This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
A man who would be king, a big thing
To move great masses with his mouth
To play fast and loose with limb
To build a castle on the sand
To lie with grace
And steal with face
A horrible cunning man
A lovable and callous sham
Condemned to flail without end
Condemned to fail in the end
To give more than he takes
With high stakes
To Save the world from itself
To put his own gain on the shelf
To set his mind on a higher peak
And always turn the other cheek
A champion of the meek
What a total fucking freak
Condemned to flail, tries to mend
Condemned to fail in the end
Insignificant/Indispensable
Dependable/Disposable
Miniscule/Indefatigable
A man who would be king
To move great masses with his mouth
To play fast and loose with limb
To build a castle on the sand
To lie with grace
And steal with face
A horrible cunning man
A lovable and callous sham
Condemned to flail without end
Condemned to fail in the end
To give more than he takes
With high stakes
To Save the world from itself
To put his own gain on the shelf
To set his mind on a higher peak
And always turn the other cheek
A champion of the meek
What a total fucking freak
Condemned to flail, tries to mend
Condemned to fail in the end
Insignificant/Indispensable
Dependable/Disposable
Miniscule/Indefatigable
A man who would be king
Lyrics submitted by Lachrymal Cloud
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on the contrary, i think this song is about contrasting two archetypes; one is the politician, who is loved by the people, but really is a slimy person. The politician is doomed to fail and condemned to flail because he will ultimately go to hell for being an awful person. The other archetype is the benefactor (you could use Jesus Christ as an example here) who strives to help and better humankind, but is also condemned to failure and suffering because people don't accept the message.
The last few lines of the song seem to be contrasting how each archetype compare to each other from a political point of view, which seems to emphasize the point that martyrs are rarer than politicians.
And the end of the song leaves us with the point that both men would be king, but in radically different ways.
I think you more or less have it right fightingsleep. Except for the religious references.
This has to be my favorite song by Sleepytime. I think it has something to do with someone in power that's secretly abusing it. Bush, possibly?
dan rathbun is pretty clear in the liner notes that this is a political song, but he seems to be more put off by the hyperpartisanship of politics than about any one particular politician.
also i don't think anyone could honestly describe the oratorically challenged bush as being able to "move great masses with his mouth." barack obama, maybe? :D
@liquorton gooksberg I'm pretty sure this is about moral character and the kind of moral characer that rises to power, rather than any partisanship although you could argue that partisans (of "both sides" of concentrated power) are generally described in the first part of the song.
SGM took the time machine back and warned us about Trump.
First part is describing people who actually become "king", get power and fail. Second part is the ideal of people who should be "king", and never get power.
Third part I think is just an intentional scrambling of the first and second part to show how the two get confused in the public consciousness.