is about living in the same place for so long, there is a sense of displacement that can't be discouraged because it's placement is spatially involved within following setting where its characters follow the same role; it is this sham-of-a-life the speaker is so use to and can't make up for, and in attempting to change this role, only realises that this is also a "show" it is an imitation of another false existence, an art, like theatre, this is aesthetically pleasing yet insincere "now I feel stupid when I smile . . . a circus of our lives". The speaker than comes up with the solution; to altogether remove himself/herself from the place lived in so long, to remove that attached persona, that persona that is purely a facade; in this the speaker would meet to romance and repeat the same long living, and cop out again and again, a rehearsal art; the existence that the sin city is always conflated in meditation but when realized no longer exists, thus the "take it back to the beginning"

CORRECTIONS: "guarded line" is actually "dotted line" and "It eats away with a force so great"

"romance me, take me back to the beginning."

i've been listening to it all night (:)) and think it's very powerful (sound and lyrics). i think it's about not being in touch with ourselves and being brought up in a society (human-contrived system) that represses individuality and self-expression. it has a hopefulness, though, because things are the only way they could be and just as they should be, and we are, in fact, natural. it's particularly meaningful to me right now dealing w/ this tick bite and turning 40 this year. i've put the lyrics below and below that my interpretation of them. if you guys have some thoughts on any of this please share.

lyrics:

i am the dotted line and you fill me in with whatever you like

(speaks of the boundary of what's possible and how we get to choose how we live within that boundary)

and i'm just going through the motions and i need an old fashioned potion

there's gotta be some old recipe 'cause i gotta get drunk i gotta forget about some things

(not livin' right - not choosing your own reality, not havin' fun!)

i lived in lies all my life and i been livin' here for a long long time

and i know it's been coming down a while now and when it shows then you get me on the dial

(crisis - when it happens you communicate with god and yourself (get in touch with))

but now you're halfway around the world maybe i'll see better days but i'm not so sure i will

(maybe our lives are halfway over - maybe that was the good half. god (or yourself) is halfway around the world - can't get any further )

i am still hanging round and round sometimes it's a racket but lately not a sound

(same old thing but slowing down, getting older)

in the bowels of history and time well i have learned to stand back and never shine

(society 'learns' you to get in line instead of making your mark. truth is we only have the one life and to give it away is a disservice. bowels = depth, every record of our existence will eventually be erased - what are we afraid of?)

now i feel stupid when i smile for not a journey but a circus are our lives

(there's nothing to smile about. we laugh at other people falling on the ice but we are really laughing at ourselves and we are ashamed)

i can't makeup for everything i waste and i know that i can never afford a taste

(all the wasted time (opportunity), mainly. also energy, money, resources, etc.)

of anything that your lovely hands make it eats away with a force so great

(god's hands, the force of god, only god can truly create and destroy)

just because it brings a smile to my face such a bad memory you just can't erase

(not sure about the smile/bad memory - smile relating to smile line above? bad memory = circumcision? (http://knol.google.com/k/-/circumcision-and-human-behavior/2y9nanfagw8nr/13# - kidding but seems similar, actually). We cannot ‘reinvent’ ourselves every moment because we are a product of our past and it’s like a chain. Nirvana dies (t)here.)

i know of a City to steal from and i know of a City to cheat on

(City is society. it represents imperfection)

and i know of a City of Sin and that's the place that i want to meet you in

(meet the real me - the imperfect one - in the imperfect City - the only place i can exist)

say hello all over again romance me take me back to the beginning

(collapse, death, rebirth. or be childlike - no ego - try to shine again. it's possible the whole song is a conversation with god. the 'i' is me (author) and the 'you' is the big Guy)

I think the title is expressing the inherent conflict in self-knowledge. Are we here just to try and survive as long as possible? What’s the purpose of it-all? What is the point of these words and this song and being a musician (artist) — it’s just ether, ethereal(ity).

This

"when it's sure" not "when it shows"

He cheated on his girlfriend in Las Vegas. Its about being a jerk and having lied all his life.

Even when you've found someone you care about so much that it makes you want to be a better person, you've already ruined it because you can't stop being the impulsive person you are.

The song is almost written like a Shakesperian aside, as if telling the audience the awful truth he should be telling the real recipient of the confession.

'I am the dotted line, And you fill me in with whatever you like. I am just going through the motions.'

I've lied all my life, you can assume anything you want about me because anything I've told you is just as good as something you could make up.

I lived in lies all my life, And I've been living here for a long, long time, And I know its been coming down a while now, When it shows, then you get me on the dial, But right now you're half way around the world,

I've been lying all my life, and I've been lying long enough that I should get caught for how I did what I did, but you're halfway around the world and you'll never know. What I've done is just the newest jerk move in my life of things to lie about now.