Chasing a Bee

"Yerself is steam" (say it slow) refers to how your self-esteem is very fragile and can be lost forever.

"Chasing a bee inside a jar" is probably the perfect way to describe insanity. Throughout the whole song, he includes phrases about being lost, trapped or the need to find something. The song is also clearly about mind-altering drugs, like how our consciousness is but steam in distance as we chase bees in a jar.

The song has many meanings and it's nearly incomprehensible. There are so many details like yerself is steam meaning your self-esteem I can't fully break down this song.

Hey Charrbin; That was a Nice Description about the Song. In a few words this is my fav song of the 90s.

at 3:05 the guitar sounds like it is exploding out of Grasshopper's hands. Intense. like a bomb going off.

I interpret this song as his way of coming to spiritual acceptance of his mortality. The lyrics, particularly the last half, show how he has come to grips with his fears about mortality, the purpose of his existence and his place in the universe by remembering that "yerself is steam," aka we are more than just our biological, carbon-decaying bodies. He is at peace now. His feelings of fear, doubt, being trapped, etc are gone, and he is accepts that death is not an ending.

He realizes that to worry and fret over these issues is pointless, that "what's lost will never be found;" and he is ok with that. He ends the song with" keep spinning in circles until you break new ground," aka since there is no point in worrying about these things, you might as well live your life fully while on Earth, always trying to break new ground or elevate one's consciousness, thus preparing one for the amazing journey as "steam" that is to come after death.

I hadn't thought about the meaning of this song much until charbin said that yourself is steam means your self esteem. I could be wrong in this, but this is the way I interpret it:

"Bombed out lovers, gallant red flocks of mellow seducers, fine [find?] eager seekers" here he is talking about well adjusted people in relationships

"it's not as easy as it may seem, remember that yourself is steam" it doesn't come naturally

"Their pretty shells are so inviting, well protected Their eyes are rivers, they give me shivers" it is easy to hide inside yourself like a turtle. close yourself off

"it's not time for the real life [live?] sign, it's not time for these fears of mine" while closed off from everyone you convince yourself that this isn't your real life yet. That eventually you will come out of your shell and have experiences and live your life.

"I'm feeling troubled, I'm feeling trapped, can't shake that bubble off my back" once you get used to being closed off it becomes very hard to leave the comfort of your shell and live like a normal person.

"I feel no harm, I feel no harm, ...feel no harm" closed off you are safe from rejection, ridicule, etc.

"what once was lost will never be found, keep spinning in circles until you break new ground" now you are stuck in this situation doomed to come to a bunch of epiphanies about why your life isn't that great, but never really change anything major.