"So there was this woman and she was, uh, on an airplane
And she was flying to meet her fiance
Sailing high above the, the largest ocean on planet earth
And she was seated next to this man, who
You know, she had tried to start conversations
And the only, really the only thing she heard him say was
Was to order his, his Bloody Mary
And she's sitting there and she was reading this
Really arduous magazine article about a third world country
That she couldn't even pronounce the, the name of
And she was feeling very bored and very despondent
And then, uh, suddenly there was this huge mechanical failure
And one of the, the engines gave out
And they started just falling thirty-thousand feet
The pilot's on the, on the microphone and he's, he's saying
'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, oh my god, I'm sorry' and apologizing
And she looks at the man and she, and she says, she says
She says 'Where are we going?'
And he looks at her and he says 'We're going to a party
It's a birthday party, it's your birthday party
Happy birthday, darling
We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much'
And then, uhm, he starts humming this little tune
And, and uh, it kind of goes like this, it's kinda
One, two, one, two, three, four"

We must talk on every telephone
Get eaten off the web
We must rip out all the epilogues
From the books that we have read
And to the face of every criminal
Strapped firmly to a chair
We must stare, we must stare, we must stare

We must take all of the medicines
Too expensive now to sell
Set fire to the preacher
Who is promising us hell
And in the ear of every anarchist
That sleeps but doesn't dream
We must sing, we must sing, we must sing

And it'll go like this, alright

While my mother waters plants
My father loads his gun
He says death will give us back to God
Just like the setting sun
Its return to the lonesome ocean

And then they splashed into the deep blue sea
Oh, it was a wonderful splash

We must blend into the choir
Sing ecstatic with the whole
Must memorize nine numbers
And deny we have a soul
And in this endless race for property
And privilege to be one
We must run, we must run, we must run

We must hang up in the belfry
Where the bats and moonlight laugh
We must stare into a crystal ball
And only see the past
And into the caverns of tomorrow
With just our flashlights and our love
We must plunge, we must plunge, we must plunge
And then we'll get down there
Way down to the very bottom of everything
And then we'll see it, we'll see it, we'll see it

Oh my mornings coming back
The whole world's waking up
Oh, the city bus is swimming past
I'm happy just because
I found out I am really no one


Lyrics submitted by Hunter, edited by sarahbelum, Cafehollander, RickyFiggy

At The Bottom Of Everything Lyrics as written by Conor Oberst

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Unison Rights S.L.

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At the Bottom of Everything song meanings
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  • -2
    General Comment

    I think when the guy says "we're going to a birthday party" that isn't happening in real life. I think it means that the woman is in heaven. Since the song later describes death as going back to God, then it makes sense that death would be called a birthday party--because at your birth you are leaving God and at death you are going back to Him so it's two sides of the same coin. And it's also like going to your birthday party where everyone loves you because God loves you more than anyone. I can see how all the verys could sound sarcastic but I don't think that's necessarily true. I might say something like "happy birthday, darling! We love you very very very very very very very much!" to my dogs or one of my friends when I'm being silly but I sort of mean it at the same time even though I'm being silly and I certainly don't mean the opposite is true. I think different people will have different reactions to the story in terms of taking it seriously--it is definitely a silly and creepy story in that it portrays death as being awesome. I think a person's reaction to the story has to do with their religious beliefs and how easy it is for them to see something that is disturbing as beautiful and touching at the same time. I've only heard the song a few times, but the contradictions in the lyrics could just be because the song is describing life. The right way to live life is just to throw yourself into it whether you're doing good things like watering plants and singing into the ears of anarchists who don't dream and plunging into the caverns of the future, or bad things like taking too much medicine and trying to become rich and powerful. (Incidentally, it actually didn't occur to me until I read other people's comments that the choir thing sounds negative because I love choral singing.)

    mockingsmileon January 03, 2008   Link

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