“Dying to Be Here” is the ultimate Beijing anthem, a love song sung to a city killing your lungs. Dying just to live in this smokestack, sucking it in like an endless cigarette. It’s catchy; it sticks. Zooming out from the particulars of Beijing, the lens moves left of the well-worn motif of mortal fear, lingering on the price you pay trying to maximize life. Whether concerned dialogue or schizo inner-monologue, the truth is already known, and it’s blunt: “Escape. I know.”
lyrics
“Take a break.”
“Alright.”
“You’ve had too much.”
“I know.”
“Escape.”
“Alright.”
“Before it’s too late.”
“I know.”
Dying to be here
There’s a guy
I know
He’s not too bright
And so
He lives a life
with no
No selfcontrol
And then he crows:
“I’m dying to be here.”
It’s the price you pay to feel alive
It’s the price you pay for something to say