The Universe Is Going to Catch You

Well, its told in third person. I believe it is about Peter haveing an euphoric experience, like a break through during his facination with the vastness of the universe and not being able to get back to that same point. Also, I think it tells a little about his friends/familly worring ond trying to understand him... keeping in mind that the album was recorded at a low point in his life, when he was able to find comfort in his fascination with the universe...so ??? just what I think

I think this song is about tripping on acid. I did acid when I was eighteen, and while I was high I felt like I understood everything, and I comprehended a vast amount of knowledge and, let me tell you, I slept in the crooked arms of justice and I felt safe. I thought the universe would catch me. That I was on some different level now, that suddenly the rules of Karma I'd always wanted to be real would finally catch up with me and prove themselves.

"It's been a long time coming It's not up for debate You've been a hollowed-out apple Though you're standing up straight"

The person mentioned is probably a normal person, maybe someone who doesn't break many rules or who keeps in line most of the time. His friends convince him he's a "hollowed-out apple" and needs to experience LSD to jumpstart his soul or become a little more interesting or something.

It's later than you think And we're not going to wait If you continue to tell us If you continue to tell us "The universe is going to catch you"

The first line alludes to the fact that the tripping has begun. When I dropped acid, my time perception was completely messed up for a good eight or nine hours. Which can be a little exhausting, by the way.

I think the rest is just conversation during the trip, but I'm not sure. Meh.

Well, it was fine until you fell off Of the face of the Earth Because we would call you at home And no one picked up the phone But we were worried that you'd fallen In the river, or worse But then you sent us back a letter It said in capital letters "THE UNIVERSE IS GOING TO CATCH YOU"

This person is completely caught up in their trip. He is really into it and trying to explain it to his friends, who I assume are more drug-experienced and don't take him seriously. I think he's starting to worry them with his insistence and fervor.

Come back inside To this house To your home Made of steel-structured styrofoam

As opposed to the chemical-induced "home" he's found.

Nobody's out there But someone is singing you Back to your birthplace That voice is the same voice You heard on the same night that Everything glowed

In my opinion it's alluding to another trip now, because obviously this guy was convinced the truth can only be exposed while he's in an altered state. The "same voice" is the acid. It does talk to you in certain ways, and now he's dropped again--

Took you into the air And the arms of the universe Kept you from falling

The trip was going as well as last time.

But after that happened Those arms did not come back So when you leapt up And nobody caught you Your neck broke

I mean, this could be a literal translation, and the guy could have accidentally died while tripping, being so sure that nothing bad could happen to him. Maybe he leapt from a building thinking he couldn't die. Or it could be metaphorically, like when he stopped tripping he realized that it was all a fantasy, it wasn't real, and his sense of comfort was a lie. And he couldn't cope with that.

That's what it sounds like to me, anyway.

I can't believe I'm the first to comment on this one. This is a great song. I'm kind of confused on what it means though. There's obvious references to suicide but I'm not sure if that's it.

It seems pretty straightforward to me.

It sounds like a depressed (or manic?) person "hollowed out shell" who's been edging away from family and friends and, frankly, sanity for a while. "the universe is going to catch you" sounds like the catchphrase of a really apathetic person who thinks it's not worth the effort to try to stay grounded and anyway, it's not like anything truly bad can happen.

Tbe song is his family's plea for him to just come home, and knock his shit off. It's implied that it wasn't the universe catching him all this time, but his family. The voice calling him home.

The last little bit could be a metaphor for this guy facing real consequences for his actions for once. It sounds, at least, more like a metaphorical death than a literal one.

I love this song. I started out with these guys by listening to Hospice, which I loved, but it was awesome to find that they had already made some amazing songs before that.

I know I already commented on this song, but I really think it might be my favorite song by these guys. It sounds to me like the singers friend is trying to run away from life. They might be one of those eccentric people who your always afraid is going to die in an accident or commit suicide ("we were worried that you'd fallen in the river, or worse"). I know people like this. They like to be mysterious and are afraid to get close to people. They don't want to fall into the standard pattern of life and death that the universe seems to force upon everyone. This person will try to escape the universe, and in the song they're warning everyone else that the universe is going to catch them too if they don't realize it and try to do something about it. The sad thing is that there's really nothing you can do about it, so the subject of this song is just living within an illusion of freedom.

I agree with acidstarshine somewhat. I think it would be a good song for the show "Intervention." It sounds like a family's pleas to a serious addict or just someone deeply depressed and withdrawn.

It's been a long time coming It's not up for debate You've been a hollowed-out apple Though you're standing up straight It's later than you think And we're not going to wait If you continue to tell us If you continue to tell us "The universe is going to catch you"

This is the actual intervention. They're telling him he's obviously not in control of himself but he denies it. He asks them to put it off, to wait until tomorrow, but they want him to confront his issues now.

"Well, it was fine until you fell off Of the face of the Earth Because we would call you at home And no one picked up the phone But we were worried that you'd fallen In the river, or worse But then you sent us back a letter It said in capital letters "THE UNIVERSE IS GOING TO CATCH YOU"

Everything was fine until something happened to trigger him. He fell into a bad place, moved away, stopped all contact with his family. They worried about him, thought he had died or gone to jail. Finally he corresponded with them, giving the same excuse, basically "whatever will be will be, don't worry about me."

Come back inside To this house To your home Made of steel-structured styrofoam Nobody's out there But someone is singing you Back to your birthplace That voice is the same voice You heard on the same night that Everything glowed Took you into the air And the arms of the universe Kept you from falling But after that happened Those arms did not come back So when you leapt up And nobody caught you Your neck broke

I don't know if this is a happy ending or a sad ending. It could mean he's realized his wrongs and wants to return home and fix things. Or it could mean he refused help and now he's all alone with memories of how it used to be before he went off the rails.