Lua

Sorry if this has already been said but the song is about "a way to live". About escapism. It's about life as a depressed addict. Life as Conor. This song is very honest and I think that's why it resonates so much with so many. It's about the night life. People use each other, everyone lives in a fantasy, when we all wake up from the fantasy we have to face reality again and it is awful.

The first verse is about the night time drug induced fantasy world but from a realistic perspective. What's really happening. They are tolerating a freezing walk to appease their addictions, desperately seeking a party to continue their fantasy, rejected by taxis (society).

The next verse is abut the next morning.. the sober time in between drinking and drugs. For an addict it's lonely, all those friends he had the night before are gone and he's left with his reflection and a pigeon. The facade he builds to gain acceptance at night is gone by morning when he sobers up. The fantasy he has created of himself disappears when he awakes from his intoxication and he is forced to face himself and reality.

The next verse shows him using someone else. As I said before, this life is shallow and selfish and he is just like the rest, he is no better. He is lying to a girl to use her, promising love that he does not have to give, knowing he will leave her but leading her to believe otherwise. Giving her a fantasy to lose herself in only to awake to the reality that he was using her.

The next verse can be interpreted as bulimia, addiction, whatever. As someone else said, self destruction regardless.

Next verse, again, this is all escapism. These people are trying to escape themselves with a facade, with medication, drugs, alcohol, whatever. So much so that they are falling unconscious, blacking out from drinking so much. They might die from what they're doing but it doesn't matter because they are self destructive and in too much emotional pain to care.

In the next verse, "I'm not sure what the trouble was that started all of this. The reasons all have run away but the feelings never did" to me sounds like he's trying to say he doesn't know exactly what caused his depression. Was it parenting? School? His own bodily chemistry? There's no reasoning behind his feelings, he's just completely going off emotions and the emotions are negative.

He repeats so simple in the moonlight because he yearns for the escapist's world where all the pain is gone. He wants that to be his reality, he hates reality.

my favorite lines are "and if you promise to stay conscious i will try and do the same yeah we might die from medication but we sure killed all the pain"

he sounds so goddamn honest all of the time, and I love it even if it might just be social commentary

conor's got a coke problem and so does the girl: "supplies are endless in the evening by the morning they'll be gone ", "you're looking skinny like a model", "keep going to the bathroom always say you'll be right back well it takes one to know one kid i think you've got it bad".

thank you letting me know im not alone

"The mask I polished in the evening, by the morning looks like shit."

And, "The love I sell you in the evening, by the morning won't exist."

I just read the first 4 pages and then pages 10 & 11... and all people seem to care about it coke vs. bulemia. WHO CARES? Let me tell you, I live in new york... and have had experience with both "addictions" (personally and through close friends) and it could certainly be either, I think it's coke but that's not the point. It's what you want it to be, how it applies to your life, through your addictions and problems because then it is easier to interpret the song if you can kind of apply it to your situation. There's more to this song then interpreting what precise addiction the girl has. Also, self destruction is an important part of it... but there are other aspects to this song.

These are the two stanzas i notice most when i listen-

"When everything is lonely I can be my own best friend Get a coffee and the paper Have my own conversations With the sidewalk and the pigeons And my window reflection The mask I polish in the evening By the morning looks like shit"

I certainly can't interpret this perfectly but I have some questions about it. It sounds great, being able to be your on best friend... what does that even mean? I was thinking perhaps loosing yourself in past nostalgia and longing. Or somehow being able to be o.k. alone. Being able to be happy alone, which would be great considering so many people rely on others for happiness. I remember seeing "Into the Wild" a few years ago, and hearing christopher say "I will miss you too, but you are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships. God's place is all around us, it is in everything and in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at things." Yet, later saying "Happiness only real when shared." It seems like in this stanza, he knows he should be able to be his best friend, and shouldnt feel so miserable or depressed alone... but I dont know if he is able to be ok alone. After all, he ends the stanza with "The mask I polish in the evening/ By the morning looks like shit." Perhaps he thinks he should be alright alone but cant be... because of whatever, because of the drugs maybe or because he has problems with relationships, who knows.

And I know you have a heavy heart I can feel it when we kiss And many men stronger than me Have thrown their backs out trying to lift it But me, I'm not a gamble You can count on me to split The love I sell you in the evening By the morning won't exist"

This to me, is more perplexing than the previous stanza. I had a general concept of what a heavy heart is, but I looked it up anyway, to be sure. The source isnt exactly reliable (urbandictionary) but it seems to be right: "Melancholy; depressed; sad. When your heart is weighted down by sorrow. Often times a death, or when you are still in love with someone from the past." She is obviously still in love with someone from her past, or perhaps even had an unrequited love... but it seems as if she's gone through life (since this past love) dating guys who fall in love with her, yet she knows deep down she never had a chance at loving them back because she's so stuck on this past love. (sorry, that sentence was wicked syntactically fucked up. i'm tired. i'm lazy.) Anyway... he surmises this about her and is ok with it, because he doesn't seem to be looking for love (or maybe he is but is incredibly hopeless and assumes it cant come from her). Rather, perhaps someone to keep him from being lonely (which further confirms he can't be ok by himself) and someone to do drugs with (I'm a cartoon, you're a full moon, let's stay up?)...

It's obvious they're both suffering from some kind of pain, that they hide from with drugs and hide from with their relationship. Her misery seems to sprout from her past love lost, and it seems uncertain where his sprouts from. He even says he doesn't know:

And I'm not sure what the trouble was That started all of this The reasons all have run away But the feeling never did It's not something I would recommend But it is one way to live Because what is simple in the moonlight By the morning never is

I wonder where his heartache has originated from. I guess that's not important but rather what he is going to do about it, if anything.

Does anyone else have an issue with the fact that a ton of the lyrics are wrong? Haha, alright then. "They keep turning their lights OFF" "WHEN everything is lonely" "Have MY OWN conversations" "THE MASK I POLISH in the evening" "Have thrown their backs out trying to LIFT IT" "But what I tell you in the evening by the morning won't make sense" should be "the love I sell you in the evening by the morning won't exist" "YOU'RE looking skinny like a model" "ALWAYS say you'll be right back" "By the MORNING'S such a drag" "Well we might die from MEDICATION" "THAT started all of this"

... seriously? How has this gotten away with so many miswritten lyrics for so long?

Have no phone conversations = Have MY OWN conversations. have thrown their backs out trying to live = have thrown their backs out trying to LIFT IT They keep turning their lights on = they keep turning their lights OFF And everything is lonely = WHEN everything is lonely When I start polishing in the evening= THE MASK I POLISH in the evening but what I tell you in the evening by the morning won't make sense = THE LOVE I SELL YOU IN THE EVENING BY THE MORNING WON'T EXIST Only say you'll be right back = ALWAYS say you'll be right back medicine = medication

So simple in the moonlight 3x at the end.

I think this song is definitely about drug addiction - in particular coke. I see the other eating disorder reference; however, there are many more prominent references to drugs. For example, "the mask i polish in the evening by the morning looks like shit" - putting on a facade, losing one's inhibitions under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

This line - "the love i sell you in the evening by the morning won't exist" - I believe is a reference to selling drugs...the love is drugs or alcohol, that will all be consumed by morning.

"you're looking skinny like a model with youe eyes all painted black keep going to the bathroom always say you'll be right back well it takes one to know one kid i think you've got it bad"

• cocaine addiction makes you thinner usually...eyes become blackaround the lids and underneath. like her, he also has a bad addiction.

"the reasons all have run away but the feeling never did" - losing one's mind in consumption of alcohol or drugs...the only feeling is the completely lackthereof.

but the best line(s) of the entire song: "and if you promise to stay conscious i will try and do the same yeah we might die from medication but we sure killed all the pain but what was normal in the evening by the morning seems insane"

an amazing song nonetheless. conor really opens up in this song it feels...i think a lot of people can and will be able to relate to this song because of its underlying elements.