Daydreaming – Exploring the Consciousness of Urban Psyche


Article Contents:
  1. Music Video
  2. Lyrics
  3. Song Meaning
  4. Street Poetics and the Urban Mindscape
  5. A Vitamin for the Soul: Uplifting Through Sound
  6. Decoding The Surreal: The Song’s Hidden Meaning
  7. Memorable Lines: Philosophy Packed in Verse
  8. The Socio-Political Tapestry and Personal Refuge

Lyrics

I quietly observe standing in my space
Daydreaming
I quietly observe standing in my space
Daydreaming

Way that we say ’em in style that we write ’em in
Massive attack we keep it strong just like a vitamin
Going for the positive wiping out the negative songs
‘Cause brother it’s relative
The pass is picking up all the lyrics on the dance floor
That raise your spirit level ’cause it demands for

Attitude is cool degrees below zero
Up against the wall behaving like De Niro
Tricky’s performing taking his phono
Making a stand with a tan touch it like cocoa
Smooth to keep you moving at the back now
Free is the needle it’s moving through the track now

Dance to the drummer’s beats we need new sticks
Bounce around the vibes like acoustics
No drugs or pharmaceuticals for the body ain’t suitable
Stick with liquid me and trick we’ve drop
A paper which you use my tongue to lick with

Trouble and strife ain’t no sunshine in my life
Wiseguys get protection when they carry a knife
They shouldn’t have been born they’re making me yawn
But I just take it easy it’s a Sunday morn’

So you come on light my fire and
Together we’ll grow forever watch my eight kay rig go

Because my eight kay rig goes boom boom
My eight kay rig goes boom

Yeah rhymin’ the jam and uh we got the stamina
In case you never know us if we don’t give a damn and uh
And it’s hard to handle keep your distance
Resist and the posse gets the pleasure of this dance
The cool breeze that you welcome in the heat
You don’t see it but you feel it when it’s blowing on the street

If i was a rich man

Da da dada

I quietly observe standing in my space
It’s the devious days they call the rat race
It’s a concrete jungle, evil in the town
Weebles, wobble, occasional squabble
But what happen when the bomb drops
Down

Don’t make sound
‘Cause the dance floor’s a desert
And the dancers are parched
Do a rain dance and your brain’s still marsh
My heavy my brother get lighter than helium
Float above the world to break the tedium
Living in my headphones Sony’s what I say to ’em
The surreal boom of the budokan stadium

Well I’m floating on air when I’m daydreaming
I quietly observe standing in my space

Well I’m tricky kid don’t deal with sadness
Can’t be with the one i love i love the one that i miss
I’m very down to earth but brain sits on top floor
Don’t need another lover just need, I’m insecure

The weather is a changin’ the storms be shakin’
The love that you take is equal to the love you’re makin’
Here comes the sun little darlin’ here comes the sun
It’s alright

Yes tricky kid i check my situation
Maggie this Maggie that Maggie means inflation
Hip-hop you don’t stop cause I’m not sloppy
I like the beat so we need another copy

We’re natives of the massive territory and we’re proud
Get peaceful in the dance, adapt the glory and the crowd
The problem ain’t a different kind of skin tricks
I love my neighbour I don’t wait for the Olympics
See you go hooligan you’re trying to play the fool again

Caught you in the lost and found

When your posse weren’t around

No crowd

So you’re going for you tool again

Daydreaming
I quietly observe standing in my space
Daydreaming
Well I’m floating on air when I’m daydreaming

Full Lyrics

In the pantheon of ’90s trip-hop, Massive Attack reigns with a chiaroscuro palette of sounds and words that evoke more than can be seen at surface level. With ‘Daydreaming,’ a track from their pivotal debut album ‘Blue Lines,’ they weave a tapestry of urban existentialism, laced with introspection and social commentary. To unpack this track is to delve into the consciousness of city life and the battle between the relentless pulse and the contemplative soul.

The song’s lyrics appear as snapshots of thought, fragments of philosophy delivered with a rhythmic precision that asks listeners to read between the beats. Deeply rooted in the socio-political environment of its era, ‘Daydreaming’ is as much an exploration of individual aspiration as it is a mirror to collective struggles.

Street Poetics and the Urban Mindscape

Massive Attack serves a poetic justice to the urban spirits wandering the concrete landscapes. Lyrically, ‘Daydreaming’ is a dive into the psyche of the city dweller, balancing a quiet personal observation with the noise of the urban grind. It casts an eye over the murmured dreams and raw realities faced by those navigating the ‘concrete jungle.’

The artful repetition of ‘I quietly observe standing in my space’ encapsulates a moment of stillness in the storm – an inner sanctum where reflection is possible even as the world rushes by. The act of daydreaming becomes an escape, a necessity, and a subversion of the rat race that the song opines.

A Vitamin for the Soul: Uplifting Through Sound

The track’s energetic beat contrasts with its meditative lyrics, providing what the band describes as a ‘vitamin’ for the soul. It’s this dichotomy that confers on ‘Daydreaming’ its potency – using the groove of the track to elevate the spirit while engaging with heavier thematic content.

While the rhythm section demands movement, the ‘vibes like acoustics’ deliver solace in sound, an acoustic alchemy that underscores Massive Attack’s ability to blend the cerebral with the sensorial, ensuring the message isn’t just heard, but felt.

Decoding The Surreal: The Song’s Hidden Meaning

‘My heavy my brother get lighter than helium / Float above the world to break the tedium’ – these lines point towards a thematic levity, a yearning for an out-of-body experience to escape reality. Throughout the song, there’s a consistent toggling between the duality of existence – the tedium and vibrancy of life and the attempt to find balance.

Daydreaming, then, is proposed as a vehicle for transcendence, a way to navigate the ‘devious days’ while remaining cognizant of the ‘bomb drops down.’ It’s a spiritual bulwark against societal and self-imposed chaos, suggesting an inner strength within the tumult.

Memorable Lines: Philosophy Packed in Verse

‘The love that you take is equal to the love you’re makin” – on the surface, it may be a simple echo of The Beatles’ infamous lines, but within the context of ‘Daydreaming,’ it holds a deeper resonance. It’s about reciprocity, karma, and the cycle of actions and repercussions, wrapped in a lyrical nod to the past.

This line, like many others in the song, invites listeners to ponder. It turns daydreaming into a lens, refracting the outside world into an introspective space where love, action, and consequence entwine.

The Socio-Political Tapestry and Personal Refuge

‘Maggie this Maggie that Maggie means inflation / Hip-hop you don’t stop cause I’m not sloppy’ – here we find the song deep-diving into the socio-political, critiquing Thatcher’s Britain and placing hip-hop as a medium of non-compliance, a voice for the artistically undeterred.

Beyond merely observers, Massive Attack positions themselves and the listeners as active participants within these frameworks, using the song as both a tool of resistance and a personal refuge against the facets of society that seek to cloister creativity and individual truth.

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