Just Get Through This Night

Just Get Through This Night
Written by Tommy Shaw
Lead Vocals by Tommy Shaw

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[Whispered]
"Help me Kilroy....Tonight we'll make history"
"I hear you Jonathon...Meet me at the Paradise"

This could be the longest night in recorded history
And as for sleep, you might as well just cross it off the list of
possibilities
(Now) I'm as brave as the next man
I won't turn and run from a fight
And I could last a million years
If I just get through this night

I could be a novelist
Tell secrets never heard
Pour my soul into each and every sentence
But I just can't find the words
Still I know that you're out there
And you can relate to it all
And I could bear the cold and stormy winter
If I just get through this fall

Don't you know there's no place on this earth
Where you can run to escape the pain of a broken heart
It's useless to spend the time it takes you try
But can't you see that I'm here
And I'm looking just the same
And I don't know why...

I could be a movie star
The king of Hollywood
Make them cry, dramatically pretending
To keep romance alive
And I would humbly thank my director
And everyone involved from the start
I could blow them all away
If I'd only find the the part
If I just get through this night
If I just get through this night

Interpretation

From the album liner notes:

THE PAST
Dr. Everett Righteous, founder and leader of the MMM, (The Majority for Musical Morality) became influential in American politics through the use of his own cable T.V. network. He spoke about the evils of rock 'n' roll music, and how its permissive attitudes were responsible for the moral and economic decline of America. He was charismatic, entertaining, and above all, he understood the media. The MMM soon gained enough power to have rock 'n' roll banned.

Robert Orin Charles Kilroy was a world famous rock 'n' roll star. As this new law was passed, Kilroy and his band were finishing a national tour. Their last performance, at the Paradise Theatre, would serve as the test case. On the night of the concert, as Kilroy played to a packed house, the MMM marched in and stormed the stage. When it was over, a MMM protester was dead...Kilroy was convicted of murder and sent to a prison ship with other rock 'n' roll misfits...

THE PRESENT
...is a future where Japanese manufactured robots, designed to work cheaply and endlessly, are the caretakers of society. "Mr. Robotos" are everywhere, serving as manual labor in jobs that were once held by humans.

Dr. Righteous enforces his own morality by holding nightly rallies where crowds hurl rock 'n' roll records and electric guitars into huge bonfires...Jonathan Chance, the rebel leader of an underground movement to bring back rock 'n' roll, has made Kilroy the symbol of his cause. Meanwhile, Kilroy has spent a number of years in prison. With no hope of release, he is subjected to the humiliation of mind control via the MMM cable network. In an attempt to contact Kilroy, Jonathan jams the airwaves of the MM network, replacing a mind control session with outlawed footage of a Kilroy concert. Inspired by Jonathan's message, Kilroy plots his escape. Late one night, he makes a daring attempt to free himself by overpowering a Roboto guard. Disguised as a Roboto Kilroy moves freely throughout the city leaving graffiti coded messages for Jonathan. Jonathan discovers the "Rock Code" which leads him to the old Paradise Theatre, now the site of Dr. Righteous' Museum of Rock Pathology. There he sees the last Kilroy concert mechanically depicted by Kilroy look-alike robots as the violent end of rock 'n' roll...

Interpretation

As he anxiously awaits the time to quietly slip out unnoticed for his late night clandestine meeting with Kilroy, Jonathan Chance lays in bed and ponders the situation he's in.  Just a few years before, it seems like a lifetime, he was dreaming of a life of possibilities. Now he finds himself the leader of a movement to bring back rock and roll music, those dreams on hold.