You Again

I heard this on a music channel on Charter Cable a couple of months ago and it is absolutely captivating on so many levels. The romantic piano is simplistic yet conveys such a deep feeling of wonder and sorrow. As for the lyrics, I am going to interpret them:

When he asks "if love had the answers, why aren't you here?" he is commenting on how people put all their hopes and dreams and efforts into love, as if it is the end all be all in life, yet it is so unnattainable, for him anyway. if this thing is supposed to complete him, then why can't he have it?

He then goes on to state, "This truth as an obsession had almost disappeared." Logically, he realizes that another person cannot complete him, and in fact has only caused him sorrow, but just when he thought the obsession with finding this unnattainable thing had disappeared, it always seems to come back to haunt him, again and again.

He can't help dwelling on the person, and admits, "But when I see you alone far away from home and I wonder why I feel like everything is turning in my head. It’s you again." I think when he says "when I see you alone far away from home," he is referring to someone who left and seems to be perfectly happy with their decision. Maybe they went away to school, or decided to travel the world, or just moved out of the house they were sharing after breaking up. All he knows is that person seems to be perfectly happy being alone without him and it breaks his heart. He wonders why he can't just "get over it" the way this person seems to have gotten over it and moved on. The thought keeps turning over and over in his head again and again, and it's not fair that he is seemingly inconsequential to this person, yet can't seem to get over them.

This person was, "Taken by the unknown. Heart into stone. Never cease to wonder why and everything keeps turning in my head." He doesn't really know why they left, and it almost seems like the person is just cold hearted and never seemed to have any real feelings for him. He can't reconcile the fact that this person previously loved him, but now they don't seem to care at all. What happened? It seems like he'll never find the answer, but he can't help but keep wondering 'why?'

Now he starts reflecting on his life, when he says, "This solitude I found. No more voices ringing in my ears. A world without a sound. Just the silent music of the spheres." He is thinking about how the only way he has found any sort of peace of mind is by simply staying away from relationships altogether. He blocks out anyone else's attempts to get through to him and break through the silence and coldness. He has basically shut down his emotions and has thrown himself into his music so that he can try to forget about what he had with this person.

He still has his regrets, when he says, " If I had the answers you should be here (and still this unresolved progression had never seemed so real)." If he could only find the answer, maybe he could make a change to get the person to come back to him, but they are so far from the life he has now that it seems impossible. The answer will always illude him and never be "resolved". He uses the word "progression" because that is a musical term that denotes the sequence of chords in a song. When you resolve the chord progression you get a sense of "completeness". He knows he won't be complete until the progression is figured out, but he can't figure out what comes next. He can't find any closure.

@space pirate. I like your interpretation. Definitely the piano chords fill in the feeling of absolute longing this song conveys. It’s a simple song but sincerely captures the nuances of longing, missing someone.