Rise Against: The Approaching Curve Meaning
Song Released: 2008
The Approaching Curve Lyrics
The music played with a calming frequency.
The speakers gently seeped the sound of ambient keyboards and light percussion,
creating a seductive soundtrack to our midnight drive through curtains of blackness.
The windows were cold to...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:This song isn't one of their well known songs, but for some reason to me, its a materpiece. Perhapse because all the verses are spoken and not sang. Anyways, here goes.
"The music played with a calming frequency.
The speakers gently seeped the sound of ambient keyboards and light percussion,
creating a seductive soundtrack to our midnight drive through curtains of blackness.
The windows were cold to the touch, reflecting the icy conditions in our immediate extremity.
Salt stains and fingerprints littered the glass, and streaks with melted snow cascaded down it's length.
The music pulsed louder, yet gentle, like the far away squeal of a pot of boiling water.
The skylight was glowing faintly with vague hints of an impending dawn.
The car raced along a painfully straight stretch of road,
and she hadn't so much as turned the steering wheel two degrees in the last twenty minutes
nor had we spoken."
Simply put, its describing the scene. A man and his wife or girlfriend or whatnot are driving in the early morning on a long road in a winter month where it may have snowed the day before. They aren't talking to each other at all and they're listening to music.
"As we were, so perfect, so happy.
They'll remember, only our smiles 'cause that's all they've seen.
Long since dried, when we are found, are the tears in which we had drowned.
As we were, so perfect, so happy"
This is that sang chours that hints both in the car would die soon. They'll be remembered by their friends and loved ones as a happy couple, becuase all their friends and loved ones saw was the two happy togeather. They only fought when others weren't watching. When anyone finds them the tears, representing the two fighting, will have dried and not be known. Those tears will be the cause of their deaths. When people drive and are emotionally not in control, they tend to have their minds on other things and are not as carefull. No one will know
"'Why are you doing this?' she spoke as if not expecting a response.
Her voice penetrated the still air of our speechless drive, so suddenly that my heart had jumped.
'I'm not doing anything,' I said, but I didn't even believe that myself.
'This is what's best, for me, for you, for us,' or maybe just for me I thought,
as a tear formed in the pit of her eye. The music poured through the speakers
and we were losing ourselves in the cadence. She looked down momentarily and closed her eyes
for a bit longer than a standard blink. Then she was crying. Then she was shouting.
Then I was shouting, now pouring confessions, having no answers, or solutions,
we barely even knew the questions."
They're having an argument about somthing. What? The listener never knows. She is the first to break the speechlessness of the car. The narrator gives the generic "I don't wanna talk right now" responce for a male in a quarrel. She starts to cry (typical for these kind of fights). They both begin to shout at eachother, and point out everything the other had done wrong in the past, blaming each other for things and never getting to the solution of the problem.
"Don't put me underground, I was meant for a life somewhere else.
Please, love, give me the wheel, before both of our hearts you
will steal tonight (will steal tonight)"
This is sang by an outside narrator I believe that is making another hint that both in the car would soon die. The undrground meaning being buried, and both people wanted to move on, perhapse break up. The wheel meaning the steering wheel, hinting at a crash and since she is the one driving she will be the one to "steal" their hearts, meaning ending their heartbeats killing them.
"Our cracking voices became part of the music.
The car pressed on faster through the night. As our voices lowered,
The cadence again overtook the air.
Up ahead there was a curve approaching.
She made no indications of slowing."
The two are now yelling so loud they forget that music is playing in the backround. Eventually they both stop speaking and the silence resumes. Finally, a curve comes to the icey road and the driver isn't paying attention. The song ends, but it leaves the hints that both in the car are killed in the accident. -
2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:Here's something i saw on another site: The whole thing is a metaphor for the relationship. Everything outside the car is the boy's perspective (curtains of blackness, snowstorm, and the road as well) Whereas the car and everything in it is the girl's perspective (happy music). Also notice she is driving, or "in control" of the relationship. The boy says it is a "painfully straight stretch of road" and "she hadn't so much as turned the steering wheel two degrees in the last twenty minutes". He feels that the relationship is stagnant, and not going anywhere. The "impending dawn" refers to the imminent breakup. The approaching curve is a curve in the road, which is on the edge of a cliff going into the ocean. The curve itself is the boy wanting something new, going in a new direction. The car, representing the girl, keeps going straight into the water, because she is clinging to the relationship. The car leaving the road symbolizes the two of them breaking up. As for the literal meaning and the interpretation of the chorus, i think it was addressed rather well by the other commenters here.
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I prefer to believe that at the last minute she turned. :)
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Maybe she doesn't commit suicide - "Up ahead there was a curve approaching, she made no indications of slowing..." could mean that they are facing a hurlde in their life, but they are willing to take it head on so they can move forward. It would be curious to end such a literal song with an optimistic metaphor, however
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Many think it was a intended suicide but it strikes me that she was just so distracted that she didnt slow down for the turn. It could either way but "she gave no indication of slowing" could of just meant that she still had the arguement fresh in her mind and wasnt paying attention. Also, in the "will steal tonight" part a girl sings it with him which shows she might not of wanted to die, that is of course that the girl singing is intended to represent the girl with the narrator.
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"Don't put me underground, I was meant for a life somewhere else.
Please, love, give me the wheel, before both of our hearts you
will steal tonight (will steal tonight)"
I think this part is the boy singing to the girl. He's saying that what she's doing is irrational and that she should give him the wheel so they don't die but she refuses. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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One moe thing wrong with first post, it¯s not that she wasn¯t paying attention, she wanted to die, with him, rather than live, without him.
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the first guy was right except for the tears part. Tears drying and not being known just means that no one knows that they were fighting. That particular line doesn't hint at their deaths. But you got everything else right.
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This song is about a breakup while driving. The girl is driving but niether of them are talking and the atmosphere is awkward. Niether of them are talking until the girl breaks the silence. They yell and ramble on until they are both quite and the girl crashes the car killing both of them because she cannot live without him.
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