Miner At The Dial-A-View

Album: The Sophtware Slump (2000)
Play Video
  • I found your house and I saw your car
    But I've no idea where you are
    From the dial-a-view

    Tire scraps on the federal roads
    Look like crash landed crows
    From the dial-a-view

    Hello welcome to dial-a-view
    To locate the area in which you wish to observe
    You must program in the longitude and the latitude
    For a closer more detailed picture
    Use either the zoom or micro-zoom controls
    Good luck

    I dream at night
    Of going home someday
    Somewhere so far away
    So dream alright
    I know it's going to take some time
    I'm going home someday

    Fifteen years is almost done
    And I don't recognize anyone
    From the dial-a-view

    My home my friends and you
    I watch them fade but what can I do?
    From the dial-a-view

    Hello welcome to dial-a-view
    To locate the area in which you wish to observe
    You must program in the longitude and the latitude
    For a closer more detailed picture
    Use either the zoom or micro-zoom controls
    Good luck

    I dream at night
    Of going home someday
    Somewhere so far away
    So dream alright
    I know it's going to take some time
    I'm going home someday

    I dream at night
    Of going home someday
    Somewhere so far away
    So dream alright
    I know it's going to take some time
    I'm going home someday

    I dream at night
    Of going home someday
    Somewhere so far away
    So dream alright
    I know it's going to take some time
    I'm going home someday Writer/s: JASON LYTLE
    Publisher: DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 8

  • Toe from NorcalI thought it was a real telescope service in the hills near Modesto. I thought Jason was spying on his old High School girlfriend and friends. He left them behind but wonders if he should come home.
  • Tom from A, Belgiuma dial-a-view is the concept of video over a dial-up (telephone) network, directly (videophone) or indirectly like a service similar to pay-per-view, but requested over the phone, and viewed on, for example, a television. the information viewed can also be anything, a movie, or in the miners case, probably, satellite images. a dial-a-view is not a device, but an old concept (idea), not used anymore due to things like internet and digital telivision.
  • Edward from Yums, Az"I found your house and saw your car but i have no idea where you are... from the Dial-a-View"

    It is Google Earth!
  • Edward from Yums, AzThe "Dial-a-View" is some kind of a "pay per view" device that the protagonist frequents in order to get some kind of contact (a view) of his home, his former self... it is empty, cheap escapism but his only refuge from the torments of his present state. Like the coal miner who drinks his wages at the Company bar, he is trapped plunking his wages into a machine like a boy filling an arcade game with quarters... we get an idea that it isn't a sure thing... that it is hit or miss ... the female voiceover says "...good luck!"

    great fricking song.
  • Kelly from Fort Lauderdale, Fli live in san francisco but can see my parents house in fort lauderdale through the long-latd map internet site. technology and the soul have absolutely no place together ("so far away" is where the soul's home is and it is eons away from this cold physical plane). Technology is neat but it is inversely proportional to your true growth potential- alienated is right, Rachel.
  • Mike from Bedford, EnglandI think the Dial-A-view is some kind of arial spying system. maybe syping is not the right word - think of a live version of multimap. As the song says you select you longtitude and the latitude and then zoom in to look at the person you want. i think the guy is lonely and uses the dial-a-view to look up these people he has grown apart from. Perhaps?
  • Rachel from London, Englandthe way i understand it (literally), the hero is in a sort of "work farm" which provides a kind of telescope that you can use to view your family, friends etc.
    however, i think the dial-a-view is a metaphor for the way the hero feels i.e. alienated, and for how he views the world like a "ghost", without establishing any real contact with "family" and "friends"
  • Fabien from Rennes, Francebut what do you think the "dial-a-view" is ?
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Michael Bolton

Michael BoltonSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for this talk with Bolton from the '80s when he was a focused on writing songs for other artists.

Protest Songs

Protest SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know your protest songs (including the one that went to #1)?

They Might Be Giants

They Might Be GiantsSongwriter Interviews

Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.

Evolution Of The Prince Symbol

Evolution Of The Prince SymbolSong Writing

The evolution of the symbol that was Prince's name from 1993-2000.

Benny Mardones

Benny MardonesSongwriter Interviews

His song "Into The Night" is one of the most-played of all time. For Benny, it took him to hell and back.

Guy Clark

Guy ClarkSongwriter Interviews

Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett are just a few of the artists who have looked to Clark for insightful, intelligent songs.