I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
And when I see you
I really see you upside down
But my brain knows better
It picks you up and turns you around
Turns you around, turns you around
If you feel discouraged
When there's a lack of color here
Please don't worry lover
It's really bursting at the seams
From absorbing everything, the spectrum's A to Z
This is fact not fiction
For the first time in years
All the girls in every girly magazine
Can't make me feel any less alone
I'm reaching for the phone
To call at 7:03 and on your machine
I slur a plea for you to come home
But I know it's too late
And I should have given you a reason to stay
Given you a reason to stay
Given you a reason to stay
Given you a reason to stay
This is fact, not fiction
For the first time in years
I really see you upside down
But my brain knows better
It picks you up and turns you around
Turns you around, turns you around
If you feel discouraged
When there's a lack of color here
Please don't worry lover
It's really bursting at the seams
From absorbing everything, the spectrum's A to Z
This is fact not fiction
For the first time in years
All the girls in every girly magazine
Can't make me feel any less alone
I'm reaching for the phone
To call at 7:03 and on your machine
I slur a plea for you to come home
But I know it's too late
And I should have given you a reason to stay
Given you a reason to stay
Given you a reason to stay
Given you a reason to stay
This is fact, not fiction
For the first time in years
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Only thing I'm confused about is the part of him seeing her upside down. Is that a metaphor for something?
Maybe it's saying he's seen her at her worst. You know when you're upside down or you feel bad you feel like everything's backwards.
he might be using it as symbolism -- it seems to be popular in death cab lyrics -- but it's a proven fact that when your eyes receive images, the images are "upside down" and your brain flips them like a mirror so that what finally registers is the right picture. otherwise, we'd stumble into everything.<br /> =P
its seeing her sad man... :( over :)
I'm pretty sure it's referring to the way our eyes literally see things. When humans (I'm not sure about animals) open their eyes, images actually go into our heads upside down. Brains actually flip images. It's kind of like breathing and other things we don't even realize we do. Our eyes are like filters.
i think its symbolism for how we interpret things...<br /> and how we think we're seeing things one way and its actually entirely different.<br /> lots of images of sight. seeing upside down, color, etc.
um, this is figurative at all. this song isnt supposed to be figurative at all, thats why he keeps saying "this is fact, not fiction for the first time in years.' so yes, when an image hits your eyes, the image is picked up upside down, but then your brain does flip it around.
I have to strongly disagree with everyone who think's this sentence is to be taken strongly litteral.<br /> I think he is describing the conflict between how his heart feels about her (heart-broken, maybe anger),<br /> and how his brain knows she really is.(he understands his part in the break-up)