It's all good news now
Because we left the taps
Running
For a hundred years
So drink into the drink

A plastic cup of drink
Drink with a couple of people
The plastic creating people

Still connected to the moment it began



Lyrics submitted by njikolai, edited by 23Tonality, Mbtravis99

Track duration: 02:32

"Pirate Jet" as written by Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

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Pirate Jet song meanings
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17 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:It's all good news now
    because we left the taps
    running
    for a hundred years
    ______________________

    "It's all good news now" is the irony of that line.
    I think it resembles overpopulation. The taps of oil & water have been running to support our society, and the fragile earth is having trouble supporting all of us. However, earth will have her day and we will inevitably be a fall. Which is the good news.... hah...

    so drink into the drink
    plastic cup of drink
    drink with the purple people
    the plastic creating people
    _________________________
    Do what you are going to do because our destiny is still our destiny. It only goes down from here, so enjoy your life. It doesn't matter if you drink with the plastic people, because in the end we will all go the same way that they are.

    I also thing the plastic cup of drink resembles an alcohol cup and/or a plastic cup of kool-aid (Jonestown Massacre reference) which would be him referencing that we are all just blindly follow things anyway.

    still connected
    to the moment it began
    ____________________
    Though we will ultimately fall, we are still connected to the universe and the beginning/creation of it all.



    I have a lot of mixed feelings about this song. It makes me think about the truth that some people are too scared to face.

    - Synth Faerie
    Flag synthfaeon May 18, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:When I heard the lines "Drink with the purple, the people, the plastic eating people" I instantly thought of the song "Purple people eater." It a really silly song from 1958. I'm not sure how that would tie in with this song, but it is still interesting that the words Purple People and Eating are all in the same line.

    Purple People Eater: youtube.com/…
    Flag XxShikaxXon March 24, 2013   Link
  • 0
    My Opinion:I always thought it said "tabs" instead of taps. In which case, 2D would have been paying for everyone's drinks, and they felt like they could drink whatever they want. 2D is telling it from their point of view, pleading the point that he feels that people walk all over him, and use him.
    Flag Mathstar1on February 12, 2013   Link
  • 0
    Link(s):Here's some proof that the lyric is "the purple, the people, the plastic eating people" youtube.com/…
    Flag 23Tonalityon January 21, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is so stupid and wrong. The lyrics are "The Purple, the People, the Plastic Eating People". That is the name of the the orchestra that plays on this song. Just read the damn booklet that comes with Plastic Beach.
    Flagged 23Tonalityon January 06, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:just gonna leave this here news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/…
    plastic beach
    Flag morningson June 09, 2012   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:Surely the taps running for a hundred years are the oil pumps, fueling the modern, plastic world we've created since the early twentieth century, when it became our main fuel source (plastic of course, being derived from oil).
    I'm not sure if the song is optimistic so much as nihilistic - that perhaps it's already too late to really do much about global warming, soil degradation, oil shortages, over-fishing and pollution so we can and should all stop worrying about it and enjoy the (toxic) fruits of our plastic world before it all falls apart and the nature we've despoiled and corrupted revenges itself upon humanity. So we may as well drink from the plastic cup [the poisoned chalice?] now while we still can - we've already binged on oil via our fun fast cars, our cheap, superficially-clean electricity, our speeding jet planes (pirate or otherwise), our effortlessly microwaved mass-produced ready-meals and of course our fun disposable (but sadly extremely durable) plastic goods, so much so that we're now beyond salvation. Drugs, alcohol, gambling and bad, addictive relationships can all be seen both as symbols and, perhaps, as symptoms of the unnatural, superficially fun but somehow soulless existence we now lead in the modern world, wrapped-up in our plastic civilisation, knowing it's not sustainable but refusing to change our behaviour - just like any other kind of addict. So drinking from the plastic cup is both a metaphor and a literal action - party now to forget the future consequences. And because deep-down, many people feel this to be true, between periods of shallow, frantic fun the album is suffused by a sense of unease and mournfulness. For me, the whole thing is a kind of a requiem for the doomed modern world.
    But perhaps things are not quite so bad - perhaps we will be 'forgiven' as it were, for our crimes against the planet. But maybe we never will.

    This is not my real-life view of the world - at least not my logical one. But on an emotional level I do agree with a lot of what I draw from this song, and album. Feel free to comment away:
    Flag JackofOxfordon September 15, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:To me, I think that the album itself is basically about Global Warming. I mean, it's saying how we've polluted and thrown so much garbage into the ocean that it was all able to come together eventually and form an island of it's own! And that's why I think Pirate Jet is the perfect ending song for the album since it literally is an "end" song.

    The song is basically about the world flooding, or that is what I believe atleast. It's saying how we've been so careless with our water and doing whatever we want with it that we're basically screwed now. That's when the "It's all good news now because we left the taps running for a hundred years." part comes in, it's a sense of sarcasm as if someone would just go "Well, we're all fucked now."

    Then there's the second part of the song when it goes "So drink into the drink, a plastic cup of drink. Drink with the purple, the people, the plastic eating people." This is the part of the song when it's basically saying that most people are going to drown now and more will probably join over time. It's another play on words, where when someone would basically just go "Drink it up!"

    Not to mention the ending part when it goes "Still connected to the moment it began." Think about it, now that the world is completely flooded, evrything that will ever happen from now on will be because of that one single moment. And people will be living in boats from now on.(Pirate Jet) =)

    Flag Sgtpeppers92on September 03, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"Still connected to the moment it began"
    Plastic did not destroy our race, we're still human beings after all of this. We're still connected.
    Flag dIVERon June 15, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:i got a completely different take from this song
    sort of nihilistic that there was so much pain the protagonist felt throughout the album, that he left the taps running which would flood the island and end his world. a very childish image but also quite dark and a bit of pathos
    Flag hooligansoneon May 23, 2010   Link

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