This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
I seen you go down to a cold mirror
It was never clearer in my era so
You click a shine upon your forehead or
Check it by the signs in the corridor
You light my ways through the club maze
We would struggle through the dub daze
I sink myself in hair upon my lover
It's how you go down to men's room sink
Sad we talk how madmen think
I sink myself in hair upon my lover
I don't know her from another miss
I don't know you from another
See me run now you're gone, dream on
Why you want to take me to this party and breathe
I'm dying to leave
Every time we grind you know we sever lines
Where have those flowers gone
Long time passing
Why you keep it testing, keep on tasking
I keep on asking
Toy-like people make me boy-like
Toy-like people make me boy-like
They're invisible, when the trip it flips
They get physical, way below my lips
And everything you got hoi-poloi like
Now you're lost and you're lethal
And now's about the time you gotta leave all
These good people, dream on
Nicer than the bird up in the tree top
Cheaper than the chip inside my lap top
All the variations you could do with me
Nicer than the girl up in your mind you're free
Automatic crystal remote control
We come to move your soul
You're gonna fade into the background
Like a better smoke'll bring you back round
Like a man slide inside you my dear
Your cheap beer's filled with crocodile tears
See 'em run now you're gone, dream on
Toy-like people make me boy-like
Toy-like people make me boy-like
I found a reason
I found a reason
Dream on
Dream on
Dream on
It was never clearer in my era so
You click a shine upon your forehead or
Check it by the signs in the corridor
You light my ways through the club maze
We would struggle through the dub daze
I sink myself in hair upon my lover
It's how you go down to men's room sink
Sad we talk how madmen think
I sink myself in hair upon my lover
I don't know her from another miss
I don't know you from another
See me run now you're gone, dream on
Why you want to take me to this party and breathe
I'm dying to leave
Every time we grind you know we sever lines
Where have those flowers gone
Long time passing
Why you keep it testing, keep on tasking
I keep on asking
Toy-like people make me boy-like
Toy-like people make me boy-like
They're invisible, when the trip it flips
They get physical, way below my lips
And everything you got hoi-poloi like
Now you're lost and you're lethal
And now's about the time you gotta leave all
These good people, dream on
Nicer than the bird up in the tree top
Cheaper than the chip inside my lap top
All the variations you could do with me
Nicer than the girl up in your mind you're free
Automatic crystal remote control
We come to move your soul
You're gonna fade into the background
Like a better smoke'll bring you back round
Like a man slide inside you my dear
Your cheap beer's filled with crocodile tears
See 'em run now you're gone, dream on
Toy-like people make me boy-like
Toy-like people make me boy-like
I found a reason
I found a reason
Dream on
Dream on
Dream on
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Great version of a great song,
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this song is not about a chick or a break-up or any of that. it's about the whole clubbing scene. it's about how dancing is pure, but there's all these superficial people slobbering all over each other, and it's about how that applies to everything else on a broader scale, the media, etc. how much are you willing to give in and become a part of something... gross.
MosDef my favorite Massive Attack song. I just adore it.
I agree with dougievile. It's basically about a man who's in this circular relationship with someone. Maybe they've been together for a while, but she's changing. He spends time remembering the way things used to be -- "where have all those flowers gone? long time passing."
Being in the club with her is pretty much the turning point, and proves to him that it needs to end. "I found a reason" to end it with her. And then she'll "fade into the background" with the rest of the people there.
this song is about the character difference between the writer and druggy posers on a scene.
That was an amazing analysis treefingerss, I think you 're definitely thinking on the right lines. One small addition:
"Nicer than the girl up in your mind you're free"
could mean the appearance of the 'scene girls' is a pretty front they can escape to, behind which a neurotic or ugly personality lurks?
What did you make of "Sad we talk of how madmen think" ?
Cheers!
@peacefroggin <br /> <br /> What did you make of "Sad we talk of how madmen think" ?<br /> <br /> Taken in the context of the song i think its about them realising that the extremes of the scene (which they have been participating in) is ruining their perspective, which in turn is taking their music somewhere they don't want it to go. They are the "madmen" but can still remember when they weren't, so not totally gone.
Nicer than the bird up in the tree top Cheaper than the chip inside my lap top All the variations you could do with me Nicer than the girl up in your mind you're free
Blatant comparison to drugs. I think he's offered him some maybe. I must be deeper than that though.
Yeah I seen ya go down to a cold mirror <br /> it was never clearer in my era so <br /> material <br /> to shine upon your forehead or <br /> check it by the signs <br /> the faces in the corridor <br /> you used to guide me the club maze <br /> and now we struggle through the dub daze <br /> you used to guide me the club maze <br /> and now we struggle through the dub daze <br /> alleyways and hallways <br /> you grab me always <br /> through the alleyways and hallways <br /> i love ya always <br /> its how you go down to the men room sink <br /> its how we talk of how mad men think <br /> its how you go down to the men room sink <br /> its how we talk of how mad men think <br /> i sink myself in hair upon my lover <br /> i don't know her from another Miss <br /> I sink myself in hair upon my lover <br /> I don't know or think that I'd be missed <br /> From alleyways and hallways <br /> I love you always <br /> Yeah, through alleyways and hallways <br /> I love you always <br /> I crawl in through <br /> Alleyways and hallways <br /> I love you always <br /> Yeah I crawl in through <br /> Alleyways and hallways <br /> I love you always <br /> I love you all ways!<br />
They are talking about drugs in the club scene. Cocaine/LSD They seem to be alluding to a woman who is on drugs, possibly OD-ing. 'Lost & Lethal'
It's DEFINITELY about drugs and being in a daze in a social scene. Look at the imagery in the video, it clearly shows them all tripping balls.
In the song we are introduced to this "girl", his lover. However, this does not mean it is a love, or break-up, song at all. Repeating what "cdagger1024" said, just feel the atmosphere of the song.
"I seen you go down to a cold mirror It was never clearer in my era so You lick a shine upon your forehead or Check it by the signs in the corridor"
-- We are introduced to this woman as someone familiar, however, she seems slightly distant. We are "watching" her as she checks her appearance, even in the reflection of signs in the hallway, we pick up on her vanity.
"You light my ways through the club maze We would struggle through the dub daze"
-- This suggests that she is the reason he is there in the first place. She is kind of dragging him along with her.
"I see myself in there upon my lover It's how you go down to the men's room sink Sad we talk of how madmen think I see myself in there upon my lover"
-- They are getting it on in the bathrooms. 3 main points here:
a) He is SEEING himself upon her - like a dream, like it's not really him, like it's mechanical. From the alcohol/drugs and club atmosphere in general.
b) He is UPON her - this is pure lust, they are drugged up, she wants him to take her over, they assuming the traditional gender roles.
c) She is simply known as "lover" - she has no name, she is nameless, it's purely physical...
which leads up to the next lines:
"I don't know her from another miss I don't know you from another"
-- Confirmation that it's all physical and could also mean that she is, but hasn't always been, like all the other [shallow] girls there.
"Why you want to take me to this party and breathe I'm dying to leave Every time we grind we know we severed lines"
-- He doesn't want to be there, and every time they go they end up separated from each other (easy to get lost amongst the crowd).
"Where have all those flowers gone Long time passing Why you keep me testing, keep me tasking You keep on asking"
-- What ever happened to how they USED to be? Their relationship seems to have developed into something very shallow and meaningless. The testing might be her asking such questions, or even testing in regards to fidelity.
"Toy-like people make me boy-like"
-- All of these attractive, lusty woman around flirting with him make him go back to his "male instinct".
"They're invisible, when the trip it flips They get physical, way below my lips"
-- All the woman are basically invisible, he's not really conscious of who they are etc, when the drug sets in/or over powers him.
"And everything you got hoi-polloi like"
-- Hoi-polloi refers to "the masses".
"Now you're lost and you're lethal"
-- His lover is extremely intoxicated by now and "lost" could be that she is lost literally or figuratively, or both.
"And now's about the time you gotta leave all These good people...dream on"
-- The "good people" are the people from the scene.
"Nicer than the bird up in the tree top Cheaper than the chip inside my lap top All the variations you could do with me Nicer than the girl up in your mind you're free"
-- I think he's referring to the ladies around him again? Nice, but cheap?
"Automatic crystal remote control, They come to move your soul"
-- The sense that everything is being made mechanical by the drugs, and that the whole scene in general is very machine-like.
"You're gonna fade into the background"
-- His lover is now just apart of the scene. She is just another one of the scene-sters, invisible.
"Like a better smoke'll bring you back round Like a man slide inside you my dear Your cheap beer's filled with crocodile tears See 'em run now you're gone...dream on"
-- Her lust has led her to other men. "Crocodile tears" refers to the deceit. The men run away after they get what want, perhaps?
"I found a reason I found a reason"
-- A reason to be "boy-like" maybe? Because there is nothing left to them and what they used to be.
"Dream on"
-- Chanted throughout the song... Maybe "dream on", the hope that there is anything left to them?
Anyways, just some thoughts to mull over on the old noggin. (Always wanted to say that)
Happy listening - Massive Attack pwnz!
kinda like a guy how seeks ladies to fill ups his empty ness but only gets cheap and hollow one-night-stands. And although he knows better he does not want to wake up from this delusion. (dream on)
This is another awesome song. Massive Attack is great.
this song means a fuckin lot man its about this guy who just cant believe he lost this girl and shes gone and he has to move on in life...and every small thing that he sees is mind fuckin to him
Mindfields1 sums up my thoughts, though rather crudely. In a way, the lyrics remind me of myself.