A very clever song, even though it's a little on the nose and sort of confusingly written. I think the analogy of digging a hole is kind of confusing here as it seems to be referring to both getting over depression as well as life plans with an intimate partner.
The first stanza refers to Ben "digging a hole" with Zooey, referring to making life plans, a home, and life together in their marriage. Then, one day, she backed out of all of these plans and decided she wants a life with someone else, thus "climbing out of the hole." However, this left Ben stuck in all of these plans and ambitions alone, leaving him feeling abandoned, and confused as to how he's supposed to proceed.
The song continues to describe Ben's depression in response to being abandoned. I think the lyric "the only stars I see in the sky, they don't move me
'cause they've all been dead for millions of years, they're just light diffusing" is a really clever way of describing depression. Depressed people often interpret anything good that happens to them as either just a logical outcome of something bad, or just not worth interpreting as something good at all.
The next stanza is actually wrong here, the lyrics are actually:
"And a constellation is more
Than the brightest point of its form
But every telescope you assumed
Was pointed only at you"
This seems to be relating to their relationship as a couple of famous people. It's clear from this album that Zooey's higher levels of fame than Ben was something that harmed their relationship ("No Room in Frame," "Black Sun"). I think the constellation refers to their relationship, and how Zooey believed it to be her as a famous person being married to someone "lesser", rather than a balanced relationship of two people. The lyric about the telescope refers to the media and people watching them, and how Zooey believed her concerns and status in the relationship to be more important than Ben's.
The rest of the song refers to Ben acknowledging that he's at his lowest at this point, and that he has no other choice but to get through these tough times and committing to getting better and one day breaking free from these life plans he made with Zooey.
A very clever song, even though it's a little on the nose and sort of confusingly written. I think the analogy of digging a hole is kind of confusing here as it seems to be referring to both getting over depression as well as life plans with an intimate partner.
The first stanza refers to Ben "digging a hole" with Zooey, referring to making life plans, a home, and life together in their marriage. Then, one day, she backed out of all of these plans and decided she wants a life with someone else, thus "climbing out of the hole." However, this left Ben stuck in all of these plans and ambitions alone, leaving him feeling abandoned, and confused as to how he's supposed to proceed.
The song continues to describe Ben's depression in response to being abandoned. I think the lyric "the only stars I see in the sky, they don't move me 'cause they've all been dead for millions of years, they're just light diffusing" is a really clever way of describing depression. Depressed people often interpret anything good that happens to them as either just a logical outcome of something bad, or just not worth interpreting as something good at all.
The next stanza is actually wrong here, the lyrics are actually:
"And a constellation is more Than the brightest point of its form But every telescope you assumed Was pointed only at you"
This seems to be relating to their relationship as a couple of famous people. It's clear from this album that Zooey's higher levels of fame than Ben was something that harmed their relationship ("No Room in Frame," "Black Sun"). I think the constellation refers to their relationship, and how Zooey believed it to be her as a famous person being married to someone "lesser", rather than a balanced relationship of two people. The lyric about the telescope refers to the media and people watching them, and how Zooey believed her concerns and status in the relationship to be more important than Ben's.
The rest of the song refers to Ben acknowledging that he's at his lowest at this point, and that he has no other choice but to get through these tough times and committing to getting better and one day breaking free from these life plans he made with Zooey.