Staring At the Stars- Passenger

Tobacco stains our yellow teeth

 And all our finger and underneath

 Our finger nails that clasp on sheets

 As we try desperately to sleep

Hearts are saddened eyes are tired

 And all this Red Bull keeps us wide

 It gives us wings it gives us rings

 Around our eyes

We put three sugars in our tea

 Sit to watch day time TV

 And laugh at moms who don’t know

 Who the father is

And all our girlfriends are long gone

 We watch too much internet porn

 Who needs love when you’ve got silicone

 And strap-ons?

Beer bloats our spoiled guts

 And shit jobs keeps us in ruts

 And keep us sighing up the what’s and if’s

 And some buts and maybes and

Falling over in this tree

 It’s just a part of every week

 When we lie drunkenly

 Just staring at the stars

Remember when they were in reach

 And all the teachers used to teach

 You can do anything

 if you put your mind to it

We put our minds to it all

 But disappointment crashed the ball

 We could have done anything

 We just never quite knew it so…

Tie your scarf on tight

 It’s to be a cold night

 Tie your scarf on tight

 It’s to be a cold night

Tie your scarf on tight

 It’s to be a cold night

 Tie your scarf on tight

 It’s to be a cold night

I interpreted this song as a rather cynical outlook on life, in particular on regret for the past, the ‘whats and ifs’. The lyrics are quite straightforward lacking elegant phrasing and a poetic feel, but they still paint the picture of a rather sad, pathetic person with tobacco stained teeth and ‘rings around [their] eyes’ with ‘spoilt guts’ who would stare ‘drunkenly’ at the stars. For me, the stars represent ambitions and hope for the future. But the song reflects on how dreams were met with ‘disappointment’, things don’t always turn out how you want them to. Some of the last lines of the song say ‘we could’ve done anything, we just never quite knew it’. But now it seems, it’ s too late, the hopes ‘long gone’,  and ‘we’ (as the writer puts it) are left to experience a bleak existence, a wasted life filled with regret for what ‘we’ didn’t do.

The song links to another by the same musician called ‘Lifes for the Living’, which talks about making the most out of life as its for the living, not for the dead.  

I also felt that the lyrics contrasted somewhat with the music, which has a rather light and bouncy bluegrass feel.