Colours Run are a Manchester band, and all hail from the area (except for Tim, who comes from Liverpool). They devote themselves to writing and playing music with genuine emotional depth and catchy hooks. "Could be, and should be, absolutely massive", say www.manchestermusic.co.uk with "the sort of tunes you could imagine filling stadiums".
They've recently recorded and self-produced an EP (The Sticks), which can be previewed at www.myspace.com/coloursrun, and have headlined many of Manchester's finest venues, including Night & Day and The Late Room. Colours Run are currently listening to a lot of Rufus Wainwright and Elbow. "Tim would very much like to meet Guy Garvey since he seems like a really sorted bloke who wears great scarves".
From www.coloursrun.com
Perpetual Motion
Colours Run Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Washed up on a traffic island
On my shoulder
Sighing I'm so tired
And the thing that hurts you is the beauty
To be denied it feels like cruelty
But here inside it
Sailing in style
Our needles and blue pills
For sowing the holes in our reverie
So why can't we linger awhile
Our heads in the white sand
Our hearts on the open sea
Before they flay you of your daydreams
Grind your diamonds into hay seeds
Won't we find out
How the beautiful tragedy ends
As we share our last desperate kiss
I'm just glad we could go out like this
With our backs to the wall
Dreaming of freedom
Sailing in style
Our needles and blue pills
For sowing the holes in our reverie
Oh, why can't we linger awhile
Our heads in the white sand
Our hearts, well they'll always be
Stones in the ocean
Worn smooth by perpetual motion
And I'll drown if I ever leave you
This far down, there's nowhere to flee to
Sailing in style
Our needles and blue pills
Have washed me as high as I'll ever be
So why can't we stay all our lives
Our heads in the white sand
Our hearts on the open sea
Yeah, we left our hearts
On the open sea
The lyrics of Colours Run's song "Perpetual Motion" paint a picture of a relationship that is under siege by the harsh realities of the world. The first stanza sets the stage for the melancholic tone of the song, with the image of someone being washed up on a traffic island and feeling exhausted. The second stanza introduces the idea that beauty is both a blessing and a curse, and that it can be taken away cruelly. The singer seems to be clinging to the hope that there is a place where they can hide from the pain.
As the song progresses, we see the couple attempting to escape their reality by using drugs (needles and blue pills). They want to linger in this dreamy state and keep their heads in the sand, but there is a looming sense of dread that they will be caught and stripped of their daydreams. The final stanza has a sense of resignation to it, as the couple shares a desperate kiss and dreams of freedom, but ultimately understands that they are trapped in this perpetual motion of life.
The hauntingly beautiful lyrics of "Perpetual Motion" reveal the struggle to hold onto beauty and escape the harshness of reality. The combination of the dreamy melody and melancholic lyrics creates a bittersweet longing for something that can't be grasped.
Line by Line Meaning
Morning drowned you in the silence
You woke up feeling overwhelmed by emptiness
Washed up on a traffic island
Feeling alone and abandoned
On my shoulder
Seeking comfort from me
Sighing I'm so tired
Exhausted from the weight of the world
And the thing that hurts you is the beauty
You feel pain because of the beauty you can't have
To be denied it feels like cruelty
Being denied feels like torture
But here inside it
Inside us
There must be somewhere that we can hide
We need to find a safe haven
Sailing in style
Escaping reality in a luxurious way
Our needles and blue pills
Using drugs to mend our broken dreams
For sowing the holes in our reverie
To fix our shattered illusions
So why can't we linger awhile
Why can't we stay here longer
Our heads in the white sand
Our minds lost in the fantasy
Our hearts on the open sea
Our emotions set free on the ocean
Before they flay you of your daydreams
Before they strip away your hopes and aspirations
Grind your diamonds into hay seeds
Destroying your precious treasures into worthless things
Won't we find out
Let's discover
How the beautiful tragedy ends
What is the conclusion of our tragic beauty
As we share our last desperate kiss
As we embrace for the final time
I'm just glad we could go out like this
I am grateful we can end it like this
With our backs to the wall
Facing our problems with courage
Dreaming of freedom
Hoping to find true liberation
Stones in the ocean
The rocks that endure the water's perpetual motion
Worn smooth by perpetual motion
Smoothed by the never-ending cycle of waves
And I'll drown if I ever leave you
I will lose myself if I let you go
This far down, there's nowhere to flee to
We've gone too far to escape
Have washed me as high as I'll ever be
Drugs have temporarily lifted me to new heights
So why can't we stay all our lives
Why must we go back to reality
Yeah we left our hearts
We gave our emotions to the sea
On the open sea
In the vastness of the ocean
Contributed by Mia T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.