Quick Escape

[stip]

Apart from "Unemployable," and maybe "Sleight of Hand," where else does this theme appear in the PJ catalog? I'm struggling to think of examples.

Dirty Frank.

[Got Some]

"lifting rocks to make a wage" is kind of embarrassing; who does that except for slaves and prisoners?

Isn’t he on Mars ?? That’s how I kind of interpreted it

[Ms Harmless]

"lifting rocks to make a wage" is kind of embarrassing; who does that except for slaves and prisoners?

Isn’t he on Mars ?? That’s how I kind of interpreted it

oh! well that's a good interpretation honestly

[Jaeti]

"lifting rocks to make a wage" is kind of embarrassing; who does that except for slaves and prisoners?

Isn’t he on Mars ?? That’s how I kind of interpreted it

In the second verse, they're not yet on Mars. They are lifting earthrocks.

[Ms Harmless]

[epilogue]

"lifting rocks to make a wage" is kind of embarrassing; who does that except for slaves and prisoners?

Isn’t he on Mars ?? That’s how I kind of interpreted it

In the second verse, they're not yet on Mars. They are lifting earthrocks.

Show your work.

[Got Some]

“Lengths we had to go to then....”

He is reminiscing imho.



“Not a starry night went to waste”

His view from mars ??

[LikeLukin]

[Rob]

The lifting rocks reference definitely occurs before we end up on Mars. But it's still true that's what most of us do in essence. It's a good lyric in context.

[LikeLukin]

The narrative starts off sometime in the future. They are having to travel across a post-apocalyptic world to find places "Trump hasn't fucked up yet" in order to survive. It is at that time they are doing manual labour and enjoying the simple things like sunsets and starry nights. But, you know, the entire world becomes too fucked up to stay on and they send Elon bags of cash to take them to Mars on his rocket. But life on Mars fuckin' sucks it turns out, and when they get there they long to be back on Earth and are sorry that they fucked up the Earth and had to abort.

[Ms Harmless]

The narrative starts off sometime in the future. They are having to travel across a post-apocalyptic world to find places "Trump hasn't fucked up yet" in order to survive. It is at that time they are doing manual labour and enjoying the simple things like sunsets and starry nights. But, you know, the entire world becomes too fucked up to stay on and they send Elon bags of cash to take them to Mars on his rocket. But life on Mars fuckin' sucks it turns out, and when they get there they long to be back on Earth and are sorry that they fucked up the Earth and had to abort.

yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaah
yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaah
ooooooooooooooooh

[Oversize]

“Lengths we had to go to then....”

He is reminiscing imho.



“Not a starry night went to waste”

His view from mars ??

Verse 1 is reminiscing.

In verse 2, you've got a planet with little to no electric grid. We've moved to desolate places or we're in battered urban areas reduced to rubble. We're low on fossil fuels and there's really no roads so we're picking through the rubble for money. We watch the stars when the skies allow...

But now we have to make the quick escape...

Verse 3 we made the one way trip we should have avoided. We miss green grass, sky and red wine.

Just my interpretation.

[LikeLukin]

“Lengths we had to go to then....”

He is reminiscing imho.



“Not a starry night went to waste”

His view from mars ??

Verse 1 is reminiscing.

In verse 2, you've got a planet with little to no electric grid. We've moved to desolate places or we're in battered urban areas reduced to rubble. We're low on fossil fuels and there's really no roads so we're picking through the rubble for money. We watch the stars when the skies allow...

But now we have to make the quick escape...

Verse 3 we made the one way trip we should have avoided. We miss green grass, sky and red wine.

Just my interpretation.

Yeah you're definitely right. I didn't take the first verse as reminiscing, but now that you point that out I don't know how I took it any other way

[epilogue]

“Lengths we had to go to then....”

He is reminiscing imho.



“Not a starry night went to waste”

His view from mars ??

Verse 1 is reminiscing.

In verse 2, you've got a planet with little to no electric grid. We've moved to desolate places or we're in battered urban areas reduced to rubble. We're low on fossil fuels and there's really no roads so we're picking through the rubble for money. We watch the stars when the skies allow...

But now we have to make the quick escape...

Verse 3 we made the one way trip we should have avoided. We miss green grass, sky and red wine.

Just my interpretation.

Yeah you're definitely right. I didn't take the first verse as reminiscing, but now that you point that out I don't know how I took it any other way

I think one could read it as the whole thing "taking place" on Mars, though. The narrator is already there and, yes, reminiscing, in the early verses. Which is why I think the lifting rocks line could still refer to Mars. Doesn't have to, but it could. I think both interpretations are valid.

[Ms Harmless]

I just think "lifting rocks" is a weird way of describing manual labour on earth; granted, I'm a disabled wheelchair user so haven't done any construction work, but I haven't even heard the phrase

it would be much more original and interesting if that anecdote was about Mars, where making a home for humans would literally involve hulking Mars rocks around; plus, paired with "living life on the back porch", the image doesn't sound like a nightmare apocalypse memory like the Trump stuff; it sounds more like touching down than escaping

given that the song is essentially an Orwellian sci-fi story, I prefer that interpretation

[Ms Harmless]

"not a starry night went to waste"

don't you feel like Space is being talked about here?

[guitar_davey]

"not a starry night went to waste"

don't you feel like Space is being talked about here?

I took this verse to be describing the later days of life on earth and savoring small, beautiful things while they can.

[LikeLukin]

"not a starry night went to waste"

don't you feel like Space is being talked about here?

Nope, not one bit.

[Got Some]

"not a starry night went to waste"

don't you feel like Space is being talked about here?

Yes. That’s my interpretation is he’s talking about his new life on Mars.

That life is pretty mundane “living life on the back porch, lifting rocks to make wage”

but the sunsets and view of the stars at night are a highlight of this new life

“Every sunset paid attention to
Not a starry night went to waste”

[Ms Harmless]

my only doubt is that "here we are on the red planet" sounds like an arrival, making everything before that...earth