I’ve always seen this line as having more to do with not having enough time.

time doesn’t exist

Often when Corgan performs this song live, as well as on the “Tonight Reprise” B-side track, he sings “the place where I was born” instead of “the place where you were born.

Just to expand a little he is saying that no matter where they go, Chicago is still home, where the home fires are always burning.

This (and a similar phrase in “Tonight, Tonight” from the same album) is likely an allusion to Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, in which he said “We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. ”

Despite it all the clock keeps ticking and people keep moving along.

I think what is really being said here is that the road is calling to the listener to seize the moment. This line summarizes the overall message of the song. The writer is reminiscing about a time in life that was simpler and experienced in-the-moment, but most people don’t live like that, especially when they get older. The street provides endless opportunities to experience life in the here and now, but nobody is taking advantage of that freedom, which is why the writer says “as you see there is no one around.”

A nod to Martin Luther King’s “the fierce urgency of now”

I interpret this as finally growing up.

The fast “go go go” attitude of the city traffic makes him realize that it is urgent / important that he is growing up and needs to become a responsible adult, but also how it is important to appreciate “the now”.

Now, as he’s growing up, he may be on this busy street full of people, but there’s “no one around” because he is losing touch with his friends, and the friends he still has are losing the reckless spirit of teen youth.

Whether you’ve lost touch with your friends at this point in life or not, no one is around to hang out and wreak havoc anymore. It’s time to drive through the busy traffic to get to your boring adult job on time.

To me, it seems like this doesn’t really reflect Billy as he was writing the song, but Billy as a teenager with his friends. The car had the “headlights pointed at the dawn”, meaning it’s very early in the morning; maybe that’s why there’s no one aropund?

also, If it wasn’t mentioned already, there’s a line in “tonight, tonight” where he addresses the “urgency of now” in the second chorus. Perhaps this an ongoing theme throughout “Mellon Collie”

@Ax1os That’s great info about the 79 VW! It should definitely be added to the “Junebug” annotation.

So do you think “street heats” is a reference to the daytime?

I believe that “Junebug” refers to a 1979 VW bug and not the VW bus. The body style of the bug changed only a year or two later so the 79 is seen as a classic if not iconic. But junebug might be referring to a girlfriend probably sitting in the passenger seat dancing away because he does say she’s skipping. As they drive with headlights pointed at the dawn meaning it’s night right now and they’ll be driving until the morning comes.

@Ax1os I like your line of thinking…but…how do we know its night? I know the music video shows it as being night but music videos can have little to do with the actual song.

Also, I’m on the fence regarding the Junebug line…not really sure it refers to a VW bus…that was 60’s culture after all. Corgan often refers to “June” in many songs as a fictional/ideal woman, “Junebug” may be a nickname he gave her.

Thoughts?

Corgan writing this at a stop light is an interesting fact but in reference to the song I believe that this line is an observation by the teenagers in the junebug. During the day the streets are filled with urgency, people needing to be somewhere, but now that it’s night there is no one around, they’re free to relax and enjoy the ride.

Another interpretation: this a fairly desparate wish that there is hope and lasting love in the future. Stated multiple times, like a chanted prayer, not sure that this light is real but he wishes it might be.

May be my own interpretation on the line but I always took it that: through life all that you will ever go through, them dark soul destroying moments when you feel life will never be different there will always be hope and a light at the end of that tunnel- and it will never go out

In the original demo version, the line was ‘there is a light in your eye and it never goes out’, which could suggest that it is a comment on the vitality and spirit of the person driving the car.

It could also be percieved as an undying affection for someone you can’t be with. If you listen to the podcast about this song on Soul Music, one mother mentions that she interpreted the song as the light of her dying son, even if death may separate them physically, the sons light will always shine on her. Another woman also says that for her, the light is the love between her and her boyfriend who broke up, but still loved each other after three years apart and thus got married.

Actually, in early versions Morrissey sang “there is a light IN YOUR EYES and it never goes out”

These lines can symbolize hope. Hope is ever persistent, amidst the darkness of misery and pain, hope still shines, though it may be faint. There is a light and it never goes out: Hope is the light, and it continues to shine, no matter how dark and hard times may be.

The message of hope underlies the whole song, though he speaks of feeling anxious and afraid, he also writes of being very happy to be with this person. He restates “there is a light that never goes out” because he wishes to reinforce the power that hope holds, exclaiming to the listener ‘things can get better!’

It should be noted that the demo version’s full lyric is “There is a light in your eyes and it never goes out” – perhaps a sign of hope as the narrator sees something special in the way the object of his affection looks at him, or perhaps an insistence that his love for the other person is undying.

The former puts the lyric “I want to see lights” in perspective – he not only wants to see the lights of London at night, but he wants to see that light in the other person’s eyes, and he wants to see that it never goes out.

Since the line keeps repeating, it makes me think that this situation of going out with a friend and being too afraid to admit his feelings repeats quite often. He would rather that they die together than confess his feelings to them out of fear of rejection.

Also, since Morrissey finished the quote much later in his life: ‘There is a light and it never goes out and it’s called hope’ introduces the idea that he can always hope that he’ll confess (or more likely, that they’ll confess) and they can run away, but more than likely, he’s just stuck re-living the same fantasy over and over again, which will get him nowhere.

It’s perfectly likely for the object of the protagonist’s affections to not be a woman, and for the protagonist not to be a man: the Author Is Dead, after all. The light could also be either the glimmer of street lights, distant but still present in the cool silence of the underpass, which could represent the concerns that press on the protagonist despite their attempts to escape with their friend. It could also mean the steady, certain knowledge that even despite whatever their parents, peers or authority figures may think of them, they still have the company of their friend, and their friend has them.

the idea behind this song is that Moz feels as though this world we live in is not the only realm of existence, and it sure as hell isn’t the most enjoyable one. (also touched on in the song “Asleep” [there is a better world, well there must be]) Referencing the “white light” people claim to see during near death experiences, “there is a light and it never goes out” is his way of saying our souls will travel on forever.