This song came from revulsion. We’re addicted to dopamine crumbs from junk likes and reactions. We can’t bear alone time anymore, that sacred space where new ideas take root. We’re heading toward a world of average, and most of us are scrolling through it without looking up.
“Life rushes past the window pane / Like countryside from a speeding train” is about moving too fast to see what’s actually happening, staring down at screens instead of out at the world that’s disappearing while we’re distracted.
The image of gasping “like fish on a rich man’s deck” came to me watching people desperately refreshing their feeds. Still breathing, hearts still beating, but wrecked. Presence dies from digital debt.
“Young and pretty sell youth by the gram / We’re just like addicts, in their scam.” We wouldn’t tolerate drug dealers targeting our kids, yet we hand our attention to algorithms built to exploit us.
The bridge asks: “Our babies need our eyes to learn / But we’re distracted, lost in churn.” We’re teaching them that screens come first.
The extended instrumental section, trumpet, bass and drums, screaming brass, has no words. Just sonic experience that demands presence. Then the spoken outro breaks the fourth wall: we gotta put the fucking thing down. Lock it away. Break free now.
This isn’t technophobia. Time don’t come around again, and we’re drowning in the shallow end while life’s light keeps fading away. The technology exists to stream Shakespeare and Kubrick gold, but we choose trash that leaves us cold.
Curiosity needs quiet to flourish, and ideas need boredom to take root.
Eyes up. Heads up. Time to choose what deserves our gaze.
The Complete Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Life rushes past the window pane
Like countryside from a speeding train
We don’t see what’s going by
We’re staring down with zombie eyes
[Verse 2]
Young and pretty sell youth by the gram
We’re just like addicts, in their scam
They get rich, we get empty
Time’s the dealer, never friendly
[Chorus]
Eyes up, heads up
Time don’t come around again
Eyes up, heads up
We’re drowning, in the shallow end
[Verse 3]
We’re glued to our little screens
No time left for lifelong dreams
Use our phones for buying nothing
The world bleeds out, we keep on scrolling
[Verse 4]
We gasp like fish on a rich man’s deck
Hearts still beating but we’re all wrecked
Thrashing about in the silicon net
While presence dies from digital debt
[Chorus]
Eyes up, heads up
Time don’t come around again
Eyes up, heads up
We’re drowning, in the shallow end
[Bridge]
Can we wake up, from this fever dream?
Or are we sleeping, through each scene?
Our babies need, our eyes to learn
But we’re distracted, lost in churn
We’re teaching them, that screens come first
And flesh and blood’s … been damn well cursed
[Verse 5]
We could stream Shakespeare, Kubrick gold
But we’re watching trash that leaves us cold
Five-inch screens steal what we need most
While life becomes a fading ghost
[Final Chorus]
Eyes up, heads up
Time don’t come around again
Eyes up, heads up
We’re drowning in the shallow end
[Outro]
We gotta put the fucking thing down
Lock it away, break free now
We’re stuck in night, missing every day
While life’s light just keeps fading away
Eyes up, heads up
We’re drowning in the shallow end
[Repeated multiple times]