A Smart Kid

This certainly isn't a face-value song. You people have nailed what is going on literally in the lyrics, but that's obvious anyway. There's so much more to it underneath. The beauty of metaphorical lyrics like these is they take on as much importance as each listener puts into them. It's all about personal interpretations. You might be so far off from what it means to the artist, but it's still right for you and means a lot to you that way.

To me, it seems like one of those depression themed songs that seems to crop up every now and then with Porcupine Tree.

Stranded here on planet earth It's not much but it could be worse Everything's free here, there's no crowds --Pretty much depicts a feeling of depression

Winter lasted five long years No sun will come again I fear Chemical harvest was sown --Same as above, the statement about the sun is essentially saying the person feels as though there's no hope.

And I will wait for you Until the sky is blue And I will wait for you What else can I do? --Until the sky is blue - based on the literal meaning of the lyrics, would be very far off in the case of a nuclear winter. This part of the song seems to drift in a slightly different direction metaphorically than the rest. Perhaps this is to give it a sort of feeling of depression over not being loved back by someone, but being willing to wait until it does happen, essentially willing to wait out a lifetime.

A spaceship from another star They ask me where all the people are What can I tell them?

I tell them I'm the only one There was a war but I must have won Please take me with you. --These two verses essentially close the song off on a slightly more positive tone. It's like saying that the person is enduring this depression on their own, there is no one there for them, but I also think the spaceship represents someone he/she finds he likes.

Actually, I'm just writing this as a sort of stream of consciousness to get my thoughts out, so I won't fix what I've previously written, but now I think the chorus means instead of someone not caring back for him - that it's just he's found no one who understands him, but upon the final verse he has found someone and asks essentially to continue his life with them at the last line.

Summary: Song about a person who feels isolated emotionally from the rest of the world - but finds someone who seems to understand. The person decides he/she wants to spend his/her life with them.

Please comment with your thoughts on this.

Yesterday was the Holocaust day in Israel, And usually in this day you hear quiet or sad songs, So of course this was one of the first songs I choose to hear. And suddenly the song got a whole new, Chilling, Meaning.

You can take this song as a story on a sole, Child, Survivor from a death/concentration Camp.

Even if you look at the smaller details, its still fits.

Winter lasted five long years — the holocaust took place in Eastern Europe, A dark, cold place. Or you can look at it metaphoric, from 1940 to 1945 it's the main part of the holocaust.

Chemical harvest was sown — Gas chambers

A spaceship from another star — to a child, a plane or a chopper bringing the librating soldiers could look like a spaceship. (like in the movie "Perfect World')

I liked reading all the comments on here in regards to the metaphors about relationships and loneliness. Had me looking at this song very differently.

I had always taken this song quite literally - Nuclear war, lone survivor, nuclear winter, rescued, etc.

But I always thought the title was trying to be ironic, I guess?

I mean, I'm not sure how 'smart' the kid really was. I don't think smarts necessarily helped him to survive a nuclear war - probably more like dumb luck actually.

He just seems to kind of wander around the nuclear wasteland aimlessly till rescuers happen to stumble upon him. Rescuers wearing hazmat suits with breathing apparatuses and using Geiger counters (the heavy breathing and clicking), that he mistakes for aliens. Then he thinks HE won the war simply because he survived (a very debatable assumption). Not exactly intelligent, yet understandable considering.

Such a great song though. Few can create a musical atmosphere like Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree.

i had a thought the other day in regards to the line 'chemical harvest was sown' (which appears to have some abiguity amongst interpretations), if this song is about some persona suffering depression and feeling isolated etc, this line could potentially be a reference to medications, drugs etc and the resultant chemicals he has taken? just a thought.

btw @crazybunny, nice picture.

LOVE this song and these lyrics. Wilson paints such a vivid picture of a man living alone in an empty world, waiting for someone "until the sky is blue" because the sky turning blue would signify hope. at the end of the song, he gives up on his world and finds that it is time to move on, that the sky will never be blue again.

This song is about the end of the world. The smart kid is the only one left alive. He however gets rescued by aliens from a more advanced world.

Someone is the last survivor on earth. He is a sarcastic guy. Earth is wasted, everybody died but hey, there's no crowds and everything is now free. He is hopless and fantasizing aliens comming to rescue him e what he would say "there was a war, I must have won" (sarcastic again). He is waiting for this. He doesnt have anything else to do, alone in the universe

What an excellent song. Wow, it conveys such meaning that I could never understand. Someone obviously isolated on earth with no one else - be it a post-apocalyptic world, or a metaphorical isolation. Who knows?

The chorus says "I will wait for you, until the sky is blue". So he must be waiting at night. Why at night?

The last two verses really get me. Being a science fiction guy, I really enjoy it.

What an excellent song. Wow, it conveys such meaning that I could never understand. Someone obviously isolated on earth with no one else - be it a post-apocalyptic world, or a metaphorical isolation. Who knows?

The chorus says "I will wait for you, until the sky is blue". So he must be waiting at night. Why at night?

The last two verses really get me. Being a science fiction guy, I really enjoy it.

it's not actually at night, cuz the world's after a kind of war (like nuclear one) and sky is covered with black clouds - that's why winter was so long, and sun may never shine through the clouds again. that's a wonderfull song.