Run

Okay. i like the diversity of the opinions and interpretations here, but i feel as if everyone is really missing the deeper meaning.

the opening lyrics are saying that everyone, not just him, are going through a severe depression as a result of confused ideologies. People are just consumers and have no unique identity and he's upset that he sees it and it's wearing off on him as apposed to him making a difference or being unique.

Then in the same opening verse he says what is there left for him to dwell on and he wants to move on but does not know how. and he, like everyone else, is waiting for someone to point him in the right direction. which, unfortunately, won't happen. but the messenger is not a woman necessarily. it's someone to open his eyes and snap him out of this depression out of this boredom.

In verse two he starts with the same idea as i've already said. he wants to know if there is something to snap us out of this very generic lifestyle that most of us follow. and when he says "I weaken with each voice that sings" he is reiterating that most ppl might even believe they are on the right path and when they try to point others in the "right" direction, he makes him feel worse because he's heard it all before and the people that think they get it, don't really. Then he calls this a "world of purchase." i believe here he is referring to our very consumer oriented lifestyles. most people don't care about improving their lives, or bettering themselves as human beings; instead they define themselves by the things they "purchase." you are what you buy basically. it sounds, in these last few lines, that he is almost conceding that to be happy in this consumer culture he needs to get over his boredom and just step in line with the way of the majority. but that almost sounds sarcastic.

but the chorus "i've got a long way to run" is the most telling part. and what he is saying that no matter what, he has a long way to go before he either finds the right answers or is able to conform to popular culture.

This is my first time posting here so i hope ppl like my interpretation. thanks for reading :)

Obviously the song is about the shallowness of life. After doing everything, buying everything, life has no meaning. Do I have a long way to run - to find the meaning of life.

And yet there is hope - "I long to find the messenger." This is someone who can give life real meaning. Someone who can answer the question: "why am I here?"

The messenger - try the Prince of Peace.

It's about the emptiness of consumerism in late capitalist society! We constantly have to feel that we're running towards a goal: 'Have I got a long way to run...' The 2nd verse alludes particularly strongly to the desensitisation effect of advertising.

I think he's now an independent person and realizes that "growing up" wasn't what it was really cracked up to be. He longs for the times when he was a child, when he was immersed in innoncence. Perhaps he had all these big plans when he was younger, and now he's realized that he's at the age at which he wanted these plans to happen, and they haven't and never will. The "processed sanity" is possibly maturing; when deep down everyone really wants to be a child again and longs for their younger years.

Here Me Out: New Perspective for Everyone.. It's a long read, but I tried to make it enjoyable.

To me, this is ALL about music; musical artists, so called "voices of the generation", and the way they, along with their labels, have tied a lasso around what GOOD music and lyrics used to be and jumped down a never ending slide.

I almost feel like Edgar, the lead singer and song writer, is fighting to keep the sanctity of music alive. Trying to "Run" back up, while sieving through all the garbage going down, "Hey look! There's Britney Spears!.. slut," with his feet running a mile a minute up the slide.

For music advocates, turning on the radio today often results in vomiting all over the place. Consider the time this Album was released.. 1999 was the year and the top hits were: Livin' the Vida Loca, Hit Me Baby One More Time, and Genie in a Bottle.. and ever since it has been "contagious" and quite honestly I'm more than "bored" with it. Is this really music? Is this the "prize" that has evolved?

Every day a new hit comes out, and 9 times out of 10 is fabricated, and regurgitated with the same old riffs, lyrics, and metaphors. You really have to keep your eye out the "messenger" mixed in with all the crap. Maybe this "messenger" is the "cure" for this "processed sanity". Britney Spears was popular for way too long, and influenced the younger generation of the time, and now, what she did years ago was normal, and 11 year old girls showing more skin with less clothes is sane to the general society. Every new hit comes out, my heart, body, and soul "weakens with each voice that sings,"

"In this world of purchase," whatever can make the most money, is the best music for the record labels and radio stations.

So, there it is. How I feel when I hear this song. Not your typical: I'm depressed with society, and I have to do something or wait for someone to help me out to be happy. But, who knows, maybe I'm wrong.

I think this song can really mean something to everybody. I used to have lots of friends when I was younger (at school, or in the neighbourhood). And one day, I just had to say goodbye. Each one has to go on different directions, on its own road, and run to face life. And I admit I will never see them again. So whenever you miss your old friends or if you need something to cheer you up when you're feeling nostalgic, this song is a cure.

Used on the Varsity Blues soundtrack, from the album Dosage, this is one of the most well written CS songs. Good interpretations by Caroline and ryantyme.

^I think he (or she?) doesn't want to graduate because of all the friends (s)he'll be leaving and the real world (s)he'll be going into. I personally think it's about being stuck in a world where we all try to conform to a standard of acceptance--in a way, I'm agreeing with MarcusOLP up there. The second part, where Ed sings about buying back memories and awakening old qualities, I think he's talking about starting over from scratch to become a new person--now that he's done that, he's got a long way to run to become the person he wants to be. I don't have much evidence, but the line "processed sanity" makes me think of the sane, bland apathy you see in kids all the time--everyone wants to be normal. But I like everyone's interpretations here, we've got a good group of thinkers here. Rock on CS.

I feel like this song is about retirement. "I've never been this bored before. Is this the prize I've waited for?" People spend their whole working lives looking forward to retirement, but often find themselves suddenly without a place in the world once it finally comes. It goes on to talk about the hours passing, having nothing left here to insure, and how he "weakens with each voice that sings."

I know a lot of seniors who sit on their porches and just try to occupy their time, and I can definitely see how a person who is new to retirement might perceive life as just "hours passing." I also think that a lot of the things you need to function as a working person suddenly lose their importance in retirement; you no longer depend on having a daily commute, tools for your trade, etc. and the things you have accumulated become outdated (think of VHS, cassettes, records, polaroid cameras). So all those material things in life you strove to maintain no longer need to be, or even can be, if they've worn out or lost their utility. Hence, he looks around him and notices there's "nothing left here to insure" - a fairly creative way of putting it. I also think the fact he finds himself "weakening" gives a strong hint about his situation (aging).

I think the lines about finding the messenger, buying back memories and awakening some old qualities abstractly depict his intent to reconnect with his past and revisit what had meaning to him... which is why he has a very good long way to run.

It seems we have been going backwards in our abilities as we think we are headed forwards with our creativity. When we have created things to do everything for us, what is left to do? I'd get bored and run from it too.