Lyrics for Shine a Light as interpreted by courtney_the_guy

Shine a Light Lyrics
I keep my head uptight
I make my plans at night
And I don't sleep I don't sleep I don't sleep 'til it's light
Something's flowing, someone buried alive
There is an awful sound
This haunted town
And it will not it will not it will not just be quiet
Some ghosts sing. Someone get called to the life

Spend boring hours in the office tower
In a bus on a bus back home to you and
That's fine I'm barely alive
It's just a matter of time
No one gets out alive
And I'm content I'm content I'm content to be quiet
It's only six. Someone get called to the life

You know our hearts beat time out very slowly
You know our hearts beat time
They're waiting for something that'll never arrive

I keep my head on tight
I make my plans at night
And I don't sleep I don't sleep I don't sleep 'til it's light
Pulse flowing, someone buried alive
And if that head opens we built a life of work
Where we're chain chain chain chain, chained to the life
But that's fine, our blood is alive

You know our hearts beat time out very slowly
You know our hearts beat time
They're waiting for something that'll never arrive

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  • 35 Comments
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courtney_the_guy
10-03-2005

Rated 0 
anyone care to Shine a Light on the meaning? i can get bits and pieces but nothing as a whole.

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olllen
10-05-2005

Rated 0 
I think here was something

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olllen
10-05-2005

Rated 0 
Sorry - http://www.cokemachineglow.com/feature/interview/wolfparade.html

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olllen
10-05-2005

Rated +2 
i think actually that it is very obvious. we just live these lives of work and plans, which never eralise, we just plan, dream about something at night, which never arrives, but we still feel quite confident, that it will just happen one day. but it won't. that's the dilemma - how to fight it?

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couldBanyone
10-13-2005

Rated +1 
This song is one of the easiest Wolf Parade songs to understand. Obviously it is about struggling with life and the eventual and inevitable end of life.

We "spend boring lives" in an office tower, a meaningless life we are "chained to."
So what happens in the end? We die, that's it? According to the singer, "no one gets out alive." He is at peace with death, singing "I'm content to be quiet." A lovely song overall.

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apotheosize!
12-15-2005

Rated +1 
instead of "something's flowing, someone buried alive" i hear "some folks float some are buried alive."

it's an incredible song though.
i love the accordion.

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elfpower
12-23-2005

Rated +1 
I heard an interview with Spencer, the singer. It was like that; He once worked in "office towers". All day working on the same thing, talking about the same things. The monotonity drives him into a kind of desperation but without loosing his head. That really worn him out, making him writing this song!

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s-squared
01-30-2006

Rated 0 
"I don't sleep 'til it's light" - Yeah, you work in an office tower and sleepwalk through your day.

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x_Heather_x
02-03-2006

Rated -1 
I really love this song...It was the first song I heard by Wolf Parade and I bought the album becuase of it (which is great, by the way)

This song really reminds me of someone though, possibly Beck?

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thelorax
02-05-2006

Rated 0 
Personally I hear "somethings glowing somewhere buried alive". Or maybe 'some ghosts glow' because that first 'something' sounds an aweful lot like the second 'some ghosts' ... but overall i think the meaning is an internal conflict between being complacent and hoping for something more.

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MoonArcher92
02-20-2006

Rated 0 
This is a great song.
Has anyone seen the music video for this song? It's... interesting, to say the least.

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GrungyBeatle
03-10-2006

Rated 0 
This song carries the same theme that Modest Mouse does in their song "One Chance." Both pessimistic yet feeling fatalistic in the sense of life's destiny. Anyway, I totally feel the song, I've been philosophical these days and songs like this are totally attracting my attention. It gives me an channel to what I'm feeling about life.

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theowls4221
03-22-2006

Rated 0 
the line "it's only six. Someone get called to the life" stands out in my mind a lot just a powerful statement and some of the best song writers since mouse , seems to me like they will not sell out at all from all the interviews and stuff ive read on them they hate their fame and thats what will make them great

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xJordanx
06-08-2006

Rated -3 
I kind of like this album, which is surprising considering there's no originality in the music. Do these guys sound exactly like a combination of The Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse, or what? This song especially is a blatant rip-off of The Arcade Fire's Rebellion (Lies).

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Bmyster
06-25-2006

Rated 0 
This song reminds me of the movie Ikiru by Kirosawa. For those who haven't seen it it's about an old beaurocrat who's wasted his life accomp[lishing nothing in an office who finds out he's got stomach cancer. He starts staying out every night trying to live and feel the joy that he's lacked for so long. This song reminds me of that persuit for life as we all get closer and closer to death.

Oh yes, and go see the movie. It may not be in English or in color, but it made me cry, and think (a lot), and any movie that can do both those things is pretty damn good in my book.

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kstate08
09-25-2006

Rated 0 
I don't think it's a rip-off. Even if it is, who cares? I wish more bands would make music like Modest Mouse and The Arcade Fire. This song rocks.

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rabashinko
10-09-2006

Rated 0 
Unlike "Rebellion (Lies)" and The Arcade Fire, "Shine a Light" and Wolf Parade represent well-developed songwriting. Arcade Fire has some great ideas, but despite all the hype, they don't really carry them out very well. While "Rebellion (Lies)" starts off well, the build-up is pretty bumbling..

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laocoon
11-19-2006

Rated 0 
I think arcade fire are top notch :) Rebellion doesn't seem to bumble to me. that said, it's not even the best off of funeral

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SofiaO
01-12-2007

Rated 0 
Doesn't it feel good to not be one of those people who
"are waiting for something that'll never arrive"
?!
it feels great.

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desertonfire
01-23-2007

Rated 0 
I think this song relates to Kafka's "Metamorphosis." People spend their whole lives worried about plans and routines and they don't realize that they aren't really living, or "barely alive." Before they know it, they get turned into giant bugs. Or in the case of this song, they die.

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GypsyRhapsody
02-05-2007

Rated 0 
Good reference Metamorphosis

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MATWI
03-07-2007

Rated 0 
The intro reminds me of the intro to Get Back.

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suclid003
03-08-2007

Rated +1 
I can see why someone said that they heard Beck in this. Anyone else think Spencer's voice kind of sounds like Beck's? Just the parts where he kind of howls out the lyrics.

I don't see how this is a rip-off of Arcade Fire's Rebellion.

Anyways, my favorite Wolf Parade song at the moment.

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suclid003
03-08-2007

Rated 0 
Or I guess Beck and Spencer have the same kind of vocal delivery.

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suclid003
03-08-2007

Rated 0 
As for the meaning, I think it's about having dreams but being so unsure of yourself that you just think about it day and night, not sleeping or doing anything about them. And in the end it can kill you.

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