My Interpretation on this is that the narrator in the song used to be with a girl that he loved so much and but during that time he was one of the cool guys at school that lived freely(partying and alcohol, etc.) and he wasn't really able to get over his former glory. on the other hand, his girlfriend/ex matured, and started thinking about their future and got a job/career. and since he became much like an alcoholic bum of a sort, he got jealous with the girl having to work all the time having no time for him so didn't felt like "he mattered to her". somewhere in there, they broke up. so one night he went to her place all drunk so he's got this "too drunk to drive" excuse to stay. Trying to somehow patch things between them by telling her that she was "the best he ever had" and that he's really sorry for having "blew up" their relationship years ago, or else they'd still be together.
On the second verse he was trying to tell her that all he really want is to be with her and that he has somehow improved that if she'd take him back, he'd no longer drink and sleep around and if she'll accept that he's still in the process of picking himself up and not to expect a great make over, then she might not be let down.
The chorus is his way of telling her that they can still do what they used to find exiting or an adrenaline rush and that by doing so, even if the past is gone, they might still be able to pick-up some of the pieces of their past and replace their past failures with a renewed love to take it's place.
The last part he says, "she took my heart", means he never got over her and probably never will.
The line "there's only one thing I couldn't start", means that he couldn't actually start the conversation with her because he was too drunk to think straight and all of these words were just running inside his head and these were all the things he wanted to tell her.
An address to the golden door
I was strumming on a stone again
Pulling teeth from the pimps of gore
When hatched a tragic opera in my mind
And it told of a new design in which every soul is duty bound
To uphold all the statutes of boredom
Therein lies the fatal flaw of the red age
'Cause it was nothing like we'd ever dreamt
Our lust for life had gone away with the rent we hated
'Cause it made no money, nobody saved no one's life this time
So we burned all our uniforms
And let nature take its course again
And the big ones just eat all the little ones
That sends us back to the drawing board
In our darkest hours
We have all asked for some
Angel to come
Sprinkle his dust all around
But all our crying voices they can't turn it around
And you've had some crazy conversations of your own
We've got rules and maps and guns in our backs
But we still can't just behave ourselves
Even if to save our own lives
So says I
We are a brutal kind, whoa
'Cause this is nothing like we'd ever dreamt
Tell Sir Thomas More we've got another failed attempt
'Cause if it makes them money
They might just give you life this time
I was strumming on a stone again
Pulling teeth from the pimps of gore
When hatched a tragic opera in my mind
And it told of a new design in which every soul is duty bound
To uphold all the statutes of boredom
Therein lies the fatal flaw of the red age
'Cause it was nothing like we'd ever dreamt
Our lust for life had gone away with the rent we hated
'Cause it made no money, nobody saved no one's life this time
So we burned all our uniforms
And let nature take its course again
And the big ones just eat all the little ones
That sends us back to the drawing board
In our darkest hours
We have all asked for some
Angel to come
Sprinkle his dust all around
But all our crying voices they can't turn it around
And you've had some crazy conversations of your own
We've got rules and maps and guns in our backs
But we still can't just behave ourselves
Even if to save our own lives
So says I
We are a brutal kind, whoa
'Cause this is nothing like we'd ever dreamt
Tell Sir Thomas More we've got another failed attempt
'Cause if it makes them money
They might just give you life this time
Lyrics submitted by doobeydoobeydude, edited by blayzur
So Says I Lyrics as written by James Mercer
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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