In The Cinema Alone

My guess is that the song is about two people who had had a relationship in the past, but now the narrator is just her friend, and helps her through all her failed relationships. "We’ll drink away the pain of the one you lost this time"

Now that the narrator has gotten a little older, he realizes that he misses being with her. He begins asking himself questions such as "How do you sleep in the cinema alone?" and wonders if he should call her up and pour his heart out to her "Do you keep in touch with the one that killed you? The one that made you start to dream your life away? Get on the telephone and tell her you’re alone And if she doesn’t take you back It’s gonna stay that way"

Now he just sits alone in the theaters, missing her, and pretending that the love story playing on the screen is actually his. "I haven’t seen the movie but I know the play The lovers reunite, but it’s not your face up there"

He then decides that its dumb to sit in a theater and wonder what his life could be like, he needs to get out and do something otherwise hell end up alone forever. "So dream all you like Dream all you like, you’re gonna end up alone"

this song is beautiful.

I think gutentagsum41 has it pretty well right Ill just translate one of the versus

"There’s nothing left to see in the final reel I haven’t seen the movie but I know the play"

I think there are two possibilities here:

1. He's talking about one of her relationships thats gone wrong, not with him, saying that there is nothing left in this relationship her, and "I havent seen the movie but I know the play" is a great way of saying I may not have seen this paticular case but I know the general story or how it ends up

2. He's talking about his relationship, saying there's nothing left for them, basically the same as the first one but refering to him

Okay so i am a big fan of stars and memphis and I saw memphis live in hamilton ontario when they first sorta started to come out and do shows, and this song moved me completely because i found i related to it. The last line cuz when its lights up youre alone, brought tears to my eyes i was so moved. So this is my tranlation of the song basically part by part.

I think the song is intended to be how a person wishes and plays their life out to be like a movie.

"Im tired of seeing you buried in the twilight Cradling your heart, watching people play Am I ever gonna catch you in the early morning? Are you ever gonna shine for us all someday? Or will you spend your life in the cinema? How do you sleep in the cinema alone?"

Translation: Buried in the light of a movie screen watching people play out their characters lives as you wish you could. The person the song is directed to never goes out and only lives at night like when you watch movies you watch them in the dark, and singer wonders if shell ever live her life, or spend her life dreaming about what she could have instead of doing it.

"Do you keep in touch with the one that killed you? The one that made you start to dream your life away? Get on the telephone and tell her youre alone And if she doesnt take you back Its gonna stay that way"

Translation: Wonders if she keeps in touch with the person who hurt her and made her revert to movie fantasies and dreams. The telephone part is basically saying that you could call that person who hurt you up and if they dont take you back its just going to be that way its not like in the movies where people end up living happily ever after all the time.

"Theres nothing left to see in the final reel I havent seen the movie but I know the play The lovers reunite, but its not your face up there The sky is bright, but its not the way Thats just the cinema Your love will die in the cinema Alone."

Translation: The singer knows what happens in real life as oppose to the movies, the lovers on screen reunite but it doesnt mean that it will be you because it isnt, and thats just the way movies are and if you live your life according to movies and how they play out youll live and die alone.

"So dream all you like Dream all you like, youre gonna end up alone Dream all you like, dream all you like Youre gonna end up all alone Dream all you like, dream all you like Cuz when its lights up Youre alone"

Translation: Basically dream how you want to dream imagine yourself in the movie senario but it does not mean youll get it, and if you dont get away form it youll end up alone. And even though in the movies the lovers reunite and end up all happen when the lights up your there watching the movie alone.