I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
You are the bravest man I've ever met
You unreluctant at treacherous ledge
Only you are the sexiest man I've ever been with
Oh, you, never hotter than with armor spent
When you do what you do to provide
How you land in the soft as you fortify
This is in praise of the vulnerable man
Why won't you lead the rest of your cavalry home
You, with your eyes mix strength with abandon
You, with your new kind of heroism
And I bow and I bow down to you
To the grace that it takes to melt on through
This is in praise of the vulnerable man
Why don't you lead the rest of your cavalry home
This is a thank you for letting me in
Indeed in praise of the vulnerable man
You are the greatest man I've ever met
You, the stealth setter of new precedents
And I vow and I vow to be true
And I vow and I vow not to take advantage
This is in praise of the vulnerable man
Why won't you lead the rest of your cavalry home
This is a thank you for letting me in
Indeed in praise of the vulnerable man
You unreluctant at treacherous ledge
Only you are the sexiest man I've ever been with
Oh, you, never hotter than with armor spent
When you do what you do to provide
How you land in the soft as you fortify
This is in praise of the vulnerable man
Why won't you lead the rest of your cavalry home
You, with your eyes mix strength with abandon
You, with your new kind of heroism
And I bow and I bow down to you
To the grace that it takes to melt on through
This is in praise of the vulnerable man
Why don't you lead the rest of your cavalry home
This is a thank you for letting me in
Indeed in praise of the vulnerable man
You are the greatest man I've ever met
You, the stealth setter of new precedents
And I vow and I vow to be true
And I vow and I vow not to take advantage
This is in praise of the vulnerable man
Why won't you lead the rest of your cavalry home
This is a thank you for letting me in
Indeed in praise of the vulnerable man
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Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
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When We Were Young
Blink-182
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
In a culture that is still primitive, paranoid, competitive, and survivalistic, vulnerability isn't something one arrives at by accident. People have to work very hard to get there... and =stay= there. "Flavors" may well be Al's most vulnerable album (especially in the bonus tracks), even though she herself set the standards for lyric vulnerability years ago and has kept raising the bar since then.
In "IPOTVM," she's simply giving to kudos to males who've put their boats out against the cultural currents as she has done, even if if we will never see all the chicken scratch in those journals she's filled over the years. At least we get the =flavor= of them. For those who really want to dig into this, try Pia Mellody's three books on codependence, romance addiction and intimacy.