Song of the Moment: Sirens

[McParadigm]

i heard it twice and it was yanked away from me (taken down from the site I was using).

bodysnatcher, ironically unable to hear Sirens.

[harmless]

i heard it twice and it was yanked away from me (taken down from the site I was using).

bodysnatcher, ironically unable to hear Sirens.

[harmless]

Harmless this is interesting for me maybe nobody else.
But glen has a song called once which for me is acting like a conclusion to this song.
The refrain gently goes 'hear the sirens, call me home'
It's almost like the protagonist after this act has taken place, has left.
Never examined the lyrics too closely but it could be something you might get a kick out of.
Cool song too.

glen

Nice, I'll check it out. I love one Frames song whose title I've forgotten but it's a famous one, and I also loved the one you played yesterday (was it?) in the argument about cheese.

[dimejinky99]

i heard it twice and it was yanked away from me (taken down from the site I was using).

bodysnatcher, ironically unable to hear Sirens.

That was some bullet quick internettin right there:)

Brilliant stuff well played sir:)

[bodysnatcher]

I know the general consensus is that the sirens are emergency vehicle sirens due to some of the things said about the song (Ed staying awake all night and hearing sirens). But I still like to imagine "sirens" being mythical songs pulling men into death

[Lounge Lizard]

i heard it twice and it was yanked away from me (taken down from the site I was using).

bodysnatcher, ironically unable to hear Sirens.

That was some bullet quick internettin right there:)

Brilliant stuff well played sir:)

Can I have a quick reminder? There was a movie, right?

I forgot it completely... 'Bodysnatcher' to me is just Mike McCallum.

[mastaflatch]

when is the video supposed to drop?

[Lounge Lizard]

when is the video supposed to drop?

looking forward to seeing Qui Gon Jinn (spelling?) embrace his mellow side of the force?

[mastaflatch]

when is the video supposed to drop?

looking forward to seeing Kwi Gon Jinn embrace his mellow side of the force?

[LooseGroove927]

But I still like to imagine "sirens" being mythical songs pulling men into death

This is my interpretation too. I interpret the song as the narrator being alone in a hotel in a city he's been before. His wife / girl home with the kids. The sirens calling him are the ladies / lady he knew before settling down. Although he's a happy man, he's alone, and the temptation is calling him. He doesn't want to give in to their call because he's happy now. He also knows if he gives in it will be the death of his relationship with his wife.

I've always loved the way Ed's lyrics can be interpretted so many different ways.

[harmless]

when is the video supposed to drop?

I don't know, I wondered if it was gonna be single today, video tomorrow. But were they going to do both at the same time? Will they tweet the video at the same time as the single premiers on the radio? If so it'll be tonight.

[harmless]

But I still like to imagine "sirens" being mythical songs pulling men into death

This is my interpretation too. I interpret the song as the narrator being alone in a hotel in a city he's been before. His wife / girl home with the kids. The sirens calling him are the ladies / lady he knew before settling down. Although he's a happy man, he's alone, and the temptation is calling him. He doesn't want to give in to their call because he's happy now. He also knows if he gives in it will be the death of his relationship with his wife.

I've always loved the way Ed's lyrics can be interpretted so many different ways.

In that interview, Mike said that Ed wrote this song in a motel room while listening to sirens in the street at night.

[Farmer John]

Just heard on the radio here (FM96 London, ON) that they're playing it at 3:15.

[LooseGroove927]

But I still like to imagine "sirens" being mythical songs pulling men into death

This is my interpretation too. I interpret the song as the narrator being alone in a hotel in a city he's been before. His wife / girl home with the kids. The sirens calling him are the ladies / lady he knew before settling down. Although he's a happy man, he's alone, and the temptation is calling him. He doesn't want to give in to their call because he's happy now. He also knows if he gives in it will be the death of his relationship with his wife.

I've always loved the way Ed's lyrics can be interpretted so many different ways.

In that interview, Mike said that Ed wrote this song in a motel room while listening to sirens in the street at night.

True, but Ed could've started writing about one thing and turned it into something else.

[13inlet]

Trying to discern the lyrics and the statement this song is making. Generally, it's pretty obvious, but I have to say I really don't get the second verse of this tune. Does anyone else find it out of place relative to everything else going on in the song?

you mean about the sirens possibly coming for him this time?

Well it starts there and that part makes sense, keeping in line with the whole death as a pathway to loss motif. But then it takes a weird turn and seems to speak of infidelity, unless I am really misreading that.

Every choice/mistake I make it's not my plan to send you in the arms of another man. --Wasn't he just talking about how grateful he is for this love and asking it to be the one thing that remains? And now he's doing things to jeopardize it and to foster (even inadvertently) the desire of this woman to find someone more suitable? That seems to undermine his credibility as someone really committed to the love.

But if you choose to stay I'll wait. I'll understand. --Does this mean if the woman chooses to stay with this other person that she has gone off to because she's been left unsatisfied with the shared love that the narrator will just stick around hoping that things get better and not hold it against her? That seems pretty passive for the need and fear he expresses previously and later in the tune.


That turn in the verse seems very odd to me. I am struggling to resolve the value of injecting that concept in here. But again...I may be really misinterpreting this.

I'm pretty sure he's talking about his fear of dying, his current love and (in these lines) past regrets. Seems to be a song about keeping true love, despite fear of it all ending with death. As a quick aside, I think Ed's hinting about his "hope" in an afterlife here, which is interesting given Getaway and Mind Your Manners' lyrics.

Anyway, to me, those two lines you mentioned still keep with the running theme in Sirens. In line one, he's talking about regrets and hoping she "really loves him". In line two, he's saying if she did leave (he knows why - he's flawed), and he'd wait for her.

Not sure why people are saying he's the one making the sirens later on. In my mind, he hears them again outside, which prompts him to ponder on when he'll be the guy in the ambulance and now, more specifically, what he'll lose.

P.S. I think I wrote last night that I think it's "reach across the bed" not "reach across the bend". He's in bed when he hears the ambulance sirens outside, from which the story begins. So, his thoughts immediately turning to his wife make sense, considering she's sleeping right next to him. The line "I study your face and the fear goes away..." is haunting to me. I love how I can envision the entire song as a singular thought lasting one or two seconds in duration in his mind, but the narrative is much, much longer because it needs to explain everything. Very cool, relate-able lyrical idea.

[harmless]

But I still like to imagine "sirens" being mythical songs pulling men into death

This is my interpretation too. I interpret the song as the narrator being alone in a hotel in a city he's been before. His wife / girl home with the kids. The sirens calling him are the ladies / lady he knew before settling down. Although he's a happy man, he's alone, and the temptation is calling him. He doesn't want to give in to their call because he's happy now. He also knows if he gives in it will be the death of his relationship with his wife.

I've always loved the way Ed's lyrics can be interpretted so many different ways.

In that interview, Mike said that Ed wrote this song in a motel room while listening to sirens in the street at night.

True, but Ed could've started writing about one thing and turned it into something else.

Possibly but he usually only does this by accident.

[pjfanman]

Well, I may be in the minority here, but I absolutely loved it first listen.

[digster]

[evenslow]

edit: posted wrong place

[Lounge Lizard]

they look happy
(sigh) oh well...