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.
(This is the Brooklyn bound Q express train, the next stop is-)
I'm just a big dud, foolish from the start
I make a wrong move and the world just falls apart
And there's no cure for this disease
I'm making up, so what's the fuss?
I live inside this head and I'm at war
Hero and villain, same time, keeping score
And I'm not sure what I'm to do inside these walls
Not anymore with my own life
Get off the island and swim back to shore
Girl, I don't think I could last here one second longer
'Cause in these waters, I'm done for
Now give me one good reason to stay here at all
When the fee is too big, our apartment's too small
Where's my life saver when I'm screaming danger?
I'm screaming danger
Get off the island and swim back to shore
I'm just a victim of unfortunate circumstance
And this was my choice, so shit, well I'll be damned
And I got to stop dwelling on what I could have had
All the times I could of-, oh I just want to-
Get off the island and swim back to shore
Girl, I don't think I could last here one second longer
'Cause in these waters, I'm done for
Now give me one good reason to stay here at all
When the fee is too big, our apartment's too small
Where's my life saver when I'm screaming danger?
I just can't' stay here any longer, help
I just can't stay here any longer, help
I just can't-
(Get off the island) and maybe, one day
(Get me off the island) from your sand I'll float away
(Get me off the island) and never see you around again
(Get me off the island) island
(Get me off the island) get off the
Get off the island and swim back to shore
Girl, I don't think I could last here one second longer
'Cause in these waters, I'm done for
Now give me one good reason to stay here at all
When the fee is too big, our apartment's too small
Where's my life saver when I'm screaming danger?
Where's my life saver when I'm screaming danger?
Where's my life saver when I'm screaming danger?
I'm screaming danger
Screaming danger
Screaming danger (get off the island)
I'm just a big dud, foolish from the start
I make a wrong move and the world just falls apart
And there's no cure for this disease
I'm making up, so what's the fuss?
I live inside this head and I'm at war
Hero and villain, same time, keeping score
And I'm not sure what I'm to do inside these walls
Not anymore with my own life
Get off the island and swim back to shore
Girl, I don't think I could last here one second longer
'Cause in these waters, I'm done for
Now give me one good reason to stay here at all
When the fee is too big, our apartment's too small
Where's my life saver when I'm screaming danger?
I'm screaming danger
Get off the island and swim back to shore
I'm just a victim of unfortunate circumstance
And this was my choice, so shit, well I'll be damned
And I got to stop dwelling on what I could have had
All the times I could of-, oh I just want to-
Get off the island and swim back to shore
Girl, I don't think I could last here one second longer
'Cause in these waters, I'm done for
Now give me one good reason to stay here at all
When the fee is too big, our apartment's too small
Where's my life saver when I'm screaming danger?
I just can't' stay here any longer, help
I just can't stay here any longer, help
I just can't-
(Get off the island) and maybe, one day
(Get me off the island) from your sand I'll float away
(Get me off the island) and never see you around again
(Get me off the island) island
(Get me off the island) get off the
Get off the island and swim back to shore
Girl, I don't think I could last here one second longer
'Cause in these waters, I'm done for
Now give me one good reason to stay here at all
When the fee is too big, our apartment's too small
Where's my life saver when I'm screaming danger?
Where's my life saver when I'm screaming danger?
Where's my life saver when I'm screaming danger?
I'm screaming danger
Screaming danger
Screaming danger (get off the island)
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I agree that the island can be a metaphor of his comfort zone, or the way he had used to write music in the past, but the song also has a more literal meaning which is getting off the Island of Manhattan.
At the beginning you can hear the actual voice from the train (the 2 train going to Brooklyn, in other words, out of Manhattan). He says the fee is too big and the apartment is too small, something that anyone living in Manhattan (myself) can relate to. Of course that's just one reason, he can also be just overwhelmed by the small spaces, crowded streets, noise, and a long etc.
He also says that it was his choice so he clearly might have thought that living in Manhattan was a good choice but now he's regretting it.
Finally, if he's getting out of Manhattan intro Brooklyn, technically he wouldn't be "swiming back to shore" because Brooklyn is in Long Island, but that I take as a metaphor of going from a turbulent life to a more calm environment where he can actually rise a child with more confidence.
My two cents!
@satchito That would be the Island of Long, as in, Long Island. :P (That's where Brooklyn's located.) In the New York area, many of us say we're going to, or that something is out on "the island" when we're going to Long Island.<br /> <br /> Also, that would be the Q train. I should know, I live off that line, the 2 train does not use the same train cars, the R160 cars, which use the female announcer voice that can be heard in the song. The 2 train uses the R142, which is the male announcer.