Tubeway Army's main claim to fame is that Gary Webb (aka Gary Numan) first … Read Full Bio ↴Tubeway Army's main claim to fame is that Gary Webb (aka Gary Numan) first came to the public's attention here. The band was formed in London, UK in 1977 by Gary Numan and the late Paul Gardiner. What started as a British punk band would evolve into something quite different. During the recording of their self-titled first album ("Tubeway Army") in 1978, Numan came across a Minimoog synthesizer accidentally left in the studio which would end up being used in several of the album's songs. The change in sound served well for the band as their first album would go on to sell out its small initial pressing despite not charting.

The release of their second album "Replicas" in 1979 finally gave Numan the success he had been trying to achieve from the start with the single "Are Friends Electric?", the song topping the British charts for four weeks. The band's cold electronic take on minimalistic pop took a little while to catch on with the music audience at large, but proved to be of lasting influence. Combining the artistic and poetic tendencies of David Bowie (especially the Berlin years) with sequenced synthesizers along the lines of Kraftwerk presaged the whole genre of techno-pop in the 1980s.

In late 1979, after the success of "Replicas", Numan dropped Tubeway Army and went on to record as a solo artist.

It's also worthy of note that during 1979, while his band "Ultravox" were on hiatus, Billy Currie collaborated with Gary on material for both "Replicas" and Gary's first solo album "The Pleasure Principle".

The official website can be found here: www.garynuman.co.uk

Ice
Tubeway Army Lyrics

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I'm playing at ice
But I'm finding it hard
She didn't break the wall
She just caught me off guard

Can you see ice in my eyes
Can you see ice in my eyes

I'm just a little bit sorry
But I haven't decided why
Could it be my memory
Or did I ever really cry

Can you see ice in my eyes
Can you see ice in my eyes

Fill my head with your false feelings
I can't trust anything you say
Today I missed a special friend
That never really cared anyway

Can you see ice in my eyes
Can you see ice in my eyes

Can you see ice in my eyes
Can you see ice in my eyes

Overall Meaning

The song "Ice" by Tubeway Army is a hauntingly beautiful expression of emotional disconnection and the difficulties of communication that so often accompany personal relationships. The lyrics are simple yet poignant and demonstrate the struggles of the singer as he tries to navigate the complexities of his feelings and his interactions with others.

The opening lines of the song, "I'm playing at ice / But I'm finding it hard / She didn't break the wall / She just caught me off guard," paint a picture of someone who is trying to come across as cool and detached, yet is having difficulty maintaining that façade. The reference to "ice" is likely a metaphor for emotional numbness or detachment, and the line "She just caught me off guard" suggests that the singer may have been hurt in some way, perhaps triggering this emotional numbing response.

As the song progresses, the singer questions his own emotions and the sincerity of those around him. He asks, "Can you see ice in my eyes / I'm just a little bit sorry / But I haven't decided why / Could it be my memory / Or did I ever really cry." Here, the singer is questioning the authenticity of his own emotions, wondering if they are indeed genuine or if they are just a product of his own faulty memory.

The chorus of the song repeats the line "Can you see ice in my eyes" several times, which serves to drive home the idea that the singer is struggling with emotional numbness and detachment. The final verse of the song reveals the source of the singer's feelings of isolation and disconnection - he is surrounded by people who are either insincere or simply don't care about him. He sings, "Today I missed a special friend / That never really cared anyway," expressing the difficulty of finding genuine connections in a world that often seems indifferent or hostile.

Overall, "Ice" is a haunting and evocative song that speaks to the realities of emotional disconnection and the struggles that many people face in trying to forge meaningful connections with those around them.

Line by Line Meaning

I'm playing at ice
I'm pretending to be cold and unfeeling

But I'm finding it hard
But actually, it's difficult to keep up this facade

She didn't break the wall
She didn't cause my emotional barrier

She just caught me off guard
She surprised me and I let down my guard

Can you see ice in my eyes
Can you see my emotional distance and numbness?

I'm just a little bit sorry
I feel some regret, but not sure why

But I haven't decided why
I'm not sure what exactly I'm sorry for

Could it be my memory
Maybe my past experiences affect my emotions

Or did I ever really cry
Or maybe I've never truly expressed my emotions

Fill my head with your false feelings
Stop trying to deceive me with insincere emotions

I can't trust anything you say
I have lost faith in your words and actions