The group has released several EPs including their debut Young Liars (2003), and five studio albums: Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (2004), Return to Cookie Mountain (2006), Dear Science (2008), Nine Types of Light (2011), and Seeds (2014).
For most of the band's existence, the core TV on the Radio lineup has been Tunde Adebimpe (vocals/loops), David Andrew Sitek (guitars/keyboards/loops), Kyp Malone (vocals/guitars/bass/loops), Jaleel Bunton (drums/vocals/loops/guitars) and Gerard Smith (bass/keyboards) as official members.
The band's Bio from their website:
TV on the Radio gets to do anything. Like a small platoon whose pleasing impenetrability is their core, the band consistently confounds expectations while managing to balance respect from critics and peers alike. The result is TV on the Radio gets to do anything they want. This freedom is their engine.
“It’s about doing what feels right,” says singer Tunde Adebimpe. “I really feel like this band is something that is expansive and always changing and growing. If we wear our influences on our sleeve, it’s a pretty crowded sleeve.”
It’s no different with Seeds, the new and fifth proper studio album that Adebimpe has made along with Jaleel Bunton, Kyp Malone, and David Andrew Sitek (who also produced it). Having long outlasted that early 2000s fascination with all things Brooklyn to which the hip willfully succumbed, they continue to conquer music on their own terms. This album serves as another step in continuing to heed their reputation as “the most vital, current band in America” (Associated Press).
This go-round the songs are immediate and triumphant, textured with storytelling hooks and possibly the most honest music this band has ever composed. They’ve hit a point where they’re OK being straight-up beautiful without having to manipulate prettiness into whatever unforeseen shape.
Slate says Seeds has “TV on the Radio’s best songs in years. They are sounding sharper than ever.” And the band knows it. Adebimpe has already said this is the band’s best record. Not a boast, just an observation.
“I feel like I knew it before we were done,” he says immediately. “I was so excited by the songs while we were making them, I wanted to get more and more and more into it. The general feeling going into it was, 'We're still here. Our friendship with each other is so strong. Being in a band, at its best times, is like being... well, let’s say whenever things are going really well, we're like ‘cool, Voltron's back together.’“
The TV on the Radio guys are the type of people who go on hiatus and focus on music. They may take time between albums for their other endeavors, but they know when it’s right to come together – especially when the music comes as easily and passionately as it did with case Seeds. The band found themselves collected in David Sitek’s Los Angeles studio last year and recorded a couple of songs – “Mercy” and “Million Miles” and didn’t want to stop.
“Those were just songs that we wrote because we hadn't written songs together in a while,” says Sitek “They came out really fast and inspired us to do it again – and then ‘again’ turned into the record.”
Adebimpe and Sitek live in Los Angeles, Bunton and Malone reside in New York, but make no mistake: TV on the Radio is a quartet. To attempt to parse out exactly what each member does in the group would be to dismantle the fundamental essence of what makes TV on the Radio the monolithic anomaly they have been careful to cultivate and protect for more than a decade. They permeate beyond a wall of sound, and instead create a planetarium of music with every song. They embody many voices. Most of them can play just about anything. And sing too. They are equal partners in the creation of a type of noise that appeared seemingly out of nowhere over 10 years ago.
Throughout the years, TV on the Radio has been consistent in the standard they set for themselves. Earlier records, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes and Return To Cookie Mountain stole the hearts of fans and critics alike just the same, winning the Shortlist Music Prize and Spin's Album of the Year respectively. Their breakout release Dear Science was named best album of 2008 by Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Spin Magazine, The New York Times, The Onion AV Club, MTV, even Entertainment Weekly. An embarrassment of riches, really. Their last album, 2011's Nine Types of Light, was deemed "pure heaven" by the cherubs at Rolling Stone, and earned the band a Grammy® nomination. The band has also graced the stages of Saturday Night Live and The Colbert Report.
“The band is it’s own ‘self.’ It has to be that way,” Adebimpe says. “That's been the goal for a long time. Nobody really wants to be the focal point for the band; the band should be the focal point. Not even the band: the music. We can show up and take credit for it, but ultimately it's something that maybe we helped shape and facilitate coming into the world. But that’s all.”
They happily recruit likeminded associates to help prop up this invention of theirs in the studio and on stage. (Kelis, for instance, appears on “Lazzeray”). The band has recorded and performed with other artists who’ve conquered the music world on their own terms just as much as they have. Fellow mavericks like Trent Reznor, Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs fame, Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy, Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead, Martin Perna of Antibalas, Katrina Ford of Celebration, and David chuffing Bowie have all romped in the sandbox with TV on the Radio.
“If you share a material thing, it dissipates,” Adebimpe says, recalling a fragment of philosophy he once heard, or might be improvising on the spot. “If you share a spiritual thing, it just increases. It becomes more and more and more. I'm already thinking about the next record.”
Seeds is an expression of everything this band has been through in the last three years and more. They’re influential, in their prime, they’re TV on the Radio, and they’ve proven themselves to be one of the most important bands of this generation. It clicks, as it always does, and TV on the Radio is brand new again, again.
“No matter what you go through individually and collectively, when you step away from each other, you're kind of like, "I know that if we get together we can fire this thing," says Adebimpe. “It's definitely in the spirit of the punk rock we all grew up with. If you win, you're still a punk. If you lose, you're still a punk, and honestly, it's not about anybody else.”
http://www.tvontheradio.com/
Dreams
TV on the Radio Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And all your wings have fallen down
Oh all your dreams are over now
And all your wings have fallen down
She's just like you
So why keep doing what you do
Why cut a friend
Why cruise that mean lean to an end
To another place
You could have peeled slow
To a better face
But your heart can't grieve
For your little dreams
Oh no your heart can't grieve
Not for your little dreams
All your dreams are over now
And all your wings have fallen down
All your dreams are over now
And all your wings have fallen down
Broke trust in two
Now no one's looking out for you
Why keep it cruel
Why waste so much to play the fool
And maybe I'm the fool but I think we'd find
That we could all be so so kind
If you'd just leave your tread mill powertrip behind
Oh leave your treadmill powertrip behind
And maybe it's best that you're so so blind
It's best that your so so blind
Because your heart can't grieve
I know your heart can't grieve
I know your heart can't grieve
What your eyes won't see
But you were my favorite moment
Of our dead century
I know your heart can't grieve
What your eyes won't see
But you were my favorite moment
Of our dead century
But all your dreams are over now
And all your wings have fallen down
Oh all your dreams are over now
And all your wings have fallen down
Oh warfarin' terrapin
Unconfined undesigned
Undersigned bantering
Bartering bellowing
Barracking blundering
Pillaging plundering
Living and lavishing
Hammerings harrowing
Flourishing flattening
Levelling reveling
Wrecking and ravaging
Savoring savaging
Oh warfarrin terrapin
Unconfined undesigned
You've got me worried and wondering
All your dreams are over now
And all your wings have fallen down
All your dreams are over now
The TV On The Radio song Dreams is a reflective piece on the end of something good. The opening lines allude to a loss of hope, symbolized by the falling of wings, which usually represent freedom and escape. The singer then goes on to ask some tough questions about the behavior of someone close to them, someone who seems to have betrayed trust and cut off meaningful relationships, all in pursuit of a "powertrip." The singer's tone is one of disappointment and sadness, with the obvious theme of failed dreams and the inability to grieve for what has been lost.
In the second verse, the singer finds an optimistic window amidst the cynicism being presented. They suggest that if people could just let go of their egos and avoid trying to outdo one another, the world could be a kinder place. The line "maybe it's best that you're so so blind" can be interpreted in two ways. It could suggest that if people could only see the truth, the world would be a better place, or it could be pointing out that sometimes, being unaware of a situation is not necessarily a bad thing since it can prevent hurt and disappointment. The final verse of the song is almost like a stream of consciousness, listing various actions and behaviors that seem to describe the chaotic world around us.
Line by Line Meaning
All your dreams are over now
The things you once aspired for have come to an end
And all your wings have fallen down
Your ability to achieve those dreams has weakened or ceased to exist
She's just like you
The person you've hurt and betrayed is similar or equivalent to yourself
So why keep doing what you do
Why continue to engage in behavior that hurts others and ultimately yourself?
Why cut a friend
Why intentionally harm someone who trusts and cares for you?
Why cruise that mean lean to an end
Why act harshly or cruelly towards others when it doesn't lead to anything beneficial?
You could have heel toed
You had the choice to take a different path or a gentler approach
To another place
A different environment or situation with more positive outcomes
You could have peeled slow
You had the option to gradually and carefully make a change
To a better face
Towards a better version of yourself or a more favorable outcome
But your heart can't grieve
You don't have remorse or regret for the harm you've caused
For your little dreams
You don't care about the small ambitions or desires you once held
Broke trust in two
You've betrayed and harmed someone's trust
Now no one's looking out for you
You've lost support and care from people you once had
Why keep it cruel
Why continue to be harsh or callous towards others?
Why waste so much to play the fool
Why keep making poor decisions that lead to negative consequences?
And maybe I'm the fool but I think we'd find
Despite facing adversity, I believe we can still find ways to be kind to others
That we could all be so so kind
It's possible for everyone to show compassion towards others
If you'd just leave your tread mill powertrip behind
If you stopped trying to control situations and people to your benefit
Oh leave your treadmill powertrip behind
Abandon your desire for excessive power or influence over others
And maybe it's best that you're so so blind
It might be better if you didn't see the damage you caused
Because your heart can't grieve
Your lack of empathy prevents you from feeling remorse
I know your heart can't grieve
I'm aware that you don't feel sorrow for your actions
What your eyes won't see
You don't acknowledge or see the harm you've caused
But you were my favorite moment
Despite your faults, you still held a special place in my life
Of our dead century
During a time long gone and passed by
Oh warfarin' terrapin
A metaphorical expression, perhaps referring to someone or something that's unpredictable and uncontrolled
Unconfined undesigned
Lacking restraints or rules, erratic
Undersigned bantering
Talking foolishly and aimlessly without any concrete point
Bartering bellowing
Exchanging words in a loud and aggressive manner
Barracking blundering
Making mistakes and experiencing setbacks in one's pursuits
Pillaging plundering
Taking things that don't belong to someone without permission
Living and lavishing
Existing in abundance and fullness
Hammerings harrowing
Experiencing traumatic or painful events
Flourishing flattening
Prospering or growing, and then becoming stale and declining
Levelling reveling
Becoming equal or reducing to the same, and then rejoicing or enjoying that state
Wrecking and ravaging
Causing destruction and devastation
Savoring savaging
Enjoying and relishing in harmful or vicious actions
You've got me worried and wondering
You've caused me to feel uneasy or concerned and left me pondering
All your dreams are over now
The things you once aspired for have come to an end
And all your wings have fallen down
Your ability to achieve those dreams has weakened or ceased to exist
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC , Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JOHN TROPEA
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind