This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Some plans were made and rice was thrown
A house was built, a baby born
How time can move both fast and slow amazes me
And so I raise my glass to symmetry
To the second hand and its accuracy
To the actual size of everything
The desert is the sand
You can't hold it in your hand
It won't bow to your demands
There's no difference you can make
There's no difference you can make
And if it seems like an accident
A collage of senselessness
You aren't looking hard enough
I wasn't looking hard enough at it
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who makes love to the flowerbed
And dies in the first freeze
Oh, I want to learn such simple things
No politics, no history
Till what I want and what I need
Can finally be the same
I just got myself to blame
Leave everything up to fate
When there's choices I could make
When there's choices I could make
Now my heart needs a polygraph
Always so eager to pack my bags
When I really wanna to stay
When I really wanna to stay
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
The arc of time, the stench of sex
The innocence you can't protect
Each quarter note, each marble step
Walk up and down that lonely treble clef
Each wanting the next one
Each wanting the next one to arrive
Each wanting the next one
Each wanting the next one to arrive
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who never thinks not to accept its fate
That's faith, there's happiness in death
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
The levity of longing that
Distills each dream inside my head
By morning watered down forget
On silver stars I wish and wish and wish
From one to the next one
From one to the next right down the line
From one to the next one
From one to the next right down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
A house was built, a baby born
How time can move both fast and slow amazes me
And so I raise my glass to symmetry
To the second hand and its accuracy
To the actual size of everything
The desert is the sand
You can't hold it in your hand
It won't bow to your demands
There's no difference you can make
There's no difference you can make
And if it seems like an accident
A collage of senselessness
You aren't looking hard enough
I wasn't looking hard enough at it
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who makes love to the flowerbed
And dies in the first freeze
Oh, I want to learn such simple things
No politics, no history
Till what I want and what I need
Can finally be the same
I just got myself to blame
Leave everything up to fate
When there's choices I could make
When there's choices I could make
Now my heart needs a polygraph
Always so eager to pack my bags
When I really wanna to stay
When I really wanna to stay
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
When I wanna stay (when I wanna stay)
The arc of time, the stench of sex
The innocence you can't protect
Each quarter note, each marble step
Walk up and down that lonely treble clef
Each wanting the next one
Each wanting the next one to arrive
Each wanting the next one
Each wanting the next one to arrive
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who never thinks not to accept its fate
That's faith, there's happiness in death
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
The levity of longing that
Distills each dream inside my head
By morning watered down forget
On silver stars I wish and wish and wish
From one to the next one
From one to the next right down the line
From one to the next one
From one to the next right down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
Lyrics submitted by apocalypse84
I Believe in Symmetry Lyrics as written by Conor Oberst
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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long long long time visiter of this site, first time commenter.
firstly, i believe this song is a reference to Epicurus' theory of symmetry. when each living thing dies, it reverts back to a state of unconsciousness, the same state it was in before birth. the theory holds that any other sort of afterlife is impossible because it is incongruent, asymmetrical. i think that the song holds this theory true, though it is difficult to accept that a time will come when he must leave, when he must die ("when i really wanna stay...")
secondly, he addresses the fact that all other creatures are not self-aware as we are. we understand mortality and this wounds us every day. the insect "never stops to accept his fate". because he is ignorant, it is easier to see the beauty in his death without mourning it. each death leads to a new beginning, not in the sense of an afterlife, or any continuation of consciousness, but merely gives way to new life, which in itself is beautiful.
"The argument for consciousness The instinct of the blind insect Who never thinks not to accept its fate, that's faith There's happiness in death You give to the next one You give to the next on down the line You give to the next one You get to the next on down the line"
not quite sure how to connect those thoughts, or if they even apply, but there it is.
@nietzschewept This seems like a really unfounded interpretation. There's no sign of Bright Eyes as a band having ever felt the influence of Epicurus, beside their use of the word 'symmetry.' A word that in this case seems to suggest actual order. Your description seems to suggest a sense of condescending towards the mentioned insect; the narrator does not imply that animals are ignorant and unaware, but that they accept their life and death through knowledge that everything is as it should be.<br /> The last section you quoted seems to suggest a spirit of reincarnation above all else; the song even ends with 'you get to the next one down the line,' which is an obvious reference. This work, as do many of Bright Eyes' work, seems to be most influenced through philosophies akin to Taoism more than anything else, as others have already pointed out.<br /> Of course, music being an art form leaves itself open to interpretation, but I feel that this explanation specifically shoehorns a philosophy entirely at odds with the song's lyrics into itself.