Dream at Tempo 119 Lyrics
at the cardboard screen while no one cared
while the lights stayed on
the familiar buzz was now long gone
i just waited there
as the music soared into the air
as the lights went down
she said don't open your eyes
they took to the crowd and aimed towards me
as the circle closed
i held onto the one with splintered clothes
twenty years before
she said don't open your eyes and you can swim
all my friends ignored
she said don't open your eyes
and said goodnight
don't open your eyes
and said goodnight
as her wooden bones grew through her skin
crumbled naturally
as her limbs and leaves had broken free
twenty years before
she said don't open your eyes and you can swim
wanted nothing more
she said don't open your eyes
and said goodnight
don't open your eyes
and said goodnight
i love how it sounds dreamlike in the beginning and then goes right into the music like awaking.
Listening to this on headphones at night in the dark is actually a little chilling. I like the song, but I'm a fraidy-cat.
The opening of this song sort of parallels this Shakespearean quote "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages."
This seems to be his final exit. He's not dead yet (while the lights stayed on) but he is about to die. (the familiar buzz was now long gone, i just waited there) He's waiting to die & prepares himself by taking a seat i front of the cardboard screen & his life is played before his eyes. In a world full of so many people entering & exiting the stage, no one cares that the curtains are about to be drawn on him. His soul is leaving his body "as the music soared into the air, as the lights went down" & then he sees her, the "angel from his nightmare" so to speak. His death is a nightmare where " they took to the crowd and aimed towards me. as the circle closed I held onto the one with splintered clothes." It seems as if there are unwelcome or evil beings after him & in the midst of it all he spots a familiar presence who appears to be reaching out to him & trying to help him despite the damage done in their past. "I couldn't end it there" suggests that he is still clinging to life &/or the threads that tie the two together, but she is crumbling & breaking away from him just as she did 20 years previously. The advice "don't open your eyes and you can swim" is the same as she gave him long ago: you'll be okay if you can block out the world, your problems, your fears. You can stay afloat by not being blindsided, so close your eyes, tune it all out. Now she is meaning it to block out the who or whatever is coming after him& to let her go, & then & only then he can pass on into the afterlife & be at peace.
Funnily enough, just when you said that this song sort of parallels that Shakespearean quote, the part "I held onto the one with splintered clothes" reminded me of this random line from a poem Shakespeare wrote once called "Sad Cypress", where the speaker goes "my shroud of white, stuck all with yew [thus making me think of that person with tree? splinters stuck all over his clothing]/ oh prepare it, my part of death no one so true did share it". So it kind of felt like in the midst of everything, he tried to grab someone to save him,...
Funnily enough, just when you said that this song sort of parallels that Shakespearean quote, the part "I held onto the one with splintered clothes" reminded me of this random line from a poem Shakespeare wrote once called "Sad Cypress", where the speaker goes "my shroud of white, stuck all with yew [thus making me think of that person with tree? splinters stuck all over his clothing]/ oh prepare it, my part of death no one so true did share it". So it kind of felt like in the midst of everything, he tried to grab someone to save him, only to realise that it was himself he was reaching out for.
Sounds like a dream sequence to me. If it is, then it doesn't have to make any sense at all. Whens the last time you had a dream that made sense?
I think its about a guy who's been going out with a girl for a while, the guy really loves her, but the girl doesnt feel as strongly. he's been waiting for her to open up to him, to love him the way he loves her. the song is set from the perspective of the guy, twenty years after the fact. She told him to close his eyes, a metaphor to wait for her before their relationship moves forward. He waits, but she opens up to him and returns his feelings. Now, twenty years later, he still thinks of her, of how he felt about her, and how she never loved him the way he loved her. some of the lines in the song suppourt this. "the familiar buzz was now long gone" how he felt about the girl 20 years ago. "i just waited there" waiting for her to love him "she said dont open your eyes" shes telling him to wait a lot of this song is metaphors im not gonna even begin to try to decipher. but if you look into it, a lot of it relates to my theory.
This song is definitely about love. It's about a couple that broke up many years ago like when they were school aged. It also seems like the girl has outgrown the guy by the lyrics "as her limbs and leaves had broken free" and also the lyrics about "dont open your eyes and you can swim". It sounds like the guys has kinda wasted his life while the girl has made something of herself and he is looking back on it.
this song fucking kicks ass. my fav. by silversun pickups definitely.
"Don't open your hhh-eyes!" Great song.
I think it's Brian basically describing a dream he had. The "splintered clothes", "wooden bones" and "limbs and leaves" are talking about some kind of tree-woman who has connections with his youth... or something like that.
Holy hell. I just listened to the whole thing the first time today. His voice is so powerful, especially in this song. I felt like God was talking to me.
i loveeee this song. this is my favorite...and i love silversun pickups :) i listened to their album over and over