its amazing how far music can come.. 24 years after it released and its one of the most heartfelt songs ive heard
Oh hell trouble is coming
Out here in panic and alarm
Black shapes gather in the distance
Looks like it won't take long
The first drops land on the window
The first sign that there's something wrong
Light rain and a head full of thunder
Which way, which way
Two days till I get to you
I'll be late if I ever get through
Where I go there'll be no kind welcome
Coming down upon me
Time will keep me warm
Feel my face
Now the insects swarm
In the lowlands
Fear will take the place of desire
And we will fan the flames from on high
Try for heavens sake
The sky fell underneath a blanket
The sun sank as the miles went by
Sit back with your head on the pillow
When you remember it makes you cry
Ghost cars on the freeway
Like friends that you thought you had
One by one they are disappearing
Time will keep me warm
Feel my face
Now the insects swarm
In the lowlands
Fear will take the place of desire
And we will fan the flames from on high
Out here in panic and alarm
Black shapes gather in the distance
Looks like it won't take long
The first drops land on the window
The first sign that there's something wrong
Light rain and a head full of thunder
Which way, which way
Two days till I get to you
I'll be late if I ever get through
Where I go there'll be no kind welcome
Coming down upon me
Time will keep me warm
Feel my face
Now the insects swarm
In the lowlands
Fear will take the place of desire
And we will fan the flames from on high
Try for heavens sake
The sky fell underneath a blanket
The sun sank as the miles went by
Sit back with your head on the pillow
When you remember it makes you cry
Ghost cars on the freeway
Like friends that you thought you had
One by one they are disappearing
Time will keep me warm
Feel my face
Now the insects swarm
In the lowlands
Fear will take the place of desire
And we will fan the flames from on high
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i think this was about somebody going home to face the consequences of some action.i like the line fear will take the place of desire.
I could never really tease apart what this song was about, but I love it. There are themes of being abandoned. Kaatrien may be on to something. It's not a happy song.
I think it is about someone who is driving home towards bad news (thus the storm, a metaphor for anger), as 'where they go there will be no kind welcome'. The phrase 'time will keep me warm' indicates that however the person is feeling, it is only time that can erase the past and keep them strong by moving forwards. The line about 'insects swarm in the lowlands' could mean that whoever they are returning to has belittled them as akin to being in the lowlands (muddy and murky relationship), and that when the person gets to where they are going 'fear will take the place of desire' due to the secret affair taking place and him returning home to normality with his/her wife/husband/partner. The verse about the freeway could mean that the person has founfd out and is leaving, and the world aroubnd them is 'disapperaing' 'like the friends you thought you had'.
Just my take on the song....
I have always liked the idea that while the guilt-ridden trip home (possibly from an affair) rings true, the imagery also fits to the outbreak of nuclear war: panic and alarn, ghost cars on the freeway, we (the dead souls) will fan the flames from on high.