Accidents Will Happen

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 10:09 am

What do you think is going on in AWH? I had an idea but, after thinking about it for the 'exciting game' thread, now I'm not so sure. So what do you think?

Accidents Will Happen

Oh I just don't know where to begin
Though he says he'll wait forever
It's now or never
But she keeps him hanging on
The silly champion
She says she can't go home
Without a chaperone

Accidents will happen
We only hit and run
He used to be your victim
Now you're not the only one

Accidents will happen
We only hit and run
I don't want to hear it
'Cause I know what I've done

There's so many fish in the sea
That only rise up in the sweat and smoke like mercury
But they keep you hanging on
They say you're so young
Your mind is made up but your mouth is undone

(Chorus)

And it's the damage that we do
And never know
It's the words that we don't say
That scare me so

There's so many people to see
So many people you can check up on
And add to your collection
But they keep you hanging on
Until you're well hung
Your mouth is made up but your mind is undone

(Chorus)

I know, I know, (repeat)

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 10:17 am

I saw a tv special with him (VH1's Storytellers, maybe?) where he said that he purposely changed all the pronouns in the song, to obscure the meaning. Then he sang it with the original pronouns. I don't remember exactly how it went, but it was much more self-accusatory, something like:

Accidents will happen
I only hit and run
You used to be my victim
Now you're not the only one

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 11:27 am

That's interesting, because from about halfway through - actually, right after those lines - you could assume it's not a specific story anymore.

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 11:43 am

I remember the VH1 Storytellers thing too and I remember him saying specifically about the line "used to be the victim now youre not the only one" that it meant something like "you used to be the only one for me, but youre not anymore" and that whole theme of infidelity and guilt and self-blame that affected many of his songs through that period.

Nice avatar Bamboo . . .

whtesde · Post by **whtesde** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 12:06 pm

My thought was always that the specific story in the song, getting away from the autobiographical implications, was that the first verse showed a young man in hot pursuit of a largely indifferent woman, with an implied (and unsatisfying?) seduction in the chorus. Accidents will happen/We only hit and run. The girl never appears again in the song; I always took that to mean the boy discarded her after getting what he wanted. As the song progesses, it becomes clear that the man makes a pattern out of this game of pursue and discard, there's so many fish in the sea, and that he realizes he's harming both the women and himself, but can't admit it, I don't want to hear it cause I know what I've done...it's the damage that we do and never know. The man collects 'people' but in the process brings himself more torment, they keep you hanging on. It's the look at a self-aware Don Juan pretending to be more callous than he is, addicted to the pursuit but also to the frustration that it brings him.

One of my favorite songs, obviously.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 2:57 pm

That's a really interesting interpretation, Whtsde -- I've always sort of assumed the song was mostly in the context of an ongoing dysfunctional relationship (though cheating also is clearly evident -- as it is in about 75% of EC songs), rather than a series of shorter ones. Of course, it could be both, too.

girl out of time · Post by **girl out of time** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 9:55 pm

my thoughts on this song are almost, if not the same ones that whtesde cleverly expressed.......

Misha · Post by **Misha** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 1:57 am

Whtsde,
I'm with you on this one....I imagine this is part of the fight of being found out where he is alternately justifying it with 'Accidents will Happen' and the 'I don't want to hear it, I know what I've done'....like he is being badgered with it, and he quite plainly knows what transpired and has his own problems with it, but yet, continues, justifying it as accidents....vicious circle behavior.....NOTHING at all like real life.....