When you're smoking tinfoil in the morning
It's gonna be a cold day
When you're keeping everything inside you
It can only hurt you

Unrelated sounds
The sun will shine again
You hold it in your hands

This young land is a young land let it stay that way
Its pollution only turns you into something you don't want to see in the water
A reflection of them that you receive

You don't own the sun
And the sun won't shine again
So maybe you're all in love
With Aluminum

The cling and a clang
Is the metal in my head when I walk
I hear a sort of, this tinging noise
Cling clang

The cling clang
So many things happen while walking
The metal in my head clangs and clings as I walk
Freaks my balance out

So the natural thought
Is just clogged up
Totally clogged up
So we need to unplug these dams

And make the the natural flow
It sort of freaks me out
We need to unplug the dams
You cannot stop the natural flow of thought
With a cling and a clang

And wake me up again until
We're Aluminum
You hold it in your hands
The sun will shine again



Lyrics submitted by forgetmyname

Track duration: 05:39

"Stop the Dams" as written by Damon/hewlett Albarn

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Stop The Dams song meanings
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27 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:It's an anti-drug song. Period. "When you're smoking tinfoil in the morning, it's gonna be colder day." Junkies often use tinfoil to smoke crack and whatnot. Drugs are like Dams, plugging up our Rivers, or minds. We need to unplug the dams, as in, quit using drugs.
    Flag 23Tonalityon January 12, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It's an analogy between hard drugs and destroying the environment, using drugs to stop feeling emotion and using "dams" to stop the flow of the world. Both only because it's easier.

    It's a brilliant comparison. Why does everyone have to make it one or another? Damon is kinda a genius after all...
    Flag ens0mniacon May 08, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:Yeah, I'm gonna have to say that this song is wholly about stopping industrialization(or even more of it) and preserving nature.

    "Its pollution only turns you into something you don't want to see in the water"
    Human beings need nature. Pollution stifles nature. And so what would happen if the world was a large cloud of smoke and debris? We'd adapt into hideous little things that you'd surely not want to see in the water.

    "You don't own the sun"
    We don't own nature, hell, we don't own this world. We borrow it from our children and when we're done, we go back to dust. So, is it fair to change something you don't own? How would you like it if you had a guest over that broke your tables because they weren't "pretty" enough?

    "We need to unplug the dams, you cannot stop the natural flow of thought, with a cling and a clang"
    Pretty much, stop industrialization. Stop the clinging and the clanging of hammers as they peg iron houses to take the place of trees.

    "You hold it in your hands"
    It's our decision whether we're going to let our world become a huge pile of aluminum, or if we're going to let the natural flow of thought continue.

    It's a great song, and no matter how many meanings there are out there, it doesn't stop the fact that this is an extremely haunting story with a beautiful melody.
    Flag rejectedwolfon February 26, 2012   Link
  • +3
    Lyric Correction:He doesn't say smoking tin foil listen closely he says smoking tenfold as you know he smokes cigarettes smoking tenfold means smoking 10 times as much as you normally would
    Flag smokintenfoldon September 25, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:While I agree with the idea that the song is about dams in reference to the environment. I think it also (To take the lyrics at a surface level.) talks about the walls people build up and how we, as a society, tend to bottle up our emotions and destroy ourselves. Hence, "When you're keeping everything inside you
    It can only hurt you"

    The "We're Aluminum" line seems to say that if we go on bottling up our emotions/stop expressing ourselves, we'll end up becoming robots- aluminum.
    Flag Nanasukion July 07, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song was made as a protest towards a damming project in iceland, it is also a retooling of Damon Alburns song aluminum.
    Flag DirtyDevianton October 26, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:the gorillaz always have a nice way of making a song about drugs but not about drugs at the same time
    Flag calan993on December 17, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:^^ that and god.
    Flag thrwmyhrtawy.on January 18, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:God, why do people think that every single song in the existence of forever, has to do with drugs. I swear people think that every single song is about drugs.
    Flag Flareeon January 18, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:As stated here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… the song is a polished version of a protest song written for the stop the dams benefit concert savingiceland.puscii.nl/ and the reason the cling clang vocals are there and not done by 2D is b/c Albarn originally did the song Aluminum with Ghostigital so he is on stop the dams as well.

    I think it's a beautiful song with a great message even if it's not easily understood.

    And there's a difference between putting up dams to increase livable space or generate power instead of just being able to build aluminum refineries seems like a poor use of resources, it's going to suck when you have to go to a museum to see trees and wildlife b/c we destroyed all their habitats. so yea maybe they are in love with aluminum.
    Flag hedwundon January 06, 2009   Link

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