This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Falling to my knees before you,
So ashamed to see my weakness fill your eyes,
Needlessly, I let myself stray before you,
Now I face the consequence of my betrayal.
My paradigm, my sweet love I breathe,
It's you I rely on,
Shelter me from cold, I die in paradigm.
Do we sacrifice, let our story die?
Blissful lullabies return again,
If we still a while, let love survive,
Delicately crawling to your grave.
My paradigm, my sweet love I breathe,
It's you I rely on,
Shelter me from cold, I die in paradigm.
Perfect sky, shadow find my lies,
Good enough for always wanting mine
Replaced all your love with pain
So afraid to face the world alone.
My paradigm, my sweet love I breathe
My paradigm, my sweet love I breathe,
It's you I rely on,
Shelter me from cold, and die in paradigm.
(Die in paradigm, die in paradigm, die in paradigm, die in paradigm)
So ashamed to see my weakness fill your eyes,
Needlessly, I let myself stray before you,
Now I face the consequence of my betrayal.
My paradigm, my sweet love I breathe,
It's you I rely on,
Shelter me from cold, I die in paradigm.
Do we sacrifice, let our story die?
Blissful lullabies return again,
If we still a while, let love survive,
Delicately crawling to your grave.
My paradigm, my sweet love I breathe,
It's you I rely on,
Shelter me from cold, I die in paradigm.
Perfect sky, shadow find my lies,
Good enough for always wanting mine
Replaced all your love with pain
So afraid to face the world alone.
My paradigm, my sweet love I breathe
My paradigm, my sweet love I breathe,
It's you I rely on,
Shelter me from cold, and die in paradigm.
(Die in paradigm, die in paradigm, die in paradigm, die in paradigm)
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A paradigm is an example, pattern, or model of something. I hope this helps you in interpreting the song ^^
I think its about someone that looks up to another person as a role model. And the "My sweet love I breathe" is perhaps referring to someone that the person cares about, but then they wanted more than that and made things worse by hurting that relationship that they had with that person, so they feel like they're dying on the inside.
Or could it be about religious beliefs? Because "Delicately crawling to your grace" may refer to something.
I think it's about going back and forth between God and some sin. Personal opinion.