Know something about this song or lyrics?
Add it to our wiki.
do you worry that you're not liked
how long till you break
you're happy cause you smile
but how much can you fake
an ordinary boy an ordinary name
but ordinary's just not good enough today
Chorus:
alone I'm thinking
why is superman dead
is it in my head
we'll just laugh instead
you worry about the weather and
whether or not you should hate
are you worried about your faith
kneel down and obey
you're happy you're in love
you need someone to hate
an ordinary girl an ordinary waist
but ordinary's just not good enough today
Chorus
doesn't anybody ever know
that the world's a subway...
how long till you break
you're happy cause you smile
but how much can you fake
an ordinary boy an ordinary name
but ordinary's just not good enough today
Chorus:
alone I'm thinking
why is superman dead
is it in my head
we'll just laugh instead
you worry about the weather and
whether or not you should hate
are you worried about your faith
kneel down and obey
you're happy you're in love
you need someone to hate
an ordinary girl an ordinary waist
but ordinary's just not good enough today
Chorus
doesn't anybody ever know
that the world's a subway...
Lyrics submitted by dsfire
Track duration: 04:15
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
The media and entertainment has pushed shows that only show the most beautiful among us, and often times glamorize bad behavior or immature acts. In that sense Superman is dead because qualities that even an ordinary individual can attain are no longer paid the same consideration by others. The subway reference in my opinion points to the careless and impersonal attitude that most seem to have. We take mass transit, yet most seem absolutely indifferent to what is going on around them. We establish personal bubbles that we don't feel comfortable breaking. Furthermore, when people do make some form of eye or verbal contact it may be because someone saw an incredibly beautiful girl among the ordinary. That is my interpretation in a nut shell.
...fascinating
Mr. Maida is only a few months older than me. We grew up in the same times. He stated that he remembered watching the old black and white Superman reruns on tv when he was a kid, and I remember watching those, too. To a kid growing up in the 70's, the world seemed black and white, cut and dry, good or bad, etc. It seemed easy to tell who the good guys were and who the bad guys were (it SEEMED that way to a kid, anyway). Kids these days have it much more difficult, with conflicting messages from the media, pop culture, their parents, school personnel, etc., including messages about body image and popularity. The song is basically a nostalgic lament for the simplicity of childhood days.
"The world's a subway" refers to the Atari 2600 Superman video game, in which your Superman character could go down into the subway and fly around. On the screen, the "subway" looked like a shadowy distortion of the surface world. The song is saying that the "real" world is much more distorted than we are led to believe, but as kids we couldn't see that. Adult wisdom is "sadder but wiser."
I think this song, in a way, may be about William Wallace.
that the world's a subway..."
This basically is saying that this world this life is like a subway, people come and people go, we are only here temporarily. IF anyone has ever been on a subway knows is pretty harsh. No friends on the old Subway. People come, people go. People get ran over, people run over. This world is so messed up, where have all the supermen gone, they have gone away. Nobody is willing to sacrifice themselves in order to Save someone else. People, we have allowed our beloved leaders (peoples champions) to lie and steal everything from innocent people. May peace be unto all..
The very resounding repetition of "Alone,alone,alone,alone,alone..." is a reflection of this feeling. The narrator's (perhaps Raine, perhaps not) disillusionment with people causes him to feel totally alone, because his previous faith in people was ultimately replaced by a feeling of disgust with how fake they all are.
"Superman's dead" could simply refer to the death of his faith in people, or could arguably refer to an actual degradation of people (morally, socially, whatever) in general in these 'tough times' of ours.
As for "the world's a subway", I always thought of it as meaning that the world is very fast-moving, full of strangers who would prefer just to get to whatever destination they're looking for without much consideration for the people they see on the subway (in the world) with them. Although I really liked one of you folks' ideas when you said that this line was referring to life being a train/ path towards the next world. Its somewhat disappointing to think of OLP lyrics in a religious sense since I'm an atheist, but actually its quite fascinating to look at it that way.
YOu should remember to take anything Raine himself says about these songs with a grain of salt. OLP songs are very intricate and complex creatures, and cannot be summed up in a few quick sentances, despite what MUCH music interviewers may want you to think. Raine gave the answer he did because he can't really get around having to answer to the media, so he had to say something and I'm sure he wasn't planning on fully capturing every detail of the song's meaning in that interview where he said its all about his brother and beavis and butthead. It does provide some interesting insight but ultimately if you want to find out what any song is about, listen to it and analyze the lyrics carefully, don't just look up an interview where the artist is forced to sum up his masterpieces in a few seconds.
Also, I don't think there is any correct or incorrect interpretations of song meanings, although some are certainly better than others.
The second verse addresses the internet directly, instead of the user. "Faith" in the internet, in "love" with the internet, so who can we "hate"/blame for its drawbacks? Maybe its us, we laugh and discuss the weather but "ordinary's just not good enough today."
I agree with the previous interpretations for the outro: the subway is the fast moving, one-way path of technological development, anonymity and collective obscurity. I thought this was very profound for 1996.
There is no right/wrong song interpretation, folks.
It is a great song, enriched by it's beautiful meaning. One of my all time favourites.