Lyrics for Road To Nowhere as interpreted by weezerific:cutlery

Road To Nowhere Lyrics
WELL WE KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOIN'
BUT WE DON'T KNOW WHERE WE'VE BEEN
AND WE KNOW WHAT WE'RE KNOWIN'
BUT WE CAN'T SAY WHAT WE'VE SEEN
AND WE'RE NOT LITTLE CHILDREN
AND WE KNOW WHAT WE WANT
AND THE FUTURE IS CERTAIN
GIVE US TIME TO WORK IT OUT

We're on a road to nowhere
Come on inside
Takin' that ride to nowhere
We'll take that ride

I'm feelin' okay this mornin'
And you know,
We're on the road to paradise
Here we go, here we go

CHORUS

Maybe you wonder where you are
I don't care
Here is where time is on our side
Take you there...take you there

We're on a road to nowhere
We're on a road to nowhere
We're on a road to nowhere

There's a city in my mind
Come along and take that ride
and it's all right, baby, it's all right

And it's very far away
But it's growing day by day
And it's all right, baby, it's all right

They can tell you what to do
But they'll make a fool of you
And it's all right, baby, it's all right

We're on a road to nowhere

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pocketthesaurus
11-09-2009

Rated 0 
As everybody says, this is about the futility of life and struggle... But it takes a cheerful perspective... i.e.... keep going.

But it seems to be also about how you can make things better (the future is certain, give us time to work it out).

Its inclusion at the end of the film "Religulous" was pretty perfect.

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parismatch
10-11-2009

Rated 0 
CONT.

how often are we prisoners in our own mind, our own depression, victims of our own judgments of others come back to visit upon us? how often are we locked in our own inner torment of various kinds, seemingly unable to get free?

the various forms of "lack" and personal inner ailments abound, including all the social illnesses such as relationships gone bad.

Byrne is trying to say...there is a better life to be had! he stirs you up by giving you five minutes of FUN where you can feel the joyful beat and hear that 'it's all right, baby, it's all right" from him.

We're on a road to nowhere
Come on inside

He's as a skilled psychiatrist leading the patient into the inner chambers of self-inquiry...but he does it with lively percussion instruments that will move the body into FUN in order to move out of DEPRESSION OR LACK OR WHATEVER AILS OUR SOULS!

This is an absolutely beautiful song, and very healing and inspiring.

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parismatch
10-11-2009

Rated 0 
i don't think that this is about the road to OBLIVION at all. it's absolutely about the road to PARADISE, and few that are able to wake up out of the rigid, politically correct, broad road that everyone takes. he's trying to wake others up...to take that ride...there's TIME...but you don't really have to GO ANYWHERE. it's about BEING. but, like a cattle driver, he is cracking a whip trying to get the audience to GET MOVING ALONG THAT PATH.

paradise is down a certain road...but it's not THERE...it's HERE, INSIDE
the road to nowhere is a road that doesn't go THERE...it begins and ends in ME
the city (paradise) is within me...not a literal city out there
the city is growing, because the 'evangelical' songster is cracking the whip to awaken more souls who will come along on the ride... the ride to paradise within (the road to nowhere...no literal place...but rather the journey we must take internally)

he's saying that there's time to work it out...within ourselves...and reassures us that, 'it's all right'

Byrne is a very POSITIVE and upbeat person. he's not nearly so critical of things in society as he is always LEADING and UPLIFTING to a higher elevation, spiritually, physically and soulfully. that's why his lyrics have to 'hit the body' and get it to move, as he has stated.

WELL WE KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOIN'
BUT WE DON'T KNOW WHERE WE'VE BEEN
AND WE KNOW WHAT WE'RE KNOWIN'
BUT WE CAN'T SAY WHAT WE'VE SEEN
AND WE'RE NOT LITTLE CHILDREN
AND WE KNOW WHAT WE WANT
AND THE FUTURE IS CERTAIN
GIVE US TIME TO WORK IT OUT

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burybobz
10-05-2009

Rated 0 
I remember reading David Byrne commenting that this song was Talking Heads' anthem to celebrate the futility of our existence, i.e. we're born, we live, we die. Instead of postulating what lies beyond ('Nowhere') we should merely enjoy the ride along the way. Life is about the journey, not the destination.

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River Wolf
12-16-2008

Rated 0 
I think this song is about having the future be uncertain. It would be a cool theme song for a epic journey. I first found out about this song through the kick ass film "Little Monsters" and I have loved it since.

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daedolos
05-24-2008

Rated +1 
To me, this is a song of beginnings. So it can be felt deeply by anyone who has reached a point in their lives where they question "What now?" and of course, the initial feeling is a sense of no direction. There is a sense of freedom here and/or recklessness. Perhaps both. As I reread the lyrics, I can't help getting the notion that for the main person in the song, the most important thing is the journey forward, whether it be to the "city in his mind" or not because even if we "wonder where 'we' are" he "doesn't care." Anyways, the beat and everything else makes this song hard to feel depressed even though it is on the road to nowhere!

Peace

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glenn3430
08-28-2007

Rated 0 
I understand the oblivion interpretation, but I like to hear this song in a different light.

Being a college student on the verge of graduation, I see myself in this song. I know where I'm goin' (to try to enjoy everyday of life), but I don't know where I've been or what I've seen (not exactly but this line helps explain my too many drunken nights). I am no longer a little child and I do know what I want (to enjoy life above all and to help others). The future is certain (I know that life has nothing but adventures, good times and even bad times ahead, and I have faith in myself that it will all work out), so Mom would you please just give me time to work it out!

The remaining stanzas can fit into this interpretation of a happy go lucky kid who doesn't know exactly where he is going, but has faith in where it is he is going and knows that the actual trip to get there is where the real fun and importance lies. “Takin’ that ride to nowhere / We’ll take that ride.” This celebrates the openness and freedom to do things just for the hell of it, even if it is not certain where that action will take you. Like I said earlier, the importance of the destination pales in comparison to the importance of the actual journey itself.

In this song, I also see one who is just detached from the rat race that is life, especially after college, and is just content with who he is and where he is currently at. “I’m feelin’ okay ths mornin’ And you know, We’re on the road to paradise.” Happiness and contentedness with who you are and where you are in life is of the upmost importance, and sometimes this even calls for a little “I don’t care” attitude about others who “wonder where they are”. I have “time on my side,” so I am not going to waste it worrying about where I’m going or about others who don’t know where they are going.

The next two stanzas can refer to a happy state of mind that can exist and the singer is working to obtain that state as well as inviting you to join him in that quest and state of mind. It is almost like Byrne is trying to seduce you into his way of thinking “baby, it’s all right.” It does not concern him that true happiness is “very far away,” because for him, “it’s growing day by day.”

Finally, the last stanza hits home the most for me. “They can tell you what to do / But they’ll make a fool of you.” If you listen to and go where other people tell you to go, then you are a fool. You have to do what you want to do, even if that leads you down a road to nowhere, because when you think about it, every road leads somewhere and if you have confidence in yourself (“The future is certain / Give us time to work it out”), and do what you truly want to do, then “baby, it’s all right.”

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speakingintongues
08-08-2006

Rated 0 
I do believe this song is about oblivion and the road of life we're on until we die.

I wouldn't say it's all negative, though. Death is apart of life, and the best we can do is accept it. Oblivion is there, but "it's all right, baby, it's all right". We can appreciate what we have along the way...when "time is on our side".

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owennnnnnnnnn
07-18-2006

Rated +1 
I get the impression that he doesn't mean oblivion in this song. I think he's talking about how homogenized cities have become in the past couple of decades; it's gotten to the point where towns are no longer distinct from each other, don't have anything that gives them a sense of place. It's a bit like "True Stories," looking at the world and seeing that it's all the same and the feeling of freedom he gets from never having to be anyhwere, ever. He's always "nowhere" or on his way there.

That's just one interpretation, mind.

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meir
07-17-2006

Rated 0 
culd it be about religion or disbelive in heaven
people say they are going to heaven but they realy going on a road to nowhere?

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bkat004
06-06-2006

Rated 0 
Top Notch Song! What I love about it is its galloping drumbeat, as if the narrator is on horseback to his destination. But according to the lyrics, the destination is nowhere! How typically Bryne! Great Song! I also love the haunting female vox in the build up to the end.

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Cut~Up~Angels
05-18-2006

Rated 0 
We Used This For The Main Tune For Our A Level Drama Thingy... A Production Of "Road".. How Fitting.

Its A Good Catchy But Still Deep Song... Me Likes =)_

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everybodylovesbass
01-22-2006

Rated 0 
i love this song. even though its about the road to oblivion, it makes me happy. Good sound to the song.

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1 Reply
teitzo
06-10-2005

Rated 0 
I have nominated this song as the company that i work fors theme song: 'we're on the road to nowhere...'
haha, love it.

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a town like paris
05-04-2005

Rated 0 
Love it.

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holysocks
01-18-2005

Rated 0 
yes it's in "little monsters" when fred savage and howie mandel are walking. that's all i remember. i used to like the song more but i have to skip it in the album now. that type of stuff is usually cyclical.

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robman_84
11-29-2004

Rated 0 
I heard an interview with the band when Little Creatures was being released. David Byrne was surprised the Road to Nowhere was proving so popular, and would thus become a single, as it was downbeat and about the road to oblivion.

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Pabstdrinkin
05-05-2004

Rated 0 
death?

yeah i really like this song, builds up nicely

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eokram
04-22-2004

Rated 0 
This song builds up towards a big climax in the end. And I think that is also what this song is about, a big climax in the end...

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DrFeelgood03
04-30-2003

Rated 0 
Why has no one commented on this song? It's a great song but I don't like the music video. Does anyone know if this was in the movie "Little Monsters?" Anyways good movie, I know it is some movie I have seen.

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