"I'm having the worst day, what a way to end the year," she shouted in my ear as the faces flashed by in the strobe light and the floorboards shook with music. "I lost my purse and someone spilled red wine all over me." The sight of the wine in the dark made my mouth water and every pulse of the strobe was the eye of the photographer's camera.
"At least I've got you," she winked. I bit down on my lip and the afternoon flooded into my blood like an IV drip: the crowd's bland faces; reporters searching for the parents; the steam drifting from the young boy's broken mouth; the pair of sneakers tangled in the power lines hanging like a forgotten mistletoe.
"Hey, where are you?" She pleaded. But I was right there. The blood was soaking into my untied shoelace as we watched the ambulance pull up. I was right there: The calm voices of the paramedics made the temperature drop twenty degrees. I was right there: They zipped up the black bag and I couldn't breathe.
"You better not be in another one of your moods. Not tonight."
I tried to listen, but I couldn't resist the pull of the breathing open window. I saw myself running to it and lunging straight through it. I felt like I was suffocating in a zipped-up black bag.
"I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to deal with you ignoring me this year. That's my resolution! Good bye."
I had to lock myself in the bathroom to stop myself from jumping out the window. In the mirror, my dirty blond hair was tinged red. I tried closing my eyes but when I looked in the mirror my hair was saturated, a thick crimson. The New Year cheers sounded like screams through the door and I swore that I'd never let myself care about anything else ever again. The next morning the paper said that a boy had fallen out of an unlocked window in his parent's apartment in New York. I dyed my hair the darkest black I could find. A black so dark it could cover the deepest blood red and suffocate the brightest halo."
-Geoff
Jet Black New Year
Thursday Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The air is cut with cyanide
In honor of the new year
The press gives us cause to celebrate:
These air raid sirens
Flood barbed-wired skylines
By artifical night
From our bloodless lives
Tonight we're all time bombs
on fault lines
Have we lost everything now?
Walking like each others ghosts
Around these silent streets (the seditatives tell you everything is alright)
Like calendars dying at new year's eve parties
As we kiss hard on the lips
And swear this year will be better than the last
Jet black - the ink that spells your name
Jet black - the blood that's in your veins
Jet black - We say, "how long can we take this chance not to celebrate?"
There's music playing
But we dance to the beat
Of our own black hearts
And draw diagrams
Of suicide on each others wrists
Then trace them with razorblades
Fire to flames
"strike match."
Burn these words from our lips
As the dagger screams
"Love is dead."
and it's a "newspaper tragedy."
Have we lost what we love?
Have we said everything?
Does it change everything?
Stare at the clock
Avoid at all costs
This emptiness
Have we lost everything now?
Walking like each others ghosts
Around these silent streets (the seditatives tell you everything is alright)
Like calendars dying at new year's eve parties
As we kiss hard on the lips
And swear this year will be better than the last
Have we lost everything now?
Walking like each others ghosts
Around these silent streets (the seditatives tell you everything is alright)
Like calendars dying at new year's eve parties
As we kiss hard on the lips
And swear that this year... this year...
Ten seconds left
until midnight
nine chances to drown ourselves
in black hair dye
eight faces turned away
from shock
seven windows and six of them are locked
five stories falling
For ever and ever
three cheers to the mirror
now there are two of us.
Can we have one last dance?
Jet black - the ink that spells your name
Jet black - the blood that's in your veins
Jet black - We say, "how long can we take this chance not to celebrate?"
Jet black - the ink that spells your name
Jet black - the blood that's in your veins
Jet black - We say, "how long can we take this chance not to celebrate?"
The lyrics of the song "Jet Black New Year" by Thursday describe the feeling of despair and hopelessness that often accompanies the start of a new year. The air is "cut with cyanide," and there are air raid sirens and barbed-wired skylines. The chorus talks about "Jet black," which is used as a metaphor for the darkness that surrounds the world at this time. Everyone is like "ghosts," walking the streets in silence, trying to avoid the emptiness that they feel inside. They kiss hard on the lips and swear that this year will be better than the last, but they're not really sure that it will be.
The lyrics also talk about suicide, with lines about drawing diagrams of suicide on each other's wrists and tracing them with razorblades. The idea of death and escape is present throughout the song, with the repeated refrain of "Jet black," which can be seen as a way of expressing the desire to disappear into the darkness. The lyrics are powerful and evoke a sense of desperation, with the repeated question of whether everything has been lost.
Line by Line Meaning
Don't even take a breath
The air is so toxic with cyanide that even breathing is risky
The air is cut with cyanide
The air is full of poison
In honor of the new year
The poison is there to celebrate the new year
The press gives us cause to celebrate:
The media creates reasons for us to party
These air raid sirens
Sirens that warn of bombings or chemical attacks
Flood barbed-wired skylines
Industrial settings with wires and fences
By artifical night
In the dark, illuminated by man-made lights
As we sleep to burn the red
We rest to eliminate passion and emotion
From our bloodless lives
Our lives are dull, passionless and empty
Tonight we're all time bombs
We're ready to break down and explode
On fault lines
We're walking on a thin line or tipping point
Have we lost everything now?
Is there absolutely nothing left?
Walking like each others ghosts
We're all numb, dead and empty inside
Around these silent streets (the seditatives tell you everything is alright)
The atmosphere is calm, but it's only due to sedatives
Like calendars dying at new year's eve parties
Just like calendars, our lives are ending once again
As we kiss hard on the lips
We try to connect and feel something, anything
And swear this year will be better than the last
We make resolutions and convince ourselves that next year will be better
Jet black - the ink that spells your name
You're identified as dark and depressing
Jet black - the blood that's in your veins
You have a darkness that's inside of you
We say, "how long can we take this chance not to celebrate?"
We question how much longer we can go without celebrating
There's music playing
There's a sense of life and movement
But we dance to the beat
We move in the rhythm of our own despair
Of our own black hearts
Our hearts are full of darkness and despair
And draw diagrams
We plan out death and suicide
Of suicide on each others wrists
We create marks and cuts that mimic suicide
Then trace them with razorblades
We carve those marks deeper and deeper
Fire to flames
We're setting ourselves up for destruction
"strike match."
We're ready to light the fuse on our own demise
Burn these words from our lips
We want to eliminate love and emotion from our lives
As the dagger screams
We're willing to use any weapon to end our pain
"Love is dead."
We believe that love and hope are gone
and it's a "newspaper tragedy."
It's a common occurrence in our society
Have we lost what we love?
Have we lost our passions and joys in life?
Have we said everything?
Is there nothing new to say or hear?
Does it change everything?
Will anything ever change or improve?
Stare at the clock
Watching time pass is all we have left
Avoid at all costs
We're running from the reality of our pain
This emptiness
The feeling of hopelessness is all we have
Ten seconds left
Time is running out
until midnight
The turning point of another new year
nine chances to drown ourselves
We have nine opportunities to end our lives
in black hair dye
To appease our own darkness and despair
eight faces turned away
We don't want to see one another's pain
from shock
We're numb and disconnected from reality
seven windows and six of them are locked
We're trapped and isolated from the world
five stories falling
We're descending into darkness and death
For ever and ever
There's no coming back from this darkness
three cheers to the mirror
We celebrate who we have become
now there are two of us.
We share our darkness with one another
Can we have one last dance?
We want to hold on to what's left of our lives
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: III, GEOFFREY RICKLY, ROBERT KEELEY, STEVEN PEDULLA, THOMAS RULE, TIMOTHY PAYNE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind