Headlights On Dark Roads

When you're driving on a very dark road, so dark that if you're headlights were to just go out, you wouldn't be able to see anything at all, let alone drive anymore. I think this is a metaphor for meeting someone so perfect that if you lost them you wouldn't find anyone better. She is his headlights on the dark road, but if she were to leave, he wouldn't be able to go on without her.

i don't think this movie is about suicide at all. its about being alone, and lonely. ever seen the movie crash? opening line, "it's the sense of touch...nobody touches you. we're always behing this metal and glass. i think we miss that sense of touch so much, that we crash into each other just so we can feel something."

this song is a metaphore for about the same thing, dedicated to a girl:

For once I want to be the car crash Not always just the traffic jam Hit me hard enough to wake me And lead me wild to your dark roads

he wants to remember what its like to feel again. and he wants her to take him there.

My tongue is lost, oh I can't tell you Please just see it in my eyes I pull up thorns from our ripped bodies And let the blood fall in my mouth

he cant tell her the way he feels. he doesnt know how. so he needs her to see it in is eyes. pulling thorns from ripped bodies and letting blood fall into his mouth is touch back on the first verse: remembering his humanity. he's been alone for so long, he forgot what it was like to be human. now he's found someone, but doesnt know how to tell her.

Headlights, before me So beautiful, so clear Reach out, and take it 'Cause I'm so tired of all ths fear

she is the headlights, and when he see's her its clear what he needs to do. reach out and take it. he's scared, but he's tired of the fear. agree or not, this song is amazing.

Its about suicide. The idea that when life is too painful, too hard, it becomes very tempting to turn into oncoming traffic. The lights of the approaching car seem beautiful because they can take away the pain of life once and for all ("I'm so tired of all this fear"). The reason for this pain could also be lack of control in the writer's life, shown in that they want to be the proactive, rather than reactive force for once ("For once I want to be the car crash / Not always just the traffic jam"). The song also explains the often nightmarish quality that life can become, and expresses the desire to 'wake up' to something better ("Hit me hard enough to wake me"). The idea of submission to death is conveyed by the way in which the persona can't speak the pain, but it can only be seen through his/her eyes, whilst the redemptory quality of death is also expressed in the way the blood from the ripped bodies is falling into the character's mouth.

Best song on the Eyes Open album...in my opinion

I agree more with Mklyrics, but Grego's explanation is appealing too. But in the booklet of the limited edition, Lightbody wrote :

"The verses are as dark as i've ever written" and "... the chorus delivered such a release"

So i guess suicide is a possible explanation

this song is about the last moments of someone fed up of life..possibly on a road to nowhere? the song delivery suggests recklessness on the part of a driver and then the impact of the crash comes with the superb chorus which suggests that the person is finally content. i feel its almost glorifying death?

Yeh i'm agreeing that it's mostly about suicide. Suddenly, you're attracted to the thought of dying, when you can't bare the thought of living anymore. Hence the "headlights" are "before me", "reach out and take it". He's not afraid of dying anymore, and accepts it, but at the same time crying out for help. He's being lured in to death almost.

'For once I want to be the car crash Not always just the traffic jam' I'm guessing that this means he wants to have the attention for once in the relationship. I agree with mklyrics about it being about suicide though, 'Headlights, before me So beautiful, so clear' The last thing he saw before he died, were a cars headlights, beautiful song :]

I don't necessarily agree with the suicide idea purely because both greg and mklyrics's suggestions make sense when you read the lyrics but greg's idea of not being able to see would fit with the theme of the album more; Open, Shut your Eyes, Chasing Cars, and a couple of other references to what you choose to or want to see in a relationship make me think it;s probably about someone lighting the way.

Both the suicide and Grego's explanation fits. But I like Grego's a bit better... as 3lancer said, it fits the theme of the album better. [The album is even better than Final Straw!]

Snow Patrol = amazing.