| The National – The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness Lyrics | 8 years ago |
|
@[alternateview:21753] I think you are definitely on the right track, this song is all about a relationship which is being tested and in a very perilous place. Its a very adult relationship that has many years of history, that was once built on a very sensible agreement built on honesty, as your assessment of the line "we said we only died of lonely secrets" states. The agreement is that they would always tell each other everything, and lonely secrets imply that one person is planning or dreaming of something outside of their relationship. I have a slightly different perspective in that I think his wife is unhappy, "maybe I listen more than you think" being a clue, and possibly seeing someone else behind his back, or at least dreaming of it, as she may have been convinced by someone, "I can tell someone sold you", may imply. The line "the system only dreams in total darkness" again reiterates that that breakdown of the relationship is the cause for this "dreaming" of a different life, maybe with someone else or maybe just away from him, as in divorce. "All night you're talking to God", is simply stating that his wife is going through the emotional turmoil of making this decision, and may be turning to God or whatever, to help guide her decision. It seems in the next verse that he is fighting for her and was hopeful, "I thought this would all work out after a while", but she has put up a wall and there is nothing he can say to influence her decision, she is going to make up her mind on her own and doesn't want to hear any more from him, "Now you're saying that I'm asking for too much attention". That said he throws out one final plea, "Loss of no other faith is light enough for this place". What he is saying as that so long as she has not become faithful to someone else, there is still still sufficient "light" or hope that their relationship can survive. He is definitely feeling a bit defeated and without options, other than trying to explain it to her via this song and hopefully creating a paradigm shift in her thinking, "I cannot explain it, any other way". |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.