"So there was this woman and she was, uh, on an airplane
And she was flying to meet her fiance
Sailing high above the, the largest ocean on planet earth
And she was seated next to this man, who
You know, she had tried to start conversations
And the only, really the only thing she heard him say was
Was to order his, his Bloody Mary
And she's sitting there and she was reading this
Really arduous magazine article about a third world country
That she couldn't even pronounce the, the name of
And she was feeling very bored and very despondent
And then, uh, suddenly there was this huge mechanical failure
And one of the, the engines gave out
And they started just falling thirty-thousand feet
The pilot's on the, on the microphone and he's, he's saying
'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, oh my god, I'm sorry' and apologizing
And she looks at the man and she, and she says, she says
She says 'Where are we going?'
And he looks at her and he says 'We're going to a party
It's a birthday party, it's your birthday party
Happy birthday, darling
We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much'
And then, uhm, he starts humming this little tune
And, and uh, it kind of goes like this, it's kinda
One, two, one, two, three, four"

We must talk on every telephone
Get eaten off the web
We must rip out all the epilogues
From the books that we have read
And to the face of every criminal
Strapped firmly to a chair
We must stare, we must stare, we must stare

We must take all of the medicines
Too expensive now to sell
Set fire to the preacher
Who is promising us hell
And in the ear of every anarchist
That sleeps but doesn't dream
We must sing, we must sing, we must sing

And it'll go like this, alright

While my mother waters plants
My father loads his gun
He says death will give us back to God
Just like the setting sun
Its return to the lonesome ocean

And then they splashed into the deep blue sea
Oh, it was a wonderful splash

We must blend into the choir
Sing ecstatic with the whole
Must memorize nine numbers
And deny we have a soul
And in this endless race for property
And privilege to be one
We must run, we must run, we must run

We must hang up in the belfry
Where the bats and moonlight laugh
We must stare into a crystal ball
And only see the past
And into the caverns of tomorrow
With just our flashlights and our love
We must plunge, we must plunge, we must plunge
And then we'll get down there
Way down to the very bottom of everything
And then we'll see it, we'll see it, we'll see it

Oh my mornings coming back
The whole world's waking up
Oh, the city bus is swimming past
I'm happy just because
I found out I am really no one


Lyrics submitted by Hunter, edited by sarahbelum, Cafehollander, RickyFiggy

At The Bottom Of Everything Lyrics as written by Conor Oberst

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Unison Rights S.L.

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At the Bottom of Everything song meanings
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  • +3
    General Comment

    Really, I think this is about how we do all sorts of things in our lives to try and figure out purpose and where we are going (So we stare into crystal balls and rip out the epilogues). To do this we conform ("we must blend into the choir...") and all sorts of stuff and we hate it but we feel like we have to to get the answer. And we're so afraid to die without knowing it.

    And then, finally we "get down there, way down to the very bottom of everything" and realise that our life is pointless. So we're happy we found it, but sad because we realise it was all a waste of time.

    That what I think, anyways. I love this song though. It's so depressingly beautiful.

    clay1234on February 20, 2008   Link

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