Lyrics for Headlights On Dark Roads as interpreted by blinxbcr

Headlights On Dark Roads Lyrics
For once I want to be the car crash
Not always just the traffic jam
Hit me hard enough to wake me
And lead me wild to your dark roads

Headlights, before me
So beautiful, so clear
Reach out, and take it
'Cause I'm so tired of all ths fear

My tongue is lost, oh I can't tell you
Please just see it in my eyes
I pull up thorns from our ripped bodies
And let the blood fall in my mouth

Headlights, before me
So beautiful, so clear
Reach out, and take it
'Cause I'm so tired of all ths fear

Interaction
Mail to a friend Send Lyrics to a Friend
Share on Facebook

Stumble It
Add to Del.icio.us Add to Del.icio.us




  • 29 Comments
  • Printer Friendly Lyrics
oldest first     Expand All
grego8485
04-30-2006

Rated +1 
When you're driving on a very dark road, so dark that if you're headlights were to just go out, you wouldn't be able to see anything at all, let alone drive anymore. I think this is a metaphor for meeting someone so perfect that if you lost them you wouldn't find anyone better. She is his headlights on the dark road, but if she were to leave, he wouldn't be able to go on without her.

Log in to reply
mklyrics
05-16-2006

Rated -1 
Its about suicide. The idea that when life is too painful, too hard, it becomes very tempting to turn into oncoming traffic. The lights of the approaching car seem beautiful because they can take away the pain of life once and for all ("I'm so tired of all this fear"). The reason for this pain could also be lack of control in the writer's life, shown in that they want to be the proactive, rather than reactive force for once ("For once I want to be the car crash / Not always just the traffic jam"). The song also explains the often nightmarish quality that life can become, and expresses the desire to 'wake up' to something better ("Hit me hard enough to wake me"). The idea of submission to death is conveyed by the way in which the persona can't speak the pain, but it can only be seen through his/her eyes, whilst the redemptory quality of death is also expressed in the way the blood from the ripped bodies is falling into the character's mouth.

Log in to reply
JcWalken
05-19-2006

Rated 0 
Best song on the Eyes Open album...in my opinion

Log in to reply
lawfuldrugs
05-28-2006

Rated 0 
I agree more with Mklyrics, but Grego's explanation is appealing too. But in the booklet of the limited edition, Lightbody wrote :

"The verses are as dark as i've ever written" and
"... the chorus delivered such a release"

So i guess suicide is a possible explanation

Log in to reply
th14
05-30-2006

Rated 0 
this song is about the last moments of someone fed up of life..possibly on a road to nowhere? the song delivery suggests recklessness on the part of a driver and then the impact of the crash comes with the superb chorus which suggests that the person is finally content. i feel its almost glorifying death?

Log in to reply
Pez_fx
05-31-2006

Rated 0 
Yeh i'm agreeing that it's mostly about suicide. Suddenly, you're attracted to the thought of dying, when you can't bare the thought of living anymore. Hence the "headlights" are "before me", "reach out and take it". He's not afraid of dying anymore, and accepts it, but at the same time crying out for help.
He's being lured in to death almost.

Log in to reply
FOOKTACULAR™!
08-03-2006

Rated 0 
'For once I want to be the car crash
Not always just the traffic jam'
I'm guessing that this means he wants to have the attention for once in the relationship.
I agree with mklyrics about it being about suicide though,
'Headlights, before me
So beautiful, so clear'
The last thing he saw before he died, were a cars headlights, beautiful song :]

Log in to reply
3lancer
08-09-2006

Rated 0 
I don't necessarily agree with the suicide idea purely because both greg and mklyrics's suggestions make sense when you read the lyrics but greg's idea of not being able to see would fit with the theme of the album more; Open, Shut your Eyes, Chasing Cars, and a couple of other references to what you choose to or want to see in a relationship make me think it;s probably about someone lighting the way.

Log in to reply
ninaluvsall
08-09-2006

Rated 0 
Both the suicide and Grego's explanation fits. But I like Grego's a bit better... as 3lancer said, it fits the theme of the album better. [The album is even better than Final Straw!]

Snow Patrol = amazing.

Log in to reply
_ellie
09-14-2006

Rated 0 
Waking up to life - the risk and pain of love, contrasted with the doldrums of apathy.

Log in to reply
mjlufcy20
09-16-2006

Rated +1 
i don't think this movie is about suicide at all. its about being alone, and lonely. ever seen the movie crash? opening line, "it's the sense of touch...nobody touches you. we're always behing this metal and glass. i think we miss that sense of touch so much, that we crash into each other just so we can feel something."

this song is a metaphore for about the same thing, dedicated to a girl:

For once I want to be the car crash
Not always just the traffic jam
Hit me hard enough to wake me
And lead me wild to your dark roads

he wants to remember what its like to feel again. and he wants her to take him there.

My tongue is lost, oh I can't tell you
Please just see it in my eyes
I pull up thorns from our ripped bodies
And let the blood fall in my mouth

he cant tell her the way he feels. he doesnt know how. so he needs her to see it in is eyes. pulling thorns from ripped bodies and letting blood fall into his mouth is touch back on the first verse: remembering his humanity. he's been alone for so long, he forgot what it was like to be human.
now he's found someone, but doesnt know how to tell her.

Headlights, before me
So beautiful, so clear
Reach out, and take it
'Cause I'm so tired of all ths fear

she is the headlights, and when he see's her its clear what he needs to do. reach out and take it. he's scared, but he's tired of the fear.
agree or not, this song is amazing.

Log in to reply
mjlufcy20
09-16-2006

Rated 0 
whoops. change the word movie to song in the first sentence. damn my not going back to read what i wrote.

Log in to reply
johnisawesome
10-08-2006

Rated 0 
I.Love.This.Song

Log in to reply
scar_eire
10-18-2006

Rated 0 
it seems that a lot of people see this song as someone about to give up on life. i think its the complete oppostie.

basically, the dark roads are the bad times in your life, the headlights are all the little joys, all the reasons to keep going, and hes saying you should ''reach out and take'' them, to cherish these little moments.

Log in to reply
trite and cheap
12-20-2006

Rated 0 
I think this song is about someone afraid to love.
I feel like for once they want to take action and fall into love (car crash) instead of dreaming of it all the time and never taking a chance (traffic jam).
I feel like they want to take the chance and just fall into love so completely that they are blinded yet somehow guided by it's light and beauty...a beauty that can be dark and ugly once you fall out of love and realize all the bad parts.
that's just my take...I really don't think it's about suicide.

Log in to reply
lickyourownwounds
12-29-2006

Rated 0 
I'm with scar_eire, this song sounds more hopeful than contemplating death.

Definately my favourite song on the album.

Log in to reply
bic10
02-02-2007

Rated 0 
I think that this song emphasises his desire for something exciting to happen in his life. "for once i want to be the car crash not always just the traffic jam" is a clear example, saying that instead of the same old boring traffic jam, he wants a car crash

Log in to reply
sunshinme_dust
02-25-2007

Rated 0 
for once I want to be the CAR CRASH not always
just the traffics jam

So beautiful, an amaziing line!!!! i

Log in to reply
frijolito_ts
04-26-2007

Rated 0 
this song always reminds me of something i've sometimes told my friends: "if i ever die in a car crash, check if i was wearing my seatbelt. because i always wear it religiously, and if you find me dead without a seatbelt, it's because i finally found the balls to take it off and swerve onto a tree"

really, you can ask them.

Log in to reply
twitchingrabbit
05-22-2007

Rated 0 
I think that it superficially means the suicide explanation given by mklyrics. However, looking a little deeper, and with the context of the album in mind, you can see that it is indeed about relationships.

In particular, it is about taking a risk. It is about the dark roads of life, and seeing the beautiful "headlights" of your most beautiful soulmate and steering into the light rather than letting it pass you by. Letting the passion take you to the dark roads...

It is about being tired of the fear (of rejection) enough to hurt yourself and give yourself so much that you lose yourself in someone else. In that way, it is a little about suicide but not quite so literal. The willingness to let the thorns (think roses - the flowers are given, but the giver holds the thorns) sink deep and then for the writer facing it (by letting it fall into his mouth).

The writer is clearly wanting to be in the potential car crash of a passionate relationship, not the one watching it happen all the time from the sidelines. A most insightful song indeed!

Log in to reply
Velocity_Girl
07-04-2007

Rated 0 
I don't think it's as simple as suicide.

'For once I want to be the car crash
Not always just the traffic jam'

The feeling after you have been in a situation for so long, one that wouldn't normally be so unbearable but the constant monotony of an unfulfilling life leads you to want anything exciting, different, however devastating the outcome may be.

Even in the context of a relationship, the song doesn't need to be taken like that. It's about desperation, to escape, to get out into the unknown. That's where the headlights come in- aye, they're beautiful, mesmerizing, but dangerous.

Log in to reply
gotjuice
08-26-2007

Rated 0 
I agree with Grego, but also, considering that this song is right after Set The Fire To The Third Bar, in which he realized that he really does need her so badly that he's tracing the route on a map with his finger to where he knows she is, this is where he's driving back to her, in the middle of the night. Sets up perfectly for the reunion in Open Your Eyes/The Finish Line. Perfect album.

Log in to reply
gotjuice
08-26-2007

Rated 0 
Also, forgot to put this, the headlights are beautiful because he knows that with each pair that he passes, he's getting closer to his girlfriend.

Log in to reply
andleia
11-23-2007

Rated 0 
omg... i never thought that this song could be about suicide... for me, it's like other snow patrol songs: he is ecstatic because he found the right person, and now hi's whole life is "illuminated" by this person.
all the other metaphors about car crashes and stuff like that are related somewhat to the fact that he felt stuck, he had no purpose in life... but now that he found her, he is ready to move on and be happy, he's tired of "the fear" of living without her...

Log in to reply
PaladinDave
12-10-2007

Rated 0 
There's a strong deer-in-headligts motif running through this.

Log in to reply




  • Add Your Comments
What does this song mean to you?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.





Popular
Top:   Lyrics, Artists, Albums
Random:   Lyric, Artist, Album

Your Ad Here