Last Night Bus
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Last Night Bus is an indie twee pop song by Hello Saferide. It was composed by Annika Norlin and first released on 2014-09-03 as track 9 on the album The Fox, the Hunter and Hello Saferide. On the recording, Norlin plays guitar, bass, recorder, and sings lead vocals and backup vocals. Christian Gabel programmed the drum machine, played synthesizer, organ, and percussion.
The song is about a woman remembering when she was a teenager at a party where boys were nice to her and she was interested in them, but she had to leave before a relationship could be started, which was serendipitous because they turned out to be neo-Nazis. Thinking back on the night, the woman is still scared to realize how, as naive as she was at the time, they could have easily persuaded her to become a neo-Nazi as well. However, this makes her realize that many people who are hateful today are that way because they weren't as lucky as she was, and this makes her not want to hate them back, but rather hope that someone will love them enough to get them to give up their hate.
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Personal
I started listening to The Fox, The Hunter and Hello Saferide a year or two after it was released, but I had trouble focusing on it because I had several other new albums at the same time. It wasn't until 2020 that I started listening to the songs more frequently. This song, with its programmed drum track didn't impress me at all. However, after listening to it several more times, I finally started to understand what the lyrics were about, which made me listen to it with my full attention. It was then I really loved it and started listening to it over and over again for a couple of days.
I'm not really that impressed with the instrumentation in this song. Programmed drum tracks don't sound very good to me, and the synthesizer is pretty dull. I like Annika vocals, especially in the lines, "some people are grown up," and, "none of these boys hit on me", but to me, the song shines because of the story. The idea of being saved from becoming a Nazi simply because of a bus schedule is an interesting twist of fate. I like how Annika describes herself being a late bloomer, still reading books about ponies at 15 and having a body in the shape of capital L, which I assume means a flat chest and long feet. I also like her word choice like, "a party where boys would occur," and "It's my scariest sliding doors memory," which I wonder if this is a Swedish idiom. In particular, I love that she ends the song with refusing to hate hateful people because they are often the products of abuse from other hateful people, and she instead wishes for them to be saved by a loving person.
Lyrics
I was 15, had the shape of a capital L, I still read books about ponies. This girl I got to know said she was throwing a party. A party where boys would occur. Something this cool was unheard of, In my life this far. There were four boys at the party. They weren't special or anything, Apart from the fact they were boys. They were real nice to me. They put on some neo-Nazi music. Said, "it's pretty good, this neo-Nazi music." And I hummed along, Tapped my foot along, To the neo-Nazi music. Now, at 15, some people are grown up, Have minds of their own. But me, I was a child. I was a piece of clay those days, I could have been molded by anyone. I was a good kid, just that, I could have been molded by anyone. The neo-Nazi boys, they were nice to me. They smiled at me and they noticed me. But the best thing that ever happened to me, Is that none of these boys hit on me. I could have demonstrated. Played the bass guitar in a neo-Nazi band. Would have been the same in some ways, And someone else in other ways. It's my scariest sliding doors memory. I want it sliced in a shredder, Thrown out of me. The last night bus was departing. So I had to leave. And I see you on the subway. You're 30 and you're into hate. Now, at 30, some people are grown up, Have minds of their own. And I get a letter from you man. You're 50 and you're into hate. Now, at 50, some people are grown up, Have minds of their own. But, you got the wrong attention, At exactly the right time. You got the wrong attention. I'm not gonna hate at you because you hate women. I'm not gonna hate at you because you hate color. I'm gonna wish so hard for someone to give you, The right attention, the right love, And turn this around. That someone's gonna be your last night bus, This night out on the town. That someone's gonna be your last night bus, This night out on the town.
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