Musical Chairs

LastBaron is the closest to the 'true meaning' of the song. Good job.

Cliff Campbell:

"that song was about just never fucking knowing what's going to happen. You never know from day to day. You just try your best and try to get the top, but it doesn't matter in the end; it's all just the fucking flip of a coin."

Source: guitarworld.com/fair-midland-debut-music-video-musical-chairs-guitarworldcom

But the beauty of music is that it's not necessary to interpret it as the artist portrays it. Artists generally want you figure out what the song 'means to you'.

Great fucking song regardless.

Cheers.

I like what you all have said about this song and definitely can see the connections. To me (and mostly just in the chorus) hear darroh speaking his frustration about the band not fully being recognixed for their talents. Fables was an impressive work of art that didnt get get nearly the amount of recognition that it deserved and i think that-

It makes you wonder If shooting for stars is like darts in the dark It makes you wonder If the beaten path is the promised land

-can mean he wonders if trying to make something original and beautiful is pointless because no one cares, or no one will hear it, that 'taking the beaten path' or making music that is the same as everything out there (the popular music of our time that is for the most part incredibly mindless and has very little artistic expression) is the 'promised land', thats where everyone is making money and achieving fame. And the line "im a stick in the mud" could show his stubbornness to go with the flow and 'sell out'

"You should be counting your blessings From the sky, your eagle eyes found a great blind faith I could be kicking the bucket But, you should know, I never had very good aim"

This song, at least to me, speaks volumes about a foolhardy search for salvation. He is clearly singing about faith. But he's talking about a "works-based" faith and how it does NOT work. Finding a blind faith reveals nothing to the seeker, so how are they able to count blessings? Kicking the bucket without having attained what you've aimed for does not equal salvation.

“The right of way is a wild goose chase”

He is not saying that the "right way" is a wild goose chase, only that how we go about trying to find the right way is. The very definition of ‘right of way’ is the path or thoroughfare on which such passage is made. With this lyric, our methods are questioned.

“It makes you wonder If shooting for stars is like darts in the dark It makes you wonder If the beaten path is the promised land”

It is a very good thing to wonder if our methods are a waste of time, if the way we have been doing things even amounts to the very thing we are trying to accomplish, the promised land.

“If I worship the ground that he walks on And it winds up that he has two left feet Will he be walking on water? Cause, you should know, we never liked to get our feet wet”

Again, it’s a very good thing to ask ourselves WHO we are worshiping. If we follow someone who is walking with two left feet, we go nowhere while walking in circles. And if we are following God, who has walked on water, will we follow him or decide we don’t LIKE getting our feet wet?

“I got dizzy I got lost”

Getting lost and admitting it to our own selves is the very first step in the right direction. We have to first admit we are dizzy and lost in this world before we can take a step in the right direction which is Jesus Christ. Our own feeble efforts to walk the right path are lost on us and mean nothing; the same way shooting for stars is like darts in the dark. We cannot do it on our own.

“It makes you wonder And I'm just a stick in the mud”

Without acknowledging our sinful nature, and without recognizing our need for the Lord and savior Jesus Christ, and without the regeneration of salvation through Him, we will never be liberated from sin. We will only amount to “sticks in the mud.”

while the lyrics are still amazing, this is one of their easiest songs to figure out. Again, i think that while it clearly calls out christianity in the second verse, it is a generalized song questioning the need for religion as a whole.

"the right of way is a wild goose chase"-that sums up the song fairly well right there. The Answer, the truth, the right of way is completely unattainable, its a wild goose chase, so how can anyone profess to know it?

"it makes you wonder, if shooting for stars is like darts in the dark"-great fucking line...pretty self explanatory, but the use of the phrase "shooting for stars" is perfect here. You know, you shoot for the stars, be the best you can be...but, as it relates to the song, it takes on the meaning that perhaps looking up (shooting for stars) for answers is completely pointless(darts in the dark)

"if i worship the ground that he walks on, and it winds up that he has two left feet, will he be walking on water? cause you should know, we never like to get our feet wet"-best line in the song. Naturally this is the christianity part. But i think this line ties into the title of the song quite well. In true smarmy sarcastic form, this verse pretty much says that people will accept these false truths to be the sheer foundation of their lives, yet they tend to tweek these concrete "truths" to better suit their situation. It completely takes any validity out of your argument if you are willing to take something that is supposed to be holy and sacred and completely change it to meet your personal needs/wants. "will he be walking on water? cause you should know we never like to get our feet wet"...i picture like a job fair, but for religions. And each religion is trying to sell themselves to the public, and the public likes where it's going...buuuut, there's just one little catch, we don't like to get our feet wet, so maybe i can just do as you say, but not exactly as you do. Its musical chairs, you get in where you fit in. Whatever appeals to you the most, where you fit in, is automatically your solution to an unknowable question. And the problem is that religion has trained humanity to believe that through some dusty old books, and rotting old scriptures, and an extremely impressive game of telephone we somehow have a tight grasp on exactly whats going on here...but we dont. Religion is comfortable, and above all else reassuring...but it makes you wonder if the beaten path is the promise road

those are my thoughts...what are yours?

I have to disagree with the song having a strong basis on or about Christianity. (No offense of course)

I believe that verse just to be a generality. Something in which people can know of, and hold reference to.

I personally feel this song is about living, and the choices there in. The fact that we have limitless options before us. We all have a vast array of options in this life, without the "definite" answer.

There are many of these which attempt to influence us in one direction or another, when truly others are just as well in the dark as ourselves. It seems he also expresses the curiosity in possibilities, and the ease of getting lost when you essentially have so many paths before you.

In the end though, he expresses the "Stick in the mud" symbolism. Implying maybe that he has security in his own position.

All in all I feel this song is about making your decisions in life and sticking to them; while not forgetting that your own path is not the only one. To not follow sway to whispers of others, but to go where your heart leads you.

To find your own truths, for yourself.

my interpretation leans alot more towards slashcards view, for me and what i gathered from the song is that it's about choices and the paths you take in life and being uncertain. The thoughts and doubts you have about your choices. even though i can really grasp the first verse of the song just yet, but my interpetation of the rest of the song is like following:

"It makes you wonder If shooting for stars is like darts in the dark It makes you wonder If the beaten path is the promised land"

the chorus right there i think its about doubts and the different thoughts you have about ways in life, for example, if you perhaps wanna be a movie star but you're unsure about if the safe route in life is really the best way to go.

"If I worship the ground that he walks on And it winds up that he has two left feet Will he be walking on water? Cause, you should know, we never liked to get our feet wet"

These lines i really think is to straight to the point and obvious to be about religion, how i see it is that it's sort of a tangled metaphor. The doubts you might feel about thinking that your really good at something and can make it but you might be in reality not as good as you think and might be shooting for something that you just are not good enough to reach. So your thinking if you could, to put it in the metaphor, "walk on water" even though you might have "two left feet". and then with last line, he simply says the fact that many people do not take that risk in life, to try something even though you might fail and "get your feet wet".

the lines: "I got dizzy I got lost" and: "And I'm just a stick in the mud " for me means that because of all these thoughts and doubts, you get dizzy and ultimatly get lost and stuck, not really moving anywhere, not shooting for the stars and not taking the save route.

The message in this song for me is simply: "The right of way is a wild goose chase" You can never know what will be the right choice in life, but you got to make the choices, no matter what they might be, to not get stuck in life and never move forward.

This is just what i could see in the song and what i want to see in it, and as with all great music, everybody's view is as true as the next person. Really love fair to midland and this song is as inspirational and great as always. I made an account here a second ago just to post up my view of the song, love to pick apart and think really hard about lyrics but i'm really sorry if my english is really bad, not my best language! cant wait to see more people's view on the song!

Probably directed at people (religious figures, as becomes fairly obvious) in his life who looked down on his choices and felt he was leading an immoral, sinful life.

"You should be counting your blessings From the sky, your eagle eyes found a great blind faith I could be kicking the bucket But, you should know, I never had very good aim"

You should turn your gaze to your own life, you look down on me, nitpicking every action (eagle eyes-seeing every 'mistake'). I could be dying, but I'm a survivor.

"The right of way is a wild goose chase"

Nobody knows whose way of living their life takes precedence. It's random. A rather agnostic commentary on morality.

"It makes you wonder If shooting for stars is like darts in the dark It makes you wonder If the beaten path is the promised land"

Obvious, yet no less profound chorus...shooting for stars, living up to society's standards for your potential, is it truly the 'right' way to live? The beaten path, the life lived by so many others before you/us, is it really the path to 'eternal life?'

"If I worship the ground that he walks on And it winds up that he has two left feet Will he be walking on water? Cause, you should know, we never liked to get our feet wet"

Here's where the analogy takes its strongest religious turn. If I blindly believe in the faith, yet it turns out to be wrong, will I still end up in heaven, because I don't want to be wrong. The agnosticism taking root even deeper here, bringing up the potential consequences for following the 'wrong' religion.

Any logical, rational human has struggled with these questions. A very eloquent depiction of the aspect of the human condition involving higher powers, etc.

Just my opinion.