Recent work has been as part of John Foxx and The Maths and he has had a number of collaborations including John Foxx & Steve D'Agostino, John Foxx and The Belbury Circle, John Foxx and Jori Hulkkonen, John Foxx & Robin Guthrie, John Foxx & Louis Gordon.
Plaza
John Foxx Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We're dancing slowly, lit like photographs
Across the Plaza
Toward the shadow of the cenotaph
Down escalators, come to the sea view
Behind all the smoked glass no-one sees you
A familiar figure comes to meet you
From some shattered windscreen...
Across the Plaza
A giant hoarding of Italian cars
Across the Plaza
The lounge is occupied by seminars
Down escalators, come to the sea view
Behind all the smoked glass no-one sees you
A familiar figure comes to meet you
I remember your face
From some shattered windscreen...
From the Plaza
The highways curve in over reservoirs
On the Plaza
A queue is forming for the cinema...
Down escalators, come to the sea view
Behind all the smoked glass no-one sees you
A familiar figure comes to meet you
I remember your face
From some shattered windscreen...
On the Plaza
On the Plaza
On the Plaza
On the Plaza
On the Plaza
On the Plaza
On the Plaza
On the Plaza
The lyrics to John Foxx's song "Plaza" depict a surreal and dreamlike experience of being on a plaza, where people are dancing slowly and being lit like photographs. The plaza is described as having a shadow of a cenotaph, which is a tomb or monument honouring a dead person who is buried elsewhere. This might suggest a sense of melancholy or eeriness to the place. The song also mentions giant hoardings of Italian cars and a lounge occupied by seminars, which create a sense of commercialism and materialism. The lines "Down escalators, come to the sea view / Behind all the smoked glass no-one sees you" imply a hidden, unknown or anonymous existence amidst the crowd. The lyrics end with the repeated phrase "On the Plaza", which could signify a cyclical or endless experience.
Overall, the lyrics to "Plaza" convey a sense of detachment, isolation, and displacement in a commercial and urban setting. The anonymity of the people on the plaza, the shattered windscreen, and the curve of the highways suggest a loss of identity and a sense of being adrift. The surreal imagery and repetition of the lyrics also create a hypnotic and introspective mood.
Line by Line Meaning
On the Plaza
We are present in a public square
We're dancing slowly, lit like photographs
We are moving gracefully and are illuminated like still images
Across the Plaza
We are traveling from one end of the square to the other
Toward the shadow of the cenotaph
We are heading in the direction of a memorial for the dead
Down escalators, come to the sea view
We are descending stairs that lead to a sight of the ocean
Behind all the smoked glass no-one sees you
We are hidden behind tinted windows and are not visible to outsiders
A familiar figure comes to meet you
Someone you know approaches you
I remember your face
I recall your features
From some shattered windscreen...
From a previous encounter that ended in a crash
A giant hoarding of Italian cars
There is a large advertisement showcasing Italian automobiles
The lounge is occupied by seminars
The common area is being used for educational lectures
From the Plaza
We depart from the public square
The highways curve in over reservoirs
Roadways bend above bodies of water that store resources
A queue is forming for the cinema...
People are lining up to see a movie
On the Plaza
We are once again situated in the public square
On the Plaza
The public square is a recurrent setting
On the Plaza
The public square is a repeated theme throughout the song
On the Plaza
The public square is significant to the song's meaning
Lyrics Β© Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DENNIS LEIGH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
alicesillusion
This is one of my favourite songs. God I love synthesisers.
adalberto aparicio
Ditto. God I love synthesizers!! I have always wanted to express it and your words are perfect. Thank You ,Alice!
Dan Marley
Riding the subways every day in Tokyo in 1981, listening to Metamatic on a Sony Walkman.
Shawn Silver
I just discovered the metamatic album and it is just melting my brain, I love it so much and the sound is SO GOOD
Bafooba
+Merix Saint hi
Dave
I grew up in the 80s listening to Human League, Depeche Mode, Propaganda, Japan, Kraftwerk but didn't hear this until YouTube was invented.
Martin Bell
Blimey, that must have taken some doing haha.Β
daimon riley
We used to take the mickey out of my mate who was heavily into Foxx back in the day - now I can just see how much more sophisticated he was than us. Still like the Jam though :)
Paul Beardsley
You can like both!
TheFokker03
former Ultravox frontman (pre midge Ure),this is one of Johns best work.