Angels in Top Hats

I never realized how sad this song was until I read the lyrics thoroughly. Whoever Janie is, she is obviously precious to and loved by the singer, who feels hopeless and helpless because he can't do anything for her. He waits for her to wake up after a tragic accident. She us unable to breathe on her own and thus is connected to a respirator. Instead of saying, "WHEN you wake, mine will be the first eyes you see," he says, "IF you wake," indicated both that she may not make it and that he cares for her so much he will stay until she wakes. It's possible that the singer was driving, as he speaks of "the road, the rain, the bad, the blood, the splash" as if he had been there. He feels that anything he does to help is futile; he asks Janie if she can "hear my prayers hit the ceiling? And can you tell me if my words have meaning?"

The first several listens of this song and the album that contains it, I just sang along, not realizing the meaning and seriousness of the song. Now I can barely even read the lyrics without a tear or two forming. I love this song.

This is a tragic but beautiful song.

This song is tragic and beautiful, I agree. The instruments are slow and depressing-especially the bass. I can only imagine the troubles this person is in, the conflict he is having with himself, assuming he could have been the cause of this accident it sounds like. He sounds hopeless, or on the verge of losing all hope. The disparity in his voice tugs at my heart strings.

I agree with Love BreakUp Songs.He waits for her, he's loyal. It expresses what's going on beyond their realm as she sits on a threshold and he hopes for her life. But not only that, the words paint a vivid image of Janie in my head and I feel sorrow. I can see the small description of the accident as if the adrenaline had been pumping so much and fast that all he really recalls are the major bits and pieces. He pleads to know she's fine, but no matter what he knows she isn't. "I see you now only in pieces," either she's got lots of broken bones and injuries, or she's slipping away from him and dying. I think of a hospital with the words hopeless cathedral added with blankets and needles. The part of asking what his hope is to look like-the music becomes darker and stops. Then after silence it picks up in speed as if hes gone into a rage. I like the line "dreams are for dreaming, buckets for bleeding. Eyes are for seeing, but you'll still be sleeping." Either he knows what's going to happen and is pessimistic. Or the worse thing did happen and she couldn't survive. He's given up.

I agree with the other comments, especially Love BreakUp Songs'. To add on to Love BreakUp Songs' speculation that he was driving, maybe he was drunk, and that has compounded the guilt that he seems to have.