Thursday released their debut album, Waiting, in late 1999 with original guitarist Bill Henderson, who left the band in 2000 and was replaced by Steve Pedulla. The band gained popularity with the release of their second album, Full Collapse, in 2001, and released their third album and major label debut, War All the Time, in 2003, which reached number seven on the US Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Thursday released their fourth album, A City by the Light Divided, in 2006, and two further albums, Common Existence and No Devolución, before announcing an indefinite hiatus in 2011. In a January 2013 interview, Geoff Rickly confirmed that the band had actually disbanded. However, the band announced a reunion in 2016. Their reunion would conclude with a performance at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, NY in March 2019.
The band has been considered influential to the post-hardcore music scene in the 2000s, and is credited as one of the key bands to popularize the darker emo sound and screaming vocals which came to prominence at the time.
A Gun In The First Act
Thursday Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I guess all our lives are a little less than they seem.
Now you're praying to the memory of a god you use to love
(A reminder of his death hanging low around your neck.)
Do you find sleep comes easy
Dancing with the empty silhouette of everything?
Our waking lives are just the dreams of our dreams.
Standing in the city asking what it's all for but
The louder the ring, the less the thing.
When we see black clouds coming over our heads,
Over our heads, then we know where it's ending;
A loaded gun hanging over our heads,
We already know the way it ends.
Screaming from a stage or at a pay-phone in the rain
Trying to find the words I always think I need to say.
Please, bring it back to the moment before you left
I never felt the sting.
The louder the ring, the less the thing.
Break, break, break it down
Back to the way that it was before
When symbols weren't just loaded guns
And black clouds weren't just metaphors
Bring, bring, bring it back
Back to the way that it was before:
Empty all the loaded guns and bury all the metaphors.
Now we're going around in a place that makes no sound,
Where names never fit and
Nothing ever means a thing.
In Thursday's song "A Gun in The First Act," the lyrics describe the struggles and uncertainties of life. The first stanza introduces a person standing in the rain, smoking a broken cigarette, which symbolizes the feeling of brokenness in life. The line "all our lives are a little less than they seem" emphasizes the idea that life is not always what it appears to be. The second line "Now you're praying to the memory of a god you used to love" suggests that sometimes people cling to old ideas and beliefs in the face of uncertainty. The phrase "A reminder of his death hanging low around your neck" refers to the death of Jesus Christ, whose image may be hanging on a cross.
The second stanza speaks about the search for the meaning of life. The line "Our waking lives are just the dreams of our dreams" suggests that life is not always what it seems, and that maybe people should not take their waking lives too seriously. The line "There's nothing in this world that giving meaning makes it more" suggests that the meaning of life cannot be found simply by attaching meaning to our actions. The chorus speaks of impending doom, with black clouds and a loaded gun, emphasizing the fragility of life.
The third and final stanza speaks of the struggle to communicate, to find the right words to express oneself. The line "Please, bring it back to the moment before you left" suggests a desire to go back in time and do things differently. The line "When symbols weren't just loaded guns, and black clouds weren't just metaphors" invokes the idea that life was simpler and less daunting before literal guns and metaphorical black clouds, meaning troubles, became a part of it. The last line 'nothing ever means a thing' expresses the finality of the song's theme that at the end of the day, nothing really matters.
Line by Line Meaning
I saw you standing with a broken cigarette out in the rain.
I observed you standing in the downpour with a damaged cigarette, exposing how we all have imperfections.
I guess all our lives are a little less than they seem.
Our lives are inadequate and less interesting than they appear to be.
Now you're praying to the memory of a god you use to love
You are paying homage to the religion you once adored, a reminder that his death is still impacting you.
(A reminder of his death hanging low around your neck.)
The pendant hanging low on your neck serves as a reminder of the god's demise.
Do you find sleep comes easy
Do you find it effortless to get some rest
Dancing with the empty silhouette of everything?
Are you dancing with the shadow of everything that doesn't exist?
Our waking lives are just the dreams of our dreams.
Our actual lives are just an emulation of the dreams we have.
Standing in the city asking what it's all for but
I'm staring at the city and questioning what the meaning of life is, but
There's nothing in this world that giving meaning makes it more:
There is nothing in this world that gains worth from giving it a meaning.
The louder the ring, the less the thing.
The noisier it's, the lesser it's.
When we see black clouds coming over our heads,
If we notice dark clouds approaching, then
Over our heads, then we know where it's ending;
We know that it's the end, as it's over our heads.
A loaded gun hanging over our heads,
We have a loaded gun hanging over us.
We already know the way it ends.
We already acknowledge how it's going to finish.
Screaming from a stage or at a pay-phone in the rain
Yelling vociferously, either from a stage or a pay-phone in the rain.
Trying to find the words I always think I need to say.
Attempting to seek the appropriate words I think I always require to articulate.
Please, bring it back to the moment before you left
Kindly bring me back to the moment before you abandoned me.
I never felt the sting.
I didn't feel the pain.
Break, break, break it down
Demolish, demolish, demolish it all.
Back to the way that it was before
Go back to how things occurred before.
When symbols weren't just loaded guns
When images didn't just represent dangerous weapons.
And black clouds weren't just metaphors
When dark clouds failed to resemble significant life events.
Bring, bring, bring it back
Please bring back.
Empty all the loaded guns and bury all the metaphors.
Remove all dangerous weapons and get rid of symbolic meanings.
Now we're going around in a place that makes no sound,
Currently, we're moving in a soundless location.
Where names never fit and
Where names are always inappropriate and
Nothing ever means a thing.
Nothing has any significance.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind