By the time of their debut album, 1980's Crocodiles - a moderate UK hit - the drum machine had been replaced by Pete de Freitas. Their next, the critically-acclaimed Heaven Up Here, reached the Top Ten in 1981, as did 1983's Porcupine and '84's Ocean Rain. Singles like "The Killing Moon" (later used in the soundtrack to Donnie Darko, a film whose imagery owed much to the artwork of the band's early records.), "Silver," "Bring on the Dancing Horses," and "The Cutter" helped keep the group in the public eye as they took a brief hiatus in the late 1980s. Their 1987 self-titled LP was a small American hit, their only LP to have significant sales there.
McCulloch quit the band in 1988. De Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident one year later. The others decided to continue, recruiting Noel Burke to replace McCulloch on vocals in Reverberation (1990), which did not generate much excitement among fans or critics. Burke, Sargeant and Pattinson split after that, but the surviving three fourths of the original band reformed in 1997 and released Evergreen (1997), What are You Going to Do with Your Life? (1999), Flowers (2001) , Siberia (2005), and the latest addition, The Fountain (2009). The group's old audience liked the return to their classic sound, and they also managed to gain a number of new, younger listeners.
Echo and the Bunnymen were managed early on by Bill Drummond, who went on to be a founder member of The KLF.
Going Up
Echo & the Bunnymen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Analyzing me
Rusty junker squawker
Shaking up it say
If he should pull the plugs out
On our history
And all of history, yeah
Things that couldn't be, no
Things that had to be
Don't you see?
Don't you see?
It's going up, up, up
It's going up
It's going up, up, up
It's going up
Let's get the hell out of here
Let's get the hell out of here
Going up
Going down
Don't you wanna know what's wrong with the world?
Everywhere there's people with no flowers in their hair
Flowers in their hair
Wanna know what's wrong with the world?
Everywhere there's people with no flowers in their hair
Flowers in their hair
Flowers in their hair
Echo & the Bunnymen's song "Going Up" is a melancholic, introspective track that seems to question the nature of existence and the value of history and mystery. The opening lines, "Ain't thou watching my film, analyzing me," suggest a sense of self-awareness and a feeling of being under scrutiny or surveillance. The singer then describes themselves as a "rusty chalk-dust walker," evoking a sense of fragility and impermanence. They seem to be considering the possibility of "pull[ing] the plugs out on all history" and the "mystery" of things that are difficult to understand or explain.
The chorus of the song is a repetition of the phrase "It's going up," followed by the command to "get the hell out of here." This might suggest a desire to break free from the confines of the world and reach some kind of higher plane of existence. The final lines of the song, "D'ya wanna know what's wrong with the world? Everywhere there's people with no flowers in their hair," are a direct reference to the song "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" by Scott McKenzie, which was a hit in 1967 and became an anthem for the counterculture movement. This line suggests that the singer feels disconnected from the world and the values that they associate with the counterculture.
Overall, "Going Up" is a complex and ambiguous song that raises more questions than it answers. It touches on themes of mortality, identity, and the search for meaning, all while maintaining a sense of melancholy beauty.
Line by Line Meaning
Ain't thou watching my film
Are you observing my life, my actions and behavior
Analyzing me
Judging and examining me
Rusty chalk-dust walker
Old and battered person, perhaps like someone who has spent a lot of time walking on chalky ground
Checking up to see
Making sure, keeping an eye on things
If we should pull the plugs out
Deciding whether it's best to get rid of something completely
On all history
The past, everything that has happened before now
And all the mystery, yeah
All the unknown and inexplicable things in life
Of things that shouldn't be
The things that are wrong, immoral or shouldn't exist
Things that couldn't be, no
Things that are impossible or shouldn't be real
Things that had to be
Things that were inevitable, that had no choice but to happen
Don't you see?
Don't you understand?
It's going up, up, up
Everything is improving and getting better
It's going up
Progress is being made
Let's get the hell out of here
Let's leave this place in a hurry
Going up
Life is moving forward, things are getting better
Going down
Things are getting worse
D'ya wanna know what's wrong with the world?
Do you want to know what's going wrong in society?
Everywhere there's people with no flowers in their hair
Everywhere you look, there's a lack of love, peace and hope
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Pete De Freitas, Leslie Thomas Pattinson, William Sergeant, Ian Stephen McCulloch
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind