I think this was written in the second shared house I lived in when I was in Leeds. It was an enormous house, with plenty of space and some great people, but things fell apart a bit over the time I lived there. This was probably written one day while I listened to the sound of bass coming through the floor...
I'm not sure it all works entirely as a song, but actually I'm quite proud of some of the lyrics - I like the rhymes, and the way each verse refers back to the first one. The line about "a fallow machine," can be quite an apt metaphor for city living as well. Having said that, the repetition of "grey" was not intentional.
The music takes some inspiration from Take That's Back for Good, which is quite a claim to fame. At the last minute, Simon decided to add a new backing vocal line, which turned out to be impossible for me to get right, so the vocoder sang them in the end.
The lyrics:
Thinking back when the skies were blue
And these four walls seemed bright and new
Your faults were careless and unreal woes
That would get to me as I sank below
Those uncertain people who all seem the same
With no time for dreaming or playing new games
Their urban existence is hollow and grey
Drifting through life’s pathways on these endless days
Now all I hear is the selfish din
And these four walls are closing in
My will broken by vulgar streets
That hold me back as I face defeat
We’re uncertain people with different lives
And no time for dreaming, impatiently drive
My urban existence, a fallow machine
Drifting through life’s pathways with no sleep between
So yesterday I tried to break
Down these four walls inside my head
To clear the dust from my greying mind
And leave the past to crawl behind
Those uncertain people who all seem the same
With no time for dreaming or playing new games
Their urban existence is hollow and grey
Drifting through life’s pathways on these endless days
We’re uncertain people with different lives
And no time for dreaming, impatiently drive
My urban existence, a fallow machine
Drifting through life’s pathways with no sleep between
(R. Martin / S. Martin)
