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A Place With No Name's meaning

etoile 37

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I know this is not what the writer said the song was about, but when I hear it, I can't help but visualize this:

As I drove across on the highway
My jeep began to rock

A man dies in an accident on the road.

I didn't know what to do so I stopped and got out
And looked down and noticed I got a flat
So I walked out, parked the car like sideways
So I can find what I can fix

He doesn't realize yet that he is dead and he thinks he just needs to fix his car.

I looked around there were no cars on the highway
I felt a strange feeling like a mist

He can't see the other cars because he is passing into the other world.

I walked down towards the end of the road
And in the fog a woman appeared
She said don't you worry my friend I'll take care
Take my hand, I'll take you there

An angel appears and brings him to heaven.

As she took me right through the fog
I see a beautiful city appear
Where kids are playin' and people are laughin' and smiling and
No one's in fear
She said this is the place where no people have pain
With love and happiness

She showed me places I've never seen and things I've never done
This really looks like a lotta fun
I seen the grass and the sky and the birds
And the flowers surrounded by the trees
This place is filled with love and happiness
and not a world could I wanna leave

Heaven is a wonderful place and he loves it there.

She turned around looked down in my eyes, I start cryin'
She grabbed my hand, you got a friend

She started likin' me kissin' me and huggin' me
She didn't really, really want me to leave

So then I went in my pocket took my wallet on out
With my pictures of my family and girl

But suddenly he is hit with the realization that he can never go back and see his family again. The angel tries to comfort him.

When you thought you could be in another world

He is no longer on Earth.



Thoughts?
 
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Nice interpretation, sad but the song is kind of sad.
 
As for the song IMO the man still has a chance to get back, it is up to him.

As for the video and lyrics it looks like Michael is already in the place with no name and the man in Jeep is on the way… if I may say so.
 
I think that's a good interpretation, etoile 37. I think the lyrics can support it just fine.

It's not an interpretation that leaves me as happy as thinking this is more about a fantasy world he comes upon and the mystical gal is there to lead him safely through its portal; it reminds me of the Twilight Zone MJ liked a lot of the two children finding that portal at the bottom of the pool which leads them to a happy place.

MJ liked everything to be "magical," didn't he? :)


EDIT: I just remembered something, etoile 37, that also lines up with your interpretation, and that is when I first heard these lyrics:

She turned around looked down in my eyes

I took note that she was taller than him, and I immediately thought of this taller gal used as the angel for MJ in WYBT. Remember her?


 
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That was close to my imagination for this song too,its a dramatic song i think the place is a piece of paradise
 
I think about an accident too but he didn´t die, he´s hovering between life and death.
He was going to cross the border to the beautiful place but then the thought of his family and girl hold him back.

When I saw the video it reminded me of "On a dark desert highway"..from Hotel California.
"This could be Heaven"
"Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face"

Then I´m not so sure anymore if the woman really is so nice .
She shows him beautiful things but is there a different reality behind the mask?
 
The first time i heard the song i thought for myself, "wow this is really a sad song" The way he says, take me ah take me take me, near the end, i love that.

She turned around looked down in my eyes, I start cryin'
She grabbed my hand, you got a friend

This has got to be my favorite part. Poetic and a authentic delivery
 
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I originally felt like MJ's meaning of the song is similar to the original version of this song "A Horse With No Name" by America....about drugs...now that you mentioned it though.....it does sound like it's about death and or the after life.

Maybe this could be a sequel to "Heaven Can Wait". Who knows? lol
 
Another interpretation could be that the lyrics is about suicide. A man wanting to get away but is confined by fear of leaving hence the angel trying to comfort him, " this is the place that you choosed to be with me", "she grabbed my hand you got a friend"
 
^ That's an interesting take on it. Hmm...yeah, I can see that. The angel is coming to save him from going through with that act? Is that what you mean?


What had made me think of this story being about imagination and escapism initially, are these two lines where I have always heard a couple of words differently,

This is the place that you choose to be with me
With a thought, you could be in another world

The lyrics heard this way make me think that she is saying, "no worries, if you choose right now to go back to your "real" life, but remember, with just a thought, you can come back to visit here any ol' time you want. I will be here waiting for you..."
 
Wow those are interesting interpretations I never thought of it that way.

"I went to my pocket and took my wallet on out with my family and girl" My interpretation is more seduction and guilt on Michael's part. He is in the here and now and he simply breaks down and sees this mysterious woman that seduces him and wants him" she starts liking me, huggin etc" tells me she is seducing him, and maybe shows him things and places he'd never seen before meaning pleasures he's never experienced before?

So maybe he feels guilty as he looks at the pics of his family and girl.

I don't know. I can see how it could be interpreted as a heavenly or life death experience. Well, I just love this song, it lends itself to many an imagination.
 
SheilaMJFan4Ever said:
It doesn't strike me as a happy song, whatever the interpretation.
Click to expand...

You know it is so interesting and fascinating how some of Michael's greatest upbeat fun danceable songs have very dark lyrics and yet they can be so happy/catchy/fun at the same time. Only Michael could do that. Billie Jean, Arbortion Papers, Smooth Criminal, WBSS, etc etc. come to mind.
 
MIST;4036773 said:
...Then I´m not so sure anymore if the woman really is so nice .
She shows him beautiful things but is there a different reality behind the mask?
Click to expand...


Funny you should mention this. I have been having conflicting feelings about the song, too. At first it does seem like a near-death experience with an angel, but my thoughts alternate between that interpretation and the idea that perhaps this "woman" is not an angel but maybe something evil in disguise trying to seduce him away from his family. Maybe it's because of the way he sings that last line about "This is the place that you choose to be with me..." It sounds like it's sung in anger or something. Makes me wonder if this is the same "woman" deceiving him and causing him all that pain in the song, "Blue Gangsta."
 
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