Carry the Zero

Um... I don't think it has anything to do with a relationship. It's about faking. Saying you don't like yourself and finding your faults and stuff, "putting back on your blemishes" and everyone else is just "waiting for you guard to fall so they can see it all" And then it says that you're so concerned with what everyone else is thinking, and vice versa... They're so vain, just thinking about how others view them. And you're just like them! "you've become what you thought was dumb"

You try to help but there's really nothing you can do cuz you could push to far and everyone will just get pissed off and hurt.. so you just have to live with the guise and the tension and everyone faking.... you can't even touch it or it will fall apart. the friendships are all so fake and fragile.

This song is actually about my father who was a former band mate of dougs (pat schmaljohn aka pat brown) he is no longer alive and his cod is pretty obvious if you listen to the song. The song pat on their new album is about him also. They were wonderful friends and he is very missed.

I think the first verse and closing line of the song uses the metaphor of a broken thin (which for simplicity's sake I will refer to as a vase from here on out) for a relationship that's suddenly fallen apart, and in spite of what the singer (from this point forward referred to as "he" or "him") see's as the best interest of the song's subject (from this point forward referred to as "she" or "her"), it has been shoddily repaired, but no longer retains any value.

"I'm not knocking your want to carry that home" seems to refer to her remaining attached to a broken piece. The vase will never be repaired to it's original form, and the relationship is not salvageable.

"Took it with you when you moved and got it broke," I think in this line he's talking strictly about the literal meaning rather than the metaphorical meaning. How often when you box things up to move a fragile item, regardless of how much newspaper you throw in there, do you open the box at the new place to find that it's broke?

"Found the pieces, we counted them all alone. Didn't add up, forgot to carry a zero" She opens the box to find the broken vase, and even though theoretically every piece should be in the box, since it was intact the last time she saw it, she can't recreate it using the pieces in the box. It doesn't make sense why. Carrying a zero is absurd math. Saying that your forgot to carry a zero is not an explanation for why a math problem is wrong. It doesn't make sense why the relationship can't go back to the way it was. They're still the same people, but somehow there are pieces missing.

At this point the metaphor is dropped, and he responds to her clinging to the broken relationship, and he's not happy about it. He can't keep making excuses for (I can't be your apologist very long), he's surprised that she is being so irrational (I'm surprised you'd want to carry that on), and he remembers a time when she would ridicule others for doing what she's doing now (You have become what you thought was dumb).

And at the end he finally returns to the metaphor.

"And now we can't even touch it. Afraid it'll fall apart." Apparently, she has decided to go back to trying to make the failed relationship work, and like a vase that's been glued together with parts missing, it's so fragile you can't touch it.

no offense to the emo crowd... but that emo/pop-punk stuff usually deals with a relationship. this is more indie rock - and these guys are more cerebral than to be talking on and on about broken relationships. save that for bright eyes and other shitty bands. oh yea and of course the zero is the narrator or someone really close. because the first line he says im nnot knocking your want to "carry" that home. and then he says about infers that he is indeed the zero. i think its about losing faith in yourself, and the others around you. he constantly refers to "carrying" something. its most likely the weight of self-awareness, consciousness. because at the end he pretty much is speaking to himself. saying that he's become a lot more watered down as a result of carrying whatever it is hes carrying

To me, Carry The Zero is about a girl who is afraid to be herself, and it causes Doug sadness. Doug is the zero because he wants to be with her. But all she does is transform into whatever she thinks she should be, rather than what she is, and he's afraid to say anything or do anything because he think the relationship will fall apart.

Doug said his first priority with lyrics, is that they sounds great with the melody(he writes the melody first). I think there is a little philosopher in Doug as well. It has also been said his lyrics often has a different meaning from person to person. To me this song is about how a hard melancholic mind can confuse(math) a person so much that he/she can't consentrate about possibilities in the future.

a song about relationships and the passage of time. The lyrics describe a couple that has been together for a long time, and the challenges and changes they have faced over the years. The song reflects on the ups and downs of their relationship and the way they have been able to "carry the zero" - that is, to continue counting forward even when things get tough. The song is a nostalgic and introspective look at the nature of long-term relationships and the weight of shared history.

this is a good sunny day song, im not too sure what its about but its good!

I think it's not that easy to understand that most of BTS songs are about... but hey sounds great :)

tiiiiiny correction, in the line: "you're so occupied with what other" it should be "persons" not "people." Only serves to be more congruent with Built to Spill's usual method of song writing.