Kanye West – Street Lights

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  Lyric Correction:I wish the person who posted these lyrics would have used "fare" instead of "fair" ...

  Flag glorialafolleon June 03, 2012   Link

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  My Interpretation:Reminds me of a poem by Bash�:
  
  Even in Kyoto—
  hearing the cuckoo's cry—
  I long for Kyoto.

  Flag AlanzoBon January 25, 2012   Link

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• +1
  General Comment:I think this song is about changing from a self-contained good person who cannot get over the cruelty and evil that exists in this world. The fact it is followed by Bad News and See You in My Knightmares reflects the trasnformation into a man unafraid to be cold to a cold world.

  Flag ajberger25on August 19, 2011   Link

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  General Comment: Streetlights Kanye West
  Cab-symbolizes going through pain and holding on
  Paid my fare- symbolizes bad things happening
  Streetlights-symbolizes moments in the past
  Destination-his goal in the end(where he will be happy)
  The streets- his life
  
  Let me know
  ***Let me know
  Do I still got time to grow?
  ***Do I still have more to learn /go through (he feels like he’s gone through enough)
  Things ain't always set in stone
  ***Things are wishy washy for him right now so he’s asking just let me know do I have more to go through
  That being known let me know
  Let me
  
  Seems like street lights glowing
  ***Good/bad moments in the past are what he is focusing on
  Happen to be just like moments passing in front of me
  ***He’s standing still In life reflecting on moments that have brought him to where he is now
  So I hopped in the cab and
  ***He’s trying to hold on
  I paid my fares
  ***He has been through his fair share of pain
  See I know my destination
  ***He knows what he wants his ultimate goal is to be happy
  But I'm just not there
  ***But he’s just not there yet
  
  In the streets... In the streets
  ***In life, he’s just not there yet
  I'm just not there
  ***In the streets
  I'm just not there
  Life's just not fair
  ***Life’s not fair(indicating this song has negative tone and the singer feels a tad defeated)
  
  The song is essentially about and individual who is going through hard times in life, though there hanging on there spirit is broken and they feel defeated he knows where he needs to go to be happy and achieve his goal but he still finds himself standing still and reflecting on moments that have brought him to where he is currently in his life and feel life is unjust.
  
  

  Flag sukhi319on September 28, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:I listened to this song the moment the album came out and im still not tired of it. I love this song.
  Its amazing.
  (:

  Flag brightxxxeyeson July 07, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:Street Lights is such a simple song, has such simple lyrics, but somehow manages to capture an emotion so complex that, I'll go so far as saying, no other song I've heard has managed to get it right. (This is long, seriously don't read it if you're not looking for an Op.Ed. haha)
  
  My interpretation of the songs meaning is this:
  
  I'm sure that everyone can remember high school, and life before it. Growing up was defined by firsts. The first song you really connected with, your first car, or your first kiss. Everything was new and exciting, and time seemed to last forever. Every moment seemed to last a lifetime. When summer would finally arrive and school was out, those few short months felt like years. Most of all, even though you knew that you were growing up, there was this whimsical belief that that things would never change.
  
  By the twelfth grade you started to feel it. Time moving faster, people really changing, the dream becoming real. Then graduation, the last hurrah of youth. All of the sudden you had to make a choice. All the dreams you had of where your life would end up, now you had to make it happen.
  
  For me anyway, It's at this juncture in life that the song pics up. You know your dream, and you make the choice to follow it, you get in the cab and you pay the fare. The emotion that the song expresses is complex because it's not regret or despair, but it's not hope or joy either. It's a combination of so many different emotions. You know that you have done your part and are headed towards your dreams, but at the same time life is different. Those same moments that as a kid lasted forever just fly past, there for an instant and then gone. You're an adult, but your not perfect and you wonder, with time slipping past so quickly, if you'll still have a chance to become a better person. All the while your fond memories of growing up, and how simple it all was, slowly fade. Absolutebap hit this part spot on: It's the feeling of missing a place that you can no longer call home, and a time that will never return. Life's just not fair because to get where you are going, you have to leave where you are.
  
  It's the purest combination of happiness and sadness that you feel when you first embark on your own life journey, and you take a moment to reflect. It's knowing where you are going but not knowing what to expect. Kanye says it best, it's being, "In the streets."

  Flag powderlyon April 17, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:I think this song talks about memories a person has as he or she moves on with life. He knows where he wants to go, but he's making his way there, remembering the things that brought him to the moment he's in now.

  Flag Seph6969on March 15, 2009   Link

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  My Opinion:Yeah.. i gotta respect all of your perspectives on the this song. It's amazing how you can apply your past experiences and your own personal story into a 2 and a half minute song.. i think that's the true art of music, and Mr. West really hit that mark with this one.
  
  

  Flag DTeeon January 27, 2009   Link

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  My Interpretation:This song makes me reflect on the life I had, what my goals are. And thats maybe life is not fare, but what makes thats worth is the ride. The moments that you remember in a critical time that show you can do it

  Flag Musicsoulon January 24, 2009   Link

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• +2
  General Comment:i was walking down times square at like 3 in the morning the other night just smoking a cigarette and this song just completely came to my mind....after moving out of my parents house a couple years ago and moving to the city, i've adapted to life here so well that when i'm just walking i completely know where im headed but i dont think about it at all, i just walk. where im headed is complete instinct which i sorta think is what he means by all this...its like he's so set in his way of life, he knows exactly where he's gonna end up, but where he ends up isn't where he wants to be...and he explains this better in Welcome to Heartbreak.. where he talks about seeing people around him who enjoy the simplest but most needed joys in life, while he has whatever he's ever wanted but he misses out on these simple joys normal people have. so in street lights it gives off the notion that he's so adapted to his new way of life that he just runs on instinct, but subconsciously there's a different place he wants to be in. he wants to be in a different position he's in now. he wants to enjoy the simple things people do...i understand that bc ive adapted to this new way of life, that everything i do, i do instinctively and when i was walking in times square, i knew i was headed for home which was my destination but when i got there it wasn't home or where i truly wanted to be. i realized how much i missed my parents and my family and my old life when i was a kid, and i just thought about this song that i never really grasped the meaning of until that day.

  Flag mrgreek828on January 15, 2009   Link

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