Disaster Button

Album: A Hundred Million Suns (2008)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song was written by frontman Gary Lightbody about his younger days when he spent too much time getting drunk and creating chaos. After one crazed night of drinking, the singer fell down the stairs at the Glasgow School Of Art cracking his head open and knocking himself out. Lightbody told The Sun October 17, 2008: "Very scary times. That song is about my mid-twenties, when I definitely had a disaster button. It was very easily pushed and all around me turned to calamity very fast. It's me looking back on a few specific incidents where I could have handled myself a little better."
  • Lightbody told the Irish public broadcaster RTE: "It's about losing the run of yourself, as simple as that really. I'm not glorifying anything, quite the opposite. The female figure in it is the benchmark of cool, calm and aspriational. All the women in my songs tend to be just that as it is very often me that is the opposite."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Cheerleaders In Music Videos

Cheerleaders In Music VideosSong Writing

It started with a bouncy MTV classic. Nirvana and MCR made them scary, then Gwen, Avril and Madonna put on the pom poms.

Shaun Morgan of Seether

Shaun Morgan of SeetherSongwriter Interviews

Shaun breaks down the Seether songs, including the one about his brother, the one about Ozzy, and the one that may or may not be about his ex-girlfriend Amy Lee.

Real or Spinal Tap

Real or Spinal TapMusic Quiz

They sang about pink torpedoes and rocking you tonight tonight, but some real lyrics are just as ridiculous. See if you can tell which lyrics are real and which are Spinal Tap in this lyrics quiz.

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull

Ian Anderson of Jethro TullSongwriter Interviews

The flautist frontman talks about touring with Led Zeppelin, his contribution to "Hotel California", and how he may have done the first MTV Unplugged.

Stan Ridgway

Stan RidgwaySongwriter Interviews

Go beyond the Wall of Voodoo with this cinematic songwriter.

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.