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I read the pages about me
In her autobiography
They were brief and to the point
Our flesh while you are getting dressed
Memory that needs to be repressed
I'll just wait until it's over
Since you've gone away
I never know just what to say
Since you've gone away
I never know just what to say
Because I like cars more than telephones
Your voice in my ear makes me feel so alone
Tonight I'm going to drive
The silver moon is shining bright
Over the interstate
God saying, "Hurry, don't be late"
Soon the sun will rise
That's when the romance dies
And I'm just tired of running around
I walked
To get the mail today
I guess
Your letter never came
I'll just
Check again tomorrow
Our flesh while you are getting dressed
Memory that needs to be repressed
I'll just wait without saying a word
Since you've gone away
I never know just what to say
Since you've gone away
I never know just what to say
Because I like cars more than telephones
Your voice in my head makes me feel so alone
Tonight I'm going to drive
The silver moon is shining bright
Over the interstate
God saying, "Hurry, don't be late"
Soon the sun will rise
That's when the romance dies
And I'm just tired of running around
But fuck it, I love you no less
I'm going to feel like shit
By the time I get to you
Now the sky is turning blue
The stars, they disappear
One by one with daylight, dear
And yes, you're in my head
But that doesn't make you here
And I've lost all my friends
But you're the one I miss the most
And now I'm almost there
Yeah, I'm almost to the coast
And if I had any notion
Of how to drive my car across the Atlantic Ocean
I'd be fucking set
In her autobiography
They were brief and to the point
Our flesh while you are getting dressed
Memory that needs to be repressed
I'll just wait until it's over
Since you've gone away
I never know just what to say
Since you've gone away
I never know just what to say
Because I like cars more than telephones
Your voice in my ear makes me feel so alone
Tonight I'm going to drive
The silver moon is shining bright
Over the interstate
God saying, "Hurry, don't be late"
Soon the sun will rise
That's when the romance dies
And I'm just tired of running around
I walked
To get the mail today
I guess
Your letter never came
I'll just
Check again tomorrow
Our flesh while you are getting dressed
Memory that needs to be repressed
I'll just wait without saying a word
Since you've gone away
I never know just what to say
Since you've gone away
I never know just what to say
Because I like cars more than telephones
Your voice in my head makes me feel so alone
Tonight I'm going to drive
The silver moon is shining bright
Over the interstate
God saying, "Hurry, don't be late"
Soon the sun will rise
That's when the romance dies
And I'm just tired of running around
But fuck it, I love you no less
I'm going to feel like shit
By the time I get to you
Now the sky is turning blue
The stars, they disappear
One by one with daylight, dear
And yes, you're in my head
But that doesn't make you here
And I've lost all my friends
But you're the one I miss the most
And now I'm almost there
Yeah, I'm almost to the coast
And if I had any notion
Of how to drive my car across the Atlantic Ocean
I'd be fucking set
Lyrics submitted by Rcntly2stepping, edited by Mellow_Harsher
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And when he says
And if I had any notion
Of how to drive my car across the Atlantic Ocean
I'd be fucking set
Maybe the Atlantic Ocean is the emotional distance between the two...
We dated for 2 years; the first of which was pure bliss. None of our friends approved of our relarionship (he was part of the popular, stoner, womanisers of the high school, and I was a quiet, slightly dorky wishful dreamer). Through defending our relationship we lost touch with a lot of our friends, especially in his case.
We broke up in a horrible, tear-your-heart-out-and-eat it sort of way. He had become malicious, trying to regain the social position he had once possessed, started doing drugs again (which in turn led him to become bi-polar) and was no longer the person I had fallen in love with. Regaurdless, the love we once shared was one for the tragic story books. You never forget your first love. We were best friends and each others first lovers.
This song speaks to me because I used to keep an online blog, more of an autobiography than anything. He sent this to me after he stumbled across it one day. In it I kept the description of our relationship very "brief and to the point," elaborating only to say that it was a relationship that I will remember with warmth because it has helped shape me to be the person I am today--nothing more. I always used to say that the ocean can make all my problems go away. Whenever I felt overwhelmed to the point I could no longer stand it, I would drive to the beach just to sit all night, and return in the morning, putting whatever it was behind me. After about a year, he had driven most of his friends away, including me.
After such a romantic ordeal neither of us knew quite how to date again. Luckily, I eventually found someone who could love me the same way I loved them, even though we dont connect as often on that almost painfully see-right-through-you way. However, he never quite got over it. He had forgotten how to charm a girl like he could before, didnt really see the point anymore.
To me, this song is talking about a painful ended relationship. His actions drove away his friends, and the one person that could understand him completely. The girl has moved on, but, just like in my relationship, you always kind of think you are going to pick up the phone and hear them... that maybe you will recieve a letter... anything to reassert that it was real, once upon a time. For a long time I (and he) could still hear each other in our heads. It drove us both mad. Sometimes I would remember him, and instead of push the memory, I would endulge... somehow getting some kind of masacistic nostalgic pleasure from it. I think at the end of the song he isnt trying to get closer to her. Instead, the ocean brings no calm or peace, the daylight is coming, bringing along with it a new day to struggel through... hes trying to distance himself away from those reminders as much as possible.
I dont see it as a long distance relationship at all... more a painful journey to get over, to re-learn how to function without someone. How to do that, you need to be as far away as you can possibly be from that reminder.
but maybe thats just me.
He's obviously driving to see her, he doesn't wanna speak on telephones, he'd rather drive and do it face to face.
I dunno, thats just what i get from it, when you miss someone, sometimes hearing their voice in your head just makes you feel even worse, because it reminds you they aren't there.
Personally, I believe that the two characters in the song are still in a relationship, though they are separated by a great distance, and that is obviously straining the relationship and making the man feel insecure about the possibility of them growing apart.
But, anyway-because of the distance, all they can do is talk on the phone, which leaves the man feeling empty and lonely, as it reminds him of the distance between them. The bit about liking cars more than telephones is very straightforward: talking on the telephone (especially to his lover) seems like an idle task, and leaves him feeling very restless. A car (especially one that is supposedly driving to see his lover) gives him a sense of purpose and security. So that is what Win Butler leads us to believe throughout the whole song- that perhaps after driving through the night towards his love, the main character will finally be reunited with her physically--there is the possibility of a resolution of the anguish expressed through the song. That is, until the final four lines:
'Yeah, I'm almost to the coast
And if I had any notion
Of how to drive my car across the Atlantic Ocean
I'd be fucking set'
Where we learn that there is not only several hundred miles of roads separating the two but an entire ocean--she is presumably in Europe. And that fact is so utterly tragic that is brings the song to a whole other level--the man is compelled by his love for the woman to get in his car and drive to be closer to her, even though they will still be separated by several thousand miles when he hits the ocean. He knew the whole time that whole drive would be futile, and yet he was so tormented by the distance between them he had no other choice.
It can be applied to losing someone to death. With the autobiography part, thinking about what piece of their life you were. And "God saying hurry" to get to see them again.
And then the thought of checking the mail, and never receiving anything again from them, but each day wishing that you would.
And then "you're in my head, but that doesn't make you here." It really makes me think about how I can think back to all of memories of my sister, but it's not the same as her presence.
And, of course the futile ending of the song. That even with a car, he's not any closer to being with the person he misses.
I doubt that's the meaning that AF had planned for the song, but it's what it means to me.
My interpretation is that the partner has moved overseas, and he's missing her and trying to convince himself that she's missing him too.
"I checked the mail today, I guess your letter never came, I'll just check again tomorrow..." - deep down, he knows she no longer thinks about him, yet he WANTS to think she's trying to get through to him, because it makes him feel a little better.
He hasn't heard from her in a long time. He starts to delude himself. He decides he'll go and surprise her...in his head it all seems so perfect, and they'll meet and it will be beautiful.
He drives across the country all night, and in the early hours when it is just starting to get light he reaches the coast. He knows he won't make it all the way across, but this is all he has left.
He keeps driving.
a flash while you are getting dressed
a memory, that needs to be repressed
ive definetely had the feeling. the short memories that flash back in your head, and its painful and you never want to remember them but they keep coming back to you. no matter how much you want to forget.
the first time i heard this, i thought he was talking about killing himself.
gods saying 'hurry don't be late'
it may or may not be about suicide, but that was my interpretation.