Preface: I wrote this a LONG time ago and added the myspace link to the forum, but people have asked me multiple times to put it here, so I am including it in this journal instead. *~*~*~*~* In the beginning of the song, it is implied that the speaker is present only to create a conflict for the person they are speaking to. "I'm coming up only to hold you under/ I'm coming up only to show you [you're?] wrong" The connotation of these lyrics are that s/he is there to drag the other down with them. To know this person is difficult and the others present wonder about them with condescending concern. However the next line "To know you all wrong we were" suggests that they misunderstood the person completely and we incorrect to treat them with such pompous disregard. In the second verse the speaker, seems to be acting as a leader for a group of people. Serving as an apologetic assembly to someone they've wronged. S/he says "Really too late to call, so we wait for morning." As though they have now realized their error and would like to give an apology. However it is too late at night and morning is the only opportunity they have. This is where the speaker goes into his odd diatribe about seeing him as a golden god. I have yet to find a connection between the two (my theory and this subject). One man's opinion: This song is about being obsessed with someone to the point where you just make fun of them and pester them but time is short and he doesn't think he'll ever get the courage to tell her so he just gets ready for her funeral. Or at least that's what I get from the brilliant song. I could not see this opinion. I listened over and over in this context, but it never came to me. I saw a possibility for a crush until I re-read the lyrics and noticed that it is more like the protagonist feels like everyone connected to the situation misunderstands in some way. Either they misunderstand the protagonist or the person/people he/she is speaking to or even themselves. And those assumed opinions are presumptuously erroneous and insolent. However the speaker also seems a bit arrogant and presumptuous, as he says "to know me as hardly golden/[Is] To know me all wrong/They were" leads one to believe that perhaps "they" didn't see him as "golden" (spectacular) and therefore knew him falsely. This demonstrates to us that perhaps he has a big head about himself, that although might not be an entirely inaccurate or flawed sense of self, will conflict with his connections to other, as it expectedly leads him to presume others as foolish if they do not think of him in the way he desires. The speaker sounds a little like a much discussed character among men, Holden Caulfield of notorious Catcher in the Rye when he is explaining that in his life in a good moment someone feel the need to come around and spray paint "FUCK YOU" on it. The protagonist in this song kind of feels like the personal representation of that message for the one they are speaking to. But that's just my current reality settling its two cents into the picture. At one point, someone suggested the orator might be talking to [or about?] God. I don't remember their exact meaning or words, but some suggestion of this might not be at all unfeasible. The opinions subsequently follow: don't think it has anything to do with teasing someone you're obsessed with... from what is gather, it's a lament; waiting for morning to wake the ones you love is all you've got left. It's too late to call, so we'll trust that in the morning that the people we care for will still be alive. but at every occasion, and at any time you're prepared for a funeral, prepared for the age when your loved ones start to die off. Another opinion: i think the song isn't lamenting over how you're ready to accept your loved ones' deaths. rather, i think it addresses the fact that we can't control our own death and when it happens, and that it is inevitable to all of us. i think it's a song about realizing your own death and being comfortable with the fact that death is imminent and can happen at any age and place. it sounds as if the singer has done all he has in life, and is ready to face death whenever it chooses to appear. it has a joyous approach to death somewhat, as if death is the process of being liberated. also, the song brings up points about family members when he mentions the "dead leaves" and the "tree." think of it as a family tree, where our own dead relatives may be dead [departed? Deceased?] but their hearts live on in the rest of the family, just as the dead leaves are alone as they have fallen down from the proverbial "family tree." But dead leaves are alone. They have no family or memory or anyone who holds remembrance for them (as far as we know). Yes this metaphor works in the context that a family tree grows big and has leaves that fall every "season" but those leaves are usually remembered in someway, where real dead trees are not habitually. Later, as I was writing the song writers in diress actually, I wrote this idea: If this song is really about death, as the lyrics indicate, and are not some metaphor for another matter; then perhaps the author perceives the body to be a kind of trap and trees are one case by which they set their example. "The dead leaves, they are alive /For they don't have trees to hang their hearts" This indicates that the leaves have heavy hearts that, while alive were full of pain and worry from life's troubles, and as the leaves die and fallen from the tree, having nowhere to hang themselves up, are now free and can truly be fully alive. Last opinion I included: I'm posting what I hear... and no one here seems to have mentioned this but i think you have to consider that the lyrics at least in the first verse could be talking about god whether these boys are religious or not... could always be a commentary on humans in general. A clever notion: I love the double meaning "morning to wake you." This line calls to mind the terms "mourning" and "wake" (both of which are strongly associated with funerals), making the line pack a much greater punch. After this was mentioned I laughed and then tried to connect this with the rest of the song, because it really IS clever and would really bring something to the meaning I think. "And every occasion I will be ready for the funeral/And every occasion once more is called the funeral/And every occasion I am ready for the funeral/And every occasion a one brilliant day funeral" The chorus I have saved for last, as it is the main focus of most songs. A funeral can mean a few different things, but the most prominent idea is associated with death and dying. The central theme being an end to something's existence and the rite that follows. It is somewhat ironic then that Appleseed Cast's Ceremony has followed this song in the play list I set up unknowingly. Interestingly, another connotation that occurs with this expression is the concept of taking up someone else's responsibility or worrying about another's problem[s]. It is often given a negative impression to be someone's funeral in return for assisting or caring for them. This song does hold a proposition that the speaker is prepared to accept the funeral they are in for to in oder to better understand and hold the other person up (or under in this case). Instead, maybe they are saying that they are willing to accept every day of life's funeral in exchange for living it, which is why the song retains such an uplifting melody. "And every occasion I will be ready for the funeral" does not give the impression of a lyric that was not thought over. Every occasion is called a funeral. And I am ready for it: this brilliant one day funeral. Have you accepted your death? Or your life? AND EVERY OCCASION IS ONCE MORE CALLED THE FUNERAL. WOW that line is so powerful. It really has me wrapped around it. As though it were once again called the funeral, as though it once WAS called the funeral and no longer was for a great deal of time but is now being reintroduced as a funeral. What was is called before is was a funeral? A wake? A responsibility? Life?.... Eh, who know. I am simply the song dissector.