Editors – Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors

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  General Comment:I think it talks about not being able to accept a sad, for someone, reality. Smoking outside a hospital, is sad in any way thinkable. you could have a health problem or someone you love, and smoking, although it can be relaxing, is absurd when you think of the whole situation.
  
  The same way of thinking can happen when you end up a relationship and you cant accept it, you just have to leave and go on, and let it be.That's what he sings about in almost the whole song. He says that you have to be strong no matter how you feel right now and go through everything you have to go through, so that you can leave it all behind. Thinking or doing things about something that ended is like, not accepting the new reality, it is like smoking cause you cant accept what is going on, and harming even more your already harmed self.
  
  When he sings "someone turn me around", i think he brakes down and shows how he feels. How much he doesn't want things to change, how sweet and persistent his feeling is, how much he wants the safety he was feeling before. But i don't think he says that on this song to express something he would like to happen. He just wants to show to people that "i know this feeling", but still you have to go on..

  Flag reload13on January 04, 2013   Link

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  General Comment:I think this song is about denial -Pull the blindfold down/So your eyes can't see-. It's about someone who has lost a beloved one and can't face the truth -Now run as fast as you can/through this field of trees-.
  I think that the reason he can't face it, it's because he doesn't really belive in some sort of life after death and so that's it, there will be no more of them (-I can't believe you if I can't hear you-) so this person wouldn't be part of anyone's life no more.
  -Say goodbye to everyone you have ever known/You are not gonna see them ever again-.
  I think he might have been part of the accident that caused the death -My dirty hands/Have I been in the wars?-.
  Than he starts thinking about what's next and how damaged he is and how hard it's gonna be -Someone turn me around/Can I start this again?- and also -How can we wear our smiles/With our mouths wired shut".
  He realize how much this tragedy have signed his life permanently. -We've all been changed from what we were/Our broken hearts left smashed on the floor-.
  
  In the end I think that the title is refered to the one who stands outside the hospital hoping that everything's gonna be alright while the person that they love it's fighting beetwen life and death so their only comfort is smoking for lowing their pressure.

  Flag fofyon January 05, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:Coming from a background in the emergency department, to me, this song refers to losing a patient. Usually after working your arse off to save a life, and the patient dies, all the staff go outside the ER to smoke, and get rid of the stress...
  
  Say goodbye to everyone
  You have ever known
  You are not gonna see them ever again - Refers to nameless patients that die.
  
  My dirty hands, have I been in the wars? - In my opinion could refer to the blood that you have on your gloves while treating.
  
  Someone turn me around
  Can I start this again?
  Now someone turn us around
  Can we start this again? - Begging to have another shot at saving the patient's life, just to have a redo.
  
  We've all been changed
  From what we were - Seeing people die, changes you.
  
  Our broken parts
  Left smashed off the floor - There is always blood (broken parts) on the floor of the ER after a hectic case.
  
  Probably not what they tried to convey, but hey, this is what makes poetry so BRILLIANT!

  Flag Stass88on January 30, 2010   Link

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    Spoken in the language (without the medical jargon) of an experienced MD, RN, or....CNA? Interesting analysis!

    Flag madskinnyladon January 05, 2012  

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    It's not about seeing hopital staff smoking outside the doors to relieve the stress you fool. Editors, Tom Smith in particular, is an anti-smoking enthusiast. His track All Sparks has an anti-smoking theme as well as this one. Smokers outside the hospital doors is about people who are sick with a smoking related disease yet they continue to kill themselves by smoking while they're being treated.
    
    I can't believe you
    If I can't hear you
    
    and
    
    Say goodbye to everyone
    You have ever known
    You are not gonna see them
    Ever again
    
    refers to a person who kills themselves by continuing to smoke while being treated.
    I'm an ex-smoker and sometimes I miss it. But if you think about it, the human body is not designed to inhale smoke into it. Cigarette Smoke containing 4000 toxic chemicals which damage the human body, including 43 known cancer-causing toxins.
    
    For someone working in a hospital you've missed the point.

    Flag DanRoyalon April 24, 2013  
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  General Comment:umm im thinking its about not thinking of the consequences of your actions now, being short sighted and living to regret it.hes got a blindfold on even tho hes about to do sumthing that will hurt and the smokers outside... bit could continue this, i think this is to do with a relationship that he didnt want to end but didnt do anything to stop it happening and even made it worse.she wants to help it through metaphorically healing it like a hospital would, in the end it finishes he realises that he was the one to blame and wants to go back and act differently but cant-its gunna mean different things to diff people but this works for me

  Flag deckxteron January 22, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:I think it's about being out of touch with the real world. ie. the saddest thing that they'd ever seen was the smokers outside the doors etc. It's about being naive and seeing you could have done so much more with a bit of knowledge - "someone turn me around, can i start this again?"
  but that's just me, and i think it's a fantastic song.

  Flag Sunshine9908on November 25, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:Yep - still listening.

  Flag ArtFarkison November 16, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:Epic, so epic. I've only recently bought this album. I can't stop playing this song, over and over. What a crescendo.....

  Flag ArtFarkison November 05, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:i think its trying to put across a point not to smoke, the saddest thing he has ever seen was smokers outside the hospital doors. by this the writer means that alot of people inside the doors are dying of diseases/illnesses ect, and this person is killing themselves by smoking, but because its by the hospital makes it worse.
  if you know what i mean.....

  Flag mrslukepritchardon May 08, 2009   Link

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  My Interpretation:It is clearly an ambiguous song so nobody can say unequivocally what it means. Personally, i think it might be about a failed suicide attempt and the repercussions that has. The smokers outside the hospital might be the saddest thing because he/she is leaving the hospital having been saved from killing themselves and faced to endure life.

  Flag JaBaCoon March 22, 2009   Link

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  My Interpretation:To me, this song is about relationships falling apart.
  
  When I first listened to it, I thought it was about cancer or a terminal illness. Maybe it's because my relationship is falling apart right now, but I guess it has a different meaning:
  
  
  "Pull the blindfold down
  So your eyes can't see
  Now run as fast as you can
  Through this field of trees"
  
  Those who run blindfolded in a field of trees end up hurting themselves. To me, this verse ironically refers to those who throw themselves into a relationship without being careful, without paying attention and wind up hitting their heads. Love is often full of obstacles and if you want to safely fo "through this field of trees" without being hurt you have to be careful.
  
  
  "Say goodbye to everyone
  You have ever known
  You are not gonna see them ever again"
  
  Ambiguous part. In the hospital/cancer interpretation this obviously points to death. The song itself, though, kinda plays on the hospital/death metaphor, so this verse could mean that once the pair is broken, they're like dead ones to each other. They keep themselves out of each other's lives.
  
  
  "I can't shake this feeling I've got
  My dirty hands, have I been in the wars?
  The saddest thing that I'd ever seen
  Were smokers outside the hospital doors"
  
  "The wars" here mean all the fighting and the struggle in the couple. The singer maybe realizes that it's his fault as well and feels like he's also the one to blame. I think it's kinda hard to bind "the wars" to an accident: war is usually between two parties, while an accident or a tragedy is something that just happens, you just don't fight anyone.
  "Smokers outside the hospital doors" are people who needs treatment, nevertheless they hang on to things that make them feel better but actually kill them. It's like if they're looking at their own little pleasure and can't really see further (they should be iniside the hospital trying to heal). The line could also refer to patients' friends and relatives. This could mean they're people who just don't care enough, and who are better outside smoking cigarettes instead of being inside with their loved ones.
  Both ways, the lines mean a selfish and stupid attitude towards somehting or someone really important.
  
  
  "Someone turn me around
  Can I start this again?"
  
  Pretty self-explanatory: he'd like to have a second chance, maybe he wouldn't be paying attention this time, and wouldn't just "run blindfolded".
  
  
  "How can we wear our smiles
  With our mouths wide shut
  'Cause you stopped us from singin'"
  
  With "singing" meaning being happy and careless, it's hard to smile and pretend everything's ok when nobody really knows or has anything to say. I read it a lot like "once you've brought us down, you can't just have us smiling and pretend to be happy, if we have nothing left to say".
  
  
  "Now someone turn us around
  Can we start this again?"
  
  Same as above, maybe they could give themselves another chance.
  
  
  "We've all been changed
  From what we were
  Our broken parts
  Left smashed off the floor"
  
  A relationship requires a lot of compromise. You can't just stay the same and claim for the other one to change. But once you've changed a lot and things aren't working no matter what, you feel broken and shattered all over the floor. It's been all for nothing.
  
  
  "I can't believe you
  If I can't hear you
  I can't believe you
  If I can't hear you"
  
  I could relate a lot to this lines. It has to do with ego and trust issues. People just need to listen to each other and not be focused on themselves (like smokers...). Once they'll be able to actually hear what the other one's trying to say, once they'll be able to listen, they could believe each other and finally build something together.
  
  This is my interpretation of the song, I apologize for my poor English!
  
  Great song, anyway.

  Flag vi3xon February 08, 2009   Link

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