Oh joy's arise
The sun has come again to hold you
Sailing out the doldrums of the whole week
The polyphonic prairies here, it's all around you
It's all around you, out here

And if the whole world is crashing down
Fall through space out of mind again
Where the emptiness we leave behind on warm air rising
Lose all the shadows far away

The falling alcohol empire, is here to hold you
Ruling out and haunted till it sinks

Little memories, marching on
Your little feet, working the machine
Will it spin, will it soar
My little dream, working the machine

Little memories
Your little feet, working the machine
Will it spin, will it soar
My little dream, working the machine



Lyrics submitted by fortysixlives, edited by bmx3r101, Mbtravis99, Brianna8cD

Track duration: 04:44

"Empire Ants" as written by Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett, Little Dragon

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

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Empire Ants song meanings
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37 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:There seems to be missing or wrong lyrics, other lyrics sites got wrong lyrics copied and pasted. there is a line in this song, "soon, like a wave, that has to fall. doesn't matter who, but who you are." this site is missing the word wave, other sites have the word whale in place of wave.
    I like how this song the guy is polite saving the better sounding half of the song for the later on chick to sing, i feel sorry for people who don't give this song a chance if they thought the beginning is slow, though the beat picks up and it starts to flow.
    this song is dreamy and the beginning of the song has the sound wayne and garth used to make from wayne's world, impersonating a dream sequence, perhaps piano keys going down in a way.. adv. (brain)wave~midi for telepathic music making, needing autototalcompletemusicproducingprocessing well beyond autotune merely, then wayne and garth type will have more help creating the dreamy sound of the songs more easily and readily and steadily just by their voices, whistles what have you, or else no finding it on the piano keys.. so when the adv. music tech machine is there it'll be quite a dream, like the song sings.. like a beat box machine, mainly only mouth control may then exact people's timing and frequency shifts regarding percussion or drum beats, "ur ee" such impersonates record scratching so thus a realistic record scrtching sound should reflect after that, obv. we'll need complete competence beyond pieces of components..
    Flag babyjovewilliamson December 21, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song is about many people in the world, including myself. It talks of every day life working towards your dreams. As you work towards your dreams, you're only feeding the corporate giant which doesn't care about you at all.

    The "sun holding you" meaning one of your few comforts in life is that you are still alive. You made it to another day. Then come the doldrums of the week, the stagnation of your 9-5 job doing the same things over and over. Even when the whole world is crashing down around you, you slip into you routine. You become not oblivious to the situation, but fall into your stagnate routine simply to keep going. You have that empty feeling, like what you do doesn't make a difference, yet you push it to the background of your mind, and continue on your path. The corporate machine always keeps a front as if they care about you and society. That you are somehow making a difference by your job, yet people who work for these corrupt companies know who and what they work for. It haunts you to think of who you work for and who is being brought down in order to keep the pockets of corrupt people lined. The corporate giants tell us what to do, rule over us until the corporate system is taken down.

    Now to the why you do it. The memories of the past, when corporate run societies didn't exist. You continue to plow on moving forward. Yet moving forward only continues to feed the corporate machine. Your dreams of happiness and contentment still keep you moving. Moving keeps the corporate machine alive and moving. The the machine has not taken over entirely, yet soon like a wave the past will fall. The way of the world will continue its path towards corporate run societies, it's closing in around us all the time. They will continue to go forward while we the people are left behind to fend for ourselves.

    Kind of a sad song in my opinion.
    Flag timeub32100on December 01, 2011   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:Just to add one more perspective, in addition to all metaphorical meaning, I believe there is an unmistakable commentary on the aftermath of actual colonialism within the actual British empire. Thus, it addresses child labor ("little feet working the machine"), but also the elated/queasy uncertainty of determining one's one fate ("will it spin? will it soar?") by virtue of one's own choices, effort, and will.
    Flag Shaun255on July 23, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The way I see this song, it takes place sometime in the past, in this world, 2D who is the voice for what i think is Human Nature, begins to sing to Stylo/The Electric/Noodle/Little Dragon. Take note that the song begins with normal man-played instruments.

    "The polyphonic prayer is here, it's all around you
    It's all around you out here"
    - I believe 2D/Human Nature, has just met Stylo/The Electric, and is explaining his world to her, and how she can be a part of it.

    "And if the whole world is crashing down on you
    Fall through space, out of mind with me"
    - If she feels pressured, trapped, that she should join Human Nature, and be together.

    "Where the emptiness we leave behind on warm air rising"
    - You can clearly hear Human Nature say "is rushing" between "leave behind" and "on warm air rising", which explains that the emptiness is coming back, and the warm air rising, just goes back to the album and explains how the world climate is changing.

    "The falling of the whole empire, it's here to hold you
    Rolling out and haunted till it sinks"
    - This line is the most important. Human Nature and Stylo both sing this part together. He explains that the whole empire(aka the human empire), is in love with her, but is falling due to her, and it will eventually sink,and they both know it.

    "Little memories, marching on
    Your little feet working the machine
    Will it spin? Will it soar?
    My little dream working the machine"
    - She has been around for a while, but has only few memories, and Human Nature's feet, aka the humans, are working the machine, making it grow, will it spin and not get anywhere, or will it it soar and go places? Her little dream is working the machine, human nature is helping The Electric grow, and they are just helping her grow. To her its a small dream, but to us it means something much bigger.

    "Soon, like a wave
    That pass will fall
    Closing in on you
    They're going on"
    - I believe she sees human nature as something that is just passing, but it will fall, and the fall is closing in.
    Flag monkeyninja69on June 11, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:see i think itz child labor and im gonan sue this song for my project on it plus my teacher understandz the symbolism so all im gonna say iz thanks to Gorillaz
    Flag MusicMaster2011on April 13, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Great song. love it!
    Flag RejectFalseIconson April 01, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Pretty sure it's "soon like a wave, empires will fall" not "that pass will fall"
    Flag elmstreeon January 16, 2011   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:I think this song is about a couple that just recently got back together, but, i could be wrong.


    'Oh, joys are us, the sun has come again to hold you'

    i'm thinking the sun is a metaphor for the guy in the relationship. he promises that he'll be there for the girl with this line.

    'The polyphonic prairies here, it's all around you'

    this is the guy again, with the prairies meaning his love for the girl.


    'And if the whole world is crashing down on you
    Fall through space, out of mind with me'

    the guy will be there for the girl this time. he promises that he won't mess up like last time.

    Where the emptiness we leave behind on warm air rising
    Blows all the shadows far away

    the guy hopes that they will be able to start fresh and forget what happened in their previous
    relationship.


    'The falling of the whole empire, it's here to hold you
    Rolling out and haunted till it sinks'

    the empire meaning their past.


    'Little memories, marching on
    Your little feet working the machine'

    these little memories mean their past. the pain still reverberates in her heart.

    'Say, will it spin? Will it soar?
    My little dream working the machine'

    she's not sure if it will work out this time, but she hopes so.

    'Soon, like a wave
    The past will fall
    Closing in on you
    They're going on'

    the girl has newfound hope for their relationship, and hopes, just like the guy, that they can start over.













    Flag typhoon46on December 30, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Little dragon is not Noodle, Little dragon is actually a sweedish electro/synthpop group.
    Just thought i'd clear that up.
    Flag Conn1496on August 18, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:For some reason I cant stop picturing a mother talking to her new-born in the second phase of this song, as if she is telling him/her about how he/she is going to grow and work the machine "being society"
    Flag amortezaon August 13, 2010   Link

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