New Year's Eve
Kashmir Lyrics

The lyrics of "New Year's Eve" by Kashmir conjure a melancholic and disillusioned atmosphere, that seems to question the point of celebrating the arrival of a new year. The first stanza describes a traditional setting for the occasion: people wearing fine suits and silly paper hats, raising their glasses in grand salutes. However, the second stanza takes a darker turn, as the focus shifts towards an unnamed person who is giving a tearful speech and seems to be struggling to be remembered. These details create a sense of emptiness and superficiality that pervades the scene. The chorus "takes me down, dries me out, shoves me around, blows my flame out" reinforces this feeling of being let down and drained by this festive atmosphere.

The third stanza has a more poetic and introspective tone, as it evokes the fleeting beauty of the moment, with the moon shining bright and the morning slowly approaching, but also the sense of disillusionment and disappointment, as the mood disappears with the fireworks. The last line of the stanza, "I lost my faith in New Year's Eve", sums up the main theme of the song: the disillusionment with the idea that a change of year can bring any real change in one's life. The final stanza includes some bitter details, such as the serpentines, cheap cigars, and fallen stars, that further intensify the sense of futility of the celebrations. The last two lines of the song, "It's time to quit and start again, only God knows what we're celebrating", suggest a need to break away from the cycle of repetitive rituals and find new ways to navigate through life.