out of my mind
Still so dark all over Europe
And the rainbow rises here
In the western sky
The kill to show for
At the end of the great white pier
I see a
[Chorus]
Run around in the radiation
Tune in turn on burn out in the acid rain on a...
[Chorus repeats to fade]
(My kingdom come)
So still so dark all over Europe
And I ride down the highway 101
By the side of the ocean headed for sunset
For the kingdom come
for the
[Chorus x2]
Black
Black planet
Black
Black world
Run around in the radiation
Run around in the acid rain
On a
Black
Black planet
Black planet hanging over the highway
Out of my mind's eye
Out of the memory
Black world out of my mind
Still so dark all over Europe
And the rainbow rises here
In the western sky
The kill to show for
At the end of the great white pier
I see a
[Chorus]
Run around in the radiation
Tune in turn on burn out in the acid rain on a...
[Chorus repeats to fade]
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I've always been pretty sure Andrew Eldritch mixed up Highway 101 and Highway 1. And, contrary to what sandyclaws057 suggested, I think "sunset" actually does refer to Sunset Blvd.
Driving down Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) heading for Sunset Blvd., you're driving by the side of the ocean, and heading for a street that's both the metaphorical symbol of LA decadence, and (well, in the 80s; things have changed since then) also the rough physical border of urban civilization.
Cliffs on the left, undevelped beach on the right, only minimal signs of commerce... until you come around that last curve before Sunset, when you're suddenly in a traffic jam, with a supermarket and a minimall to the left and an ostentatious private beach club to the right.
And things only get denser ahead until you each the great white Santa Monica Pier. (Technically, PCH turns inland there; if you drive onto the pier, you're on the end of Route 66, not the end of PCH. But.. close enough.)
The only problem is that PCH isn't (US) Highway 101, it's (CA) Highway 1. Highway 101 is the freeway that runs from East LA through downtown and eastern Hollywood (which is where it meets Sunset Blvd.) to the northern suburbs. It doesn't go anywhere near the side of the ocean along the way.
But plenty of people have confused two of LA's most famous highways--including two commenterss here. It's not like Andrew is an LA native; he's a Brit who'd been there a couple times on tour. If an American sang about circling round and round the city on the M5, you'd guess he actually meant the M25 orbital, not that he was singing about getting confused by a temporary detour around Taunton on the way to Exeter.
If you interpret "heading for sunset" as heading for the sunset, as in heading west, rather than heading for Sunset Blvd., then you can make it work, but only by placing the song way outside LA. For example, in Pismo Beach, the coast turns almost straight west rather than north-by-northwest, and the 101 goes alongside the beach boardwalk. But LA is the end of the world, the final stage of the cancer of western civilization; Pismo is a sleepy beach resort town that people have only vaguely heard of because of Bugs Bunny making a wrong turn on the way there.
Other than getting these details wrong, I think sandyclaws and techgeist are right about what the song means.
PS, The very fact that he calls it "highway 101" is further evidence that he actually meant PCH.<br /> <br /> Most roads in LA are never called "highways". In particular, US 101 is always either "the Hollywood Freeway" or "the 101", never "Highway 101".<br /> <br /> But CA 1 is one of the exceptions. It's "Pacific Coast Highway" (or "PCH") or "Highway 1".<br /> <br /> Somewhere about halfway up the state—not far from Pismo, actually—the naming conventions suddenly change; if you're driving US 101 from San Jose to San Francisco, it actually is called "Highway 101", "Route 101", or just "101", never "the 101" or "the Bayshore Freeway". But I'm pretty sure he's singing about LA, not the Bay Area (or Pismo, or Tillamook, Oregon).
@falcotron Highway 101 is on the coast for hundreds of miles. It runs from the northernmost town on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington to San Diego, California. It’s over 1600 miles long. PCH is not just one highway. Parts of PCH are 1 and others are 101.