Blindsided

Personally I think this song is about depression... Most probably depression he is feeling over his relationship break up.

"I'm crippled and slow"

I think this line is about the lack of energy and motivation people can feel when they are depressed.

"For the agony I'd rather know"

And, I think this line is about how sometimes being depressed is easier than fighting depression. It's much more comfortable to stay stay depressed that to go out and make change (again, I refer you to the 'crippled and slow' quote). So he would rather know the agony than have to make an effort.

"Cause blinded I am blindsided"

to me this suggests again the fact that he is depressed, or 'blinded' from seeing the world in a 'healthy' or 'typical' way. The fact that he is 'blindsided', means that he is siding with his depression... again a reference to how he would prefer to 'side' with his depression, rather than fight it.

I think the end of the song shows his readiness to accept and fight against his depression.

The Line: "For the irony, i'd rather know" Suggests that while he said he would 'rather know the agony', he really would prefer not to experience it...

The the change to the line "Cause blinded I WAS blindsided" shows that while he is still 'blinded', or depressed, he is not 'blindsided', or siding with his depression anymore. He is ready to fight it.

Anyway, that's my personal interpretation. I hope you liked it :)

I've always believed this was about him discovering someone cheating on him.

He's been blindsided by his lover cheating on him. He bikes down to downtown, to "the lockdown," to a poor area, maybe. He crouches beneath the window sill of the house of her or her supposed lover. For all the agony it will cause him to see this, he would rather know. So he peeks in. He's not really like this, it's not really like him to do something like this. "I'm probably plight-less." He's trying to convince himself that he's overreacting, she's probably not cheating, he might have just made up all the signs. He cups the window, he wants to know, would you really rush out like that? would you really cheat on me? Then he finds out.

She is cheating on him with someone else. He walks down to the shoreline to work it out. "The end of a blood line." He was thinking of having a family with her, but all those thoughts are gone now.

I love the little detail of the first few times being "I am blindsided," and then the last ones instead saying "I was blindsided." He was blindsided, but now he knows.

perhaps by 'cause blinded i am blindsided' he means that blinded by love he was caught unprepared, off guard. he lacked the perception to see the danger coming. and perhaps the shoreline and beyond signifies the end of the relationship, gone are the prospects of life and children and such together?

I just want to say good job guys..

I'm a musician myself and really struggle day to day knowing that so many people dont really see what music has the potential to unleash.. (most chart music seems to merely deal with bored, spent topics and oddly enough about being drunk in clubs.. this sickens me. These people have the ability to speak to millions and thats what they choose to say? christ..)

Sorry about that rant!

Just to know that theres people out there discussing things like this brings me hope that people will understand my own music and fingers crossed one day discuss things in much the same way.

To any of you and all of you.. I sincerely thank you =)

Kyle

To me i think he really was talking about going out downtown and drinking like he said, and just the realization of how superficial society is and depressing "would you really rush out for me now?"

How he doesn't fit in that life "crouch like a crow, contrasted in the snow" he's in it but he's just really peering into that lifestyle. "peek in, into the peer in, im not really like this" but maybe towards the end he starting to realize that this is him and hes starting be one of them "theres a pull to the flow, my feet melt the snow"-referring back to the black crow contrast, but now not so contrasted now that the snows gone.
i donno that's just my interpretation.

Okay people, bear with me. I'm not sure if anyone's thought of this yet. I skimmed through most of the comments and found ashabella04's to be the one closest to my interpretation. Except, in my take on it, the song doesn't end on such a positive note.

"Bike down, down to the downtown Down to the lock down, boards, nails lie around."

I think he's returning to his hometown, only to see how much it's changed since he left. He visits the old hangouts, his old friends' homes, to find them either vacated, closed down, or taken over by new people.

"I crouch like a crow Contrasting the snow For the agony, I'd rather know 'Cause blinded I am blindsided."

I think he's outside one of those friends' houses, except this friend happens to still be living here. Maybe it's a past love, or just someone who he used to be close with...it could even be a family member that he hasn't spoken to in years. He crouches down so he won't be seen. I basically agree with ashabella04's interpretation on the "agony" line. It's being so consumed by depression that you end up giving in to it, because it's all you've ever known, and you don't believe it's possible to break free from it. You don't even want to get better because you think it's hopeless. He could be "blindsided" by the severe depression, "blind" meaning his mind, his whole POV on life, is clouded. He's screwed up because of the mental illness. That's what makes the song so sad...it's not even the REAL him anymore.

"Peek in, into the peer in I'm not really like this, I'm probably plightless."

Obviously he's now looking into the window of this house. The second line is one of my favorites - it's that self-hatred for even being sad. Like, "why do I deserve to be upset? I have no REAL problems. How dare I complain? Stop whining and feeling sorry for yourself." This negativity just comes right back around and takes the person further into the depression. It's a chain reaction.

"I cup the window I'm crippled and slow For the agony I'd rather know 'Cause blinded I am blindsided."

Still at the window, he's probably overcome with emotions, memories, and momentary hesitation (I'll get to that later). Instead of changing his mind, he pushes his doubts aside, and says goodbye. He doesn't want to interrupt this friend/former love/family member. So instead of ringing the door bell, he "cups the window", sort of hugging the person one last time.

"Would you really rush out for me now?"

This is another favorite. It's so desperate sounding, like he doesn't believe anyone would want to see him, let alone save him. Maybe he did something in the past that caused him to stay away for so long. It's also really bittersweet, because it suggests that if this person HAD rushed out, by chance, and found him - it might have prevented the future.

"Taut line, down to the shoreline The end of a blood line, the moon is a cold light."

He walks down to the water. Probably a lake, not an ocean, since there's snow. He apparently knows this place well enough to get there in short time (taut line), which is why I believe it's his hometown. Now the "end of a blood line" is what makes me feel it takes a darker turn than what ashabella04 thought. His mission throughout this whole song was to say goodbye to his home, his friends, his family, even if he didn't really tell them. It was a silent closure he needed before he took his own life and ended his family's bloodline.

"There's a pull to the flow My feet melt the snow For the irony, I'd rather know 'Cause blinded I was blindsided."

Pull to the flow makes me think of blood loss, specifically a fatal bloodletting in the wrists. Sorry to be morbid, but since I'm already talking about suicide, then what the hell, might as well be. Anyways, his feet melting the snow is ironic because he's dying. His body temp is getting colder, yet he's still warm enough to melt the snow. Although that could be totally wrong, I have no fucking idea. The possibilities are endless - maybe the friend/love/family member that he didn't see in town was at the lake already/or showed up one minute too late? Maybe it's ironic because he was a therapist who helped people overcome their own depression? IDK.

It's so sad, because I feel there were many chances for him. He second-guessed himself at the window, reliving the good moments. Seeing someone he used to know made him hesitate - sadly not enough. If only one person had seen him, maybe they would have stopped him for a visit, derailing his plan. Maybe if he had just knocked on the door of that house, the one with the person he thought wouldn't "rush out" for him, it would have changed the whole course of things.

I've always heard the song this way, for some reason...I think it's because I'm a freak who tends to obsess about vague lyrics until they get so twisted in my mind that they're able to serve my extremely convoluted theories that all somehow end in terrible death and sadness. Yes, that's a run-on sentence. Bite me.

I'm sorry to anyone who's read through this emo bullshit. Please be nice? :)

The scene he appears to be describing is him very reluctantly peering through a window into a room of his girlfriend cheating on him or something of the sort, and then how he is simultaneously disgusted with himself for looking, mad at her (through his recollection of the "would you really rush out" line), and feeling sorry for himself (blindsided) ALL while talking himself into the fact that he made the right decision.

Thats my take anyway, if I'm right then thats an awesome mixture of feelings he's described

I think he's saying he'd rather know what's going on now because if it catches him off guard later, it will be that much more difficult. The tense changes at the end though so he seems to be saying it was too late and he was blindsided anyways.

until I finally looked up the lyrics to this song I thought he was saying "would you really rush out, to fall in love?"

Even with the drastically wrong lyrics in my head, I had the exact same picture in my head as Silver.

Great description. 100% agree.

I think you have it right silver. And MHHHD2 I think the bit from shoreline onwards continues this theme- that it is the end of his relationship etc.
And the main line “Cause blinded I am blindsided”, means to me that by ‘her’ he was blinded... and therefore blindsided- seeing only half of the situation as she was hiding, or he was kind of hiding from himself, the truth. Bike down... down to the downtown Down to the lockdown... boards, nails lie around- Pretty obvious. He’s just setting the scene(biking down to where she is... possibly in what sounds like a shed with someone else.

I crouch like a crow- Showing us that he is being sneaky/ not meant to be seen. Contrasting the snow

For the agony, I'd rather know — For even though it may be painful, I have to know the truth. The first 2 verses are basically just describing the setting and that he’s “not really like this” (someone who spies and is suspicious). “I cup the window crippled and slow”- Just his movement; he cups the window (i.e. peering into the window through the cup he makes in his hands. Slow in movement cause he’s sneaking. For again, even though it maybe agonising, he wants to know the truth.)

And “would you really rush out for me now?” could be him saying if she (whoever ‘she’ is) saw him looking through the window, catching her in the act, would she care enough to rush out to him. -“I’m probably plight less.” Without promise or betrothal (engagement or promised to one another. This shown through her actions of cheating on him- she hasn’t kept her/a promise to him i.e. to not cheat) -“Taught line... down to the shoreline The end of a blood line... the moon is a cold light”. Here he is again setting the scene (For me I see him just walking in thought to the shoreline.) whilst basically saying it’s the end of his blood line for he has lost his love- the woman who would have had his children thus continuing his “bloodline”. And also the moon being described as a “cold light”; I think this could mean it is a harsh reality, as its shares “light” on his situation i.e. uncovers and exposes truths. It is cold and painful.