…Like Clockwork by Queens of the Stone Age Lyrics Meaning – The Unrelenting Passage of Time and the Illusion of Permanence
Lyrics
Has somewhere to go
And the faster the world spins
The shorter the lights will glow
And I’m swimming in the night
Chasing down the moon
The deeper in the water
The more I long for you
Most of what you see my dear is purely for show
Because not everything that goes around, comes back around you know
Holding on too long is just a fear of letting go
Because not everything that goes around, comes back around you know
One thing that is clear it’s all down hill from here
My love in your hand cleverly disguised
All the promises of stone, crumble in the light
Most of what you see my dear
Is worth letting go
Because not everything that goes around, comes back around you know
Holding on too long is just
A fear of want to show
Because not everything that goes around, comes back around you know
Not everything that goes around, comes back around you know
One thing that is clear
It’s all down hill from here
In the vast expanse of rock’s compelling discography, Queens of the Stone Age stand as sentinels of the evocative. Their song ‘…Like Clockwork’ is not just a labyrinth of chords and melody but an existential musing set to music. Infused with a haunting resonance, the track delves into themes of impermanence, the relentless march of time, and the human condition’s intimate struggle with both.
With each meticulously crafted line, frontman Josh Homme draws listeners into a reflective pool of thought, asking them to contend with the fleeting nature of life, love, and the faces we wear to weather our days. Perhaps it is in this twilight of understanding that the song finds its truest meaning, and it is here where we begin our exploration.
The Metaphor of the Spinning World
Within the very first lines, ‘…Like Clockwork’ entangles us in an allegory of the accelerating world. Its rapid movement is akin to our lives spiraling past us, a whirlwind of ephemeral moments and hasty farewells. As Homme sings of the ‘shorter the lights will glow’, we confront the blinding speed of existence and the destabilizing fear that we may miss our chance to truly shine.
It’s not just time that’s fleeting; it’s our opportunities, our relationships, and our ability to appreciate the now before it slips through our fingers like sand. As our connection to the present moment becomes frayed, the challenge is to swim ‘in the night’, remaining hopeful in the face of the unknown.
The Illusion of Karma in Relationships
The recurrent phrase ‘not everything that goes around, comes back around you know’ punctures the mythical comfort of karma. We are presented with the stark reality that our actions and feelings may not always circle back to us as expected. There’s a raw acknowledgment in the lines of ‘…Like Clockwork’ that fairness is not guaranteed, and sometimes the emotional investments we make may never yield returns.
This anti-karmic perspective challenges listeners to detach from the notion of cosmic balance in daily interactions, especially when it comes to love. For Homme, it appears that the wisdom lies in understanding when to hold on and when freeing oneself from the weight of unreciprocated devotion.
Unveiling the Hidden Meaning: Letting Go of Fear
The song’s hidden undercurrent is a meditation on fear—the fear of letting go—and it manifests beautifully in the succinct admission that ‘holding on too long is just a fear of letting go’. There’s an existential implication that we cling to what we know, sometimes to our own detriment, out of a simple terror of the unknown.
In the unraveling of these lyrics, ‘…Like Clockwork’ can be understood as an encouragement to embrace impermanence and the natural decay of the physical and emotional landscapes we inhabit. It’s about releasing the grip on the unchangeable and finding the courage to move forward.
The Tangible & Intangible Disguises of Love
When Homme poignantly observes, ‘My love in your hand cleverly disguised’, there’s a bittersweet revelation about the nature of love and its often-misleading representation. The stone promises, emblematic of strength and endurance, ultimately, do not withstand the test of time and ‘crumble in the light’.
This stands as a sobering reminder that not all that appears steadfast will remain. The physical facets of love and affection, the very things we hold onto as proofs of love, might be nothing more than facades masking the truth of a more fragile bond.
Memorable Lines that Echo in the Silence
There’s haunting clarity in the repetition of ‘not everything that goes around, comes back around you know’, a line that lingers long after the song ends. It’s a melodic mantra that encapsulates the core philosophy of the track, a kind of musical koan that invites contemplation.
And then, with the sobering deliverance of ‘one thing that is clear it’s all down hill from here’, the song doesn’t after all suggest a fatalistic descent but rather a natural progression, an easing into the downhill ride of life’s latter phases, with grace and acceptance rather than resistance. It is these lines that speak the loudest, asking us to ponder the paradoxes of our existence and the space we occupy in the spiraling clockwork of the universe.
