1. Listen to the song and read the lyrics.
2. What do you think this song means?
3. Can you spot any idioms?
4. Which words did you have to look up?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lku1fP-LszI
Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young
In a world of magnets and miracles
Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary
The ringing of the division bell had begun
Along the Long Road and on down the Causeway
Do they still meet there by the Cut
There was a ragged band that followed in our footsteps
Running before times took our dreams away
Leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground
To a life consumed by slow decay
The grass was greener
The light was brighter
When friends surrounded
The nights of wonder
Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some in a tide
At a higher altitude with flag unfurled
We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world
Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There's a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
Though down this road we've been so many times
The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river
Forever and ever
My interpretation: It's about achieving a great ambition and then looking back and asking: What was the driving force behind it? The answer then is given in the chorus. What made you move forward? Answer: It was that old phrase the grass is always greener on the other side.
Obviously it's a future phrase, referring to the future. Therefore it's talking about a time frame of future hope from the past. One which was, and yet is, because it always is. That's what propels you.
The final guitar solo is totally victorious and celebratory, therefore it's not looking at the past with any form of sentiment or regret but rather as a great victory over those myriad creatures which tried to "tie us to the ground". "Encumbered by ambition and desire" is not in my view a negative thing, just that they were unable to stop, "a hunger unsatisfied" means that that grass was greener and remains greener perpetually. The guitar solo reiterates: "We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world". They fulfilled the dream and must celebrate that dominating victory but then also admitting that the saying holds true still now. It was greener, it is greener and will continue to be greener, endlessly always in some future time. Forward looking.
