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Appliances have gone berserk
I cannot keep up
Treading on people's toes
Snot-nosed little punk
And I can't face the evening straight
You can offer me escape
Houses move and houses speak
If you take me there you'll get relief, relief, relief, relief
And if I'm gonna talk
I just want to talk
Please don't interrupt
Just sit back and listen
'Cause I can't face the evening straight
You can offer me escape
Houses move and houses speak
If you take me there you'll get relief, relief, relief, relief
Relief, relief
It's too much, too bright, too powerful
Too much, too bright, too powerful
Too much, too bright, too powerful
Too much, too bright, too powerful
I cannot keep up
Treading on people's toes
Snot-nosed little punk
And I can't face the evening straight
You can offer me escape
Houses move and houses speak
If you take me there you'll get relief, relief, relief, relief
And if I'm gonna talk
I just want to talk
Please don't interrupt
Just sit back and listen
'Cause I can't face the evening straight
You can offer me escape
Houses move and houses speak
If you take me there you'll get relief, relief, relief, relief
Relief, relief
It's too much, too bright, too powerful
Too much, too bright, too powerful
Too much, too bright, too powerful
Too much, too bright, too powerful
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I cannot keep up
Treading on people's toes
Snot-nosed little punk"
I think the song is about aging and being around younger whippersnappers who do things different than you, how technology is changing and Thom professes that he simply can't keep up. The younger generation is stepping on people's toes and the final line of that lyric is "snot-nosed little punk" which affirms the point I'm trying to make.
This song is about an old person suffering on a deathbed who decided to take an euthanasia pill, which can offer him escape. (The British House of Lords Select Committee on Medical Ethics defines euthanasia as "a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life, to relieve intractable suffering")
Someone close to the suffering person, probably someone younger (child or grand child), visits this person (flowers to the hospital). The patient has already decided to take the peacefull pill which can offer him relief and knows he sees the visitor for the last time (last flowers).
The patient does not want the visitor to persuade him not to end his life (and if I'm gonna talk, I just want to talk. Please don't interrupt, just sit back and listen).
Too much, too bright and too powerful is the light at the end of the tunnel.
What a song, what a movie! Check it out if you haven't.
Am I wrong?
I can not keep up
Treading on people's toes
Snot-nosed little punk'
perfection doesn't even begin to describe it.
I think Thom is using the song's verses to make the analogy between his trapped world (the depression, the "stardom", the pressures of having to define himself and the band, etc) and the trapped, isolated world of an old person in his final days on earth. The first verse, with its mix of confusion and confession, feels like the latter. While the second verse feels like the former, with the aforementioned media and fan hype pressing down on Thom, finishing his sentences for him and such. It's a lot like the old man unable to get a word in while the family's talking about Shady Acres. Remember this was a terribly defining moment for Thom and the band creatively. They were exploring and inventing, figuring out who they were and where they were heading, while their fan base (at the time) was stage diving and screaming for Creep and The Bends. (Trust me, I'm in Michigan and the band has sworn off performing here for the last 15 years for that reason, among others.)
The latent sarcasm of its title ("Last Flowers to the Hospital") seems to connote the sentiments of the unappreciated elderly person in his final days. As in, "don't worry, it's the last time you'll have to call the florist on my behalf". This tone is echoed in lines like "you can't offer me escape" and "If you take me there you'll get relief". He needs help (or compassion at the very least) and those around him can't offer what he needs (be it pain relief, understanding, love, etc). So take me to the place where I'll have some hope at getting some help. This notion is devastatingly sad on many levels, since A) it suggests a sterile health care facility would offer the old man more support than his own loved ones, and B) it portrays the act of dropping the geezer back off as a form of self-medication for those close to him.
As for "Houses move and houses speak"... I have no evidence to support this, but when I hear the line each time in the song, especially followed by "If you take me there you'll get relief", I picture the old man propped in the back seat of the family car, his forehead resting against the window, watching the houses whiz by while he hears the endless, mindless conversation going on in the car, dialogue about everything in the world EXCEPT him and what he's going through, what he's thinking on what sounds like his final trip to the hospital/old folks home/etc. The houses may be his last images of the outside world. From this point on it's white gowns and machines and nurses. And death.
I think the reason why we all like this song so much is because of the ambiguities Thom worked into it. The insights and observations he made that led him to connect it all in this beautiful song.
it's too much
too bright
too powerful
awesome.