by Belle & Sebastian
Oh, get me away from here, I'm dying
Play me a song to set me free
Nobody writes them like they used to
So it may as well be me
Here on my own now after hours
Here on my own now on a bus
Think of it this way
You could either be successful or be us
With our winning smiles, and us
With our catchy tunes, and us
Now we're photogenic
You know, we don't stand a chance
Oh, I'll settle down with some old story
About a boy who's just like me
Thought there was love in everything and everyone
You're so naive!
They always reach a sorry ending
They always get it in the end
Still it was worth it as I turned the pages solemnly, and then
With a winning smile, the boy
With naivety succeeds
At the final moment, I cried
I always cry at endings
Oh, that wasn't what I meant to say at all
From where I'm sitting, rain
Washing against the lonely tenement
Has set my mind to wander
Into the windows of my lovers
They never know unless I write
"This is no declaration, I just thought I'd let you know goodbye"
Said the hero in the story
"It is mightier than swords
I could kill you, sure
But I could only make you cry with these words"
This song describes exactly how I'm feeling at the moment...go see this link for interpretations of this song. Here are the ones that struck close my heart:
"It's about a person who naively does his best whenever he can. He's innocent and he means well, and he's dying because of it. He knows he doesn't stand a chance, but he still tries, because if there's any genuine sentiment left in the world, the underdog will somehow succeed in the end.
Everyone roots for the underdog in the movies and books. Not so much in real life, sadly. "
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"I thought it might have been about a guy who is just a little too nice and idealistic about life and always gets squashed by the nasty people"
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"I thought this song was about someone who's too idealistic for life. When he sings "Get me away from here," I think he means "here" to be the world we live in, which isn't always cut out for idealistic people.
He likes himself alright -- he says he has "winning smiles" and "catchy tunes" -- but at the same time, he realizes that those aren't the things that the world appreciates ("we don't stand a chance"). He relates to the boy in the story (who also has a "winning smile", just like him), but understands that the boy is too naive to succeed or get what he wants. The only context where "naivete succeeds" is in a fairy tale.
As for the end of the song... I don't think the singer commits suicide so much as he just comes to the conclusion he's not really made for this world. Suicide -- his "goodbye" -- would be the ultimate revenge, making the world "cry" for him, but the singer decides to make "no declaration" and just accepts that he doesn't necessarily fit in with the jaded, realistic world."
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