The Clock

I thought this song was about Nuclear Annihilation and the "Doomsday Clock". The doomsday clock is a device used to illustrate the threat of nuclear arms and other things of destroying the human race/causing major upset. The arms are moved closer to the hour to illustrate greater threat and moved further from the hour to show lower threat.

Just recently it was altered so that Global Warming and the environment was included. That was after the release of The Eraser though so I think it's about nuclear threats and the Iraq war and how politicians throw money at the problem and "make a wish" that it sorts itself out.

I love this song. So true. I love the whole album, it makes me shudder. I wanna play it full blast to the world and see the effect it has, which according to the lyrics of other songs, would be negligable. Such a pity. Start doing something about it!

I'm pretty sure I heard Thom say in an interview that this song was about global warming and the fact that world leaders recognize it's a problem but just sort of ignore it. So with the line "But you just move the hands upon the clock throw coins in the wishing well for us" he's saying that our leaders waste time with talking and half-assed "solutions" to make the public think that they're actually doing something when in reality "Time is running out for us". I think he's also saying with the line "throw coins in the wishing well" that they are trying their luck and eventually its going to catch up with them.

its about global worming- "it comes to you, begging you to stop-wake up!" its about how time's running up and we keep saying things like "god, we godda do something about it..." but doing nothing but talking. talking, being useless- throwing coinds for luck...moving our hands upon the clock and making believe we are being helpful, making believe we are still in charg, but it's all just talking. amazing song btw.

exactly. they push the issue to the side and leave it up to someone else to fix and that someone leaves it up for someone else and the cycle has turned into a big shameful mess of lack of leadership. keep on pushin thom!

"Move the hands upon the clock" Like being horribly late, but saying 'thats ok, I'll put my clock back a few hours" The common attitude at the moment is that if you ignore something for long enough it will go away.

SoConstantine-- it's because it is the most important thing of our age. Of any age. Think about how the population keeps growing, arable land becoming scarcer, trees (oxygen providers) being cut down, ozone depletion- thus hotter, thus drying up water (already happening in Darfur) and melting glaciers, killing eco-system supporting plankton (which depend on ice to insulate them from sun), and people being oblivious to all of it. I think I would write about that as well. It's difficult to set aside and forget about.

not much to add to this, think jballer n black cow pretty much nailed it. there is also the small hint of nukes "make believe that you are still in charge", man controls man, but nature is ruling, mother earth fighting back through global warming. and governments are starting to notice, trying to turn back the clock on the environment with climate change bills that are too little too late, and throwing coins making wishes, coz its too little too late. good accoustic version too.......

"Hands of the Clock" In my opinion, it's about the Federal Reserve. The way they prop up bad banks with bailouts, is them moving the hands of the clock. Eventually the American economy will collapse, but the FED pushes back that day with bailouts.

"Coins in the wishing well" The FED inflates the American dollar by printing currency, "coins", into the economy and "wishing" this will solve the economies issues by encouraging spending. Stupid Keynesians.

"Move your hands about the Wall" The FED is consistently in bed with Wall street. Moving hands upon the wall is shady dealings on Wall street.

"Make believe you are still in charge" The FED thinks they can control the market with price fixing, interest fixing, and the fiat currency, but eventually, a free market must emerge.

This is my interpretation. I'm sure Thom is aware of these issues.

It's a heartbreakingly beautiful, multi-dimensional lament about lazy, useless & horrible political leaders and their total lack of positive action. It probably mainly is about climate change, but it can be applied to other areas too. Doomsday clock post really interested me.

Hmmmm.... is it about big corporate donations to charities/good causes, thinking they can pay off the blame? "Throw coins in the wishing well for us."

Example: BP's disgusting advertising campaign telling us how much they're doing for sustainable energy research. THANKS BP, YOU ENVIRONMENTAL HEROES!