I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
I shake through the wreckage for signs of life
Scrolling through the paragraphs
Clicking through the photographs
I wish I could make sense of what we do
Burning down the capitols
The wisest of the animals
Who are you, what are you living for
Tooth for tooth, maybe we'll go one more
This life, is lived in perfect symmetry
What I do, that will be done to me
Read page after page of analysis
Looking for the final score
We're no closer than we were before
Who are you, what are you fighting for
Holy truth? Brother I choose this mortal life
Lived in perfect symmetry
What I do, that will be done to me
As the needle, slips into the run out groove
Love, maybe you feel it too
And maybe you find, life is unkind
And over so soon
There is no golden gate
There's no heaven waiting for you
Oh boy you ought to leave this town
Get out while you can, the meter's running out
The voices in the streets you love
Everything is better when you hear that sound
Spineless dreamers, hide in churches
Pieces of pieces of rush hour, buses
I dream in emails, worn out phrases
Mile after mile of just empty pages
Wrap yourself around me
Wrap yourself around me
As the needle, slips into the run out groove
Maybe I'll feel it too
Maybe you'll feel it too
Maybe you'll feel it too (Spineless dreamers)
Maybe you'll feel it too (hide in churches)
(Pieces of pieces of rush hour, buses)
I dream in emails, worn out phrases
Mile after mile of just empty pages
Spineless dreamers, hide in churches
Pieces of pieces of rush hour, buses
Scrolling through the paragraphs
Clicking through the photographs
I wish I could make sense of what we do
Burning down the capitols
The wisest of the animals
Who are you, what are you living for
Tooth for tooth, maybe we'll go one more
This life, is lived in perfect symmetry
What I do, that will be done to me
Read page after page of analysis
Looking for the final score
We're no closer than we were before
Who are you, what are you fighting for
Holy truth? Brother I choose this mortal life
Lived in perfect symmetry
What I do, that will be done to me
As the needle, slips into the run out groove
Love, maybe you feel it too
And maybe you find, life is unkind
And over so soon
There is no golden gate
There's no heaven waiting for you
Oh boy you ought to leave this town
Get out while you can, the meter's running out
The voices in the streets you love
Everything is better when you hear that sound
Spineless dreamers, hide in churches
Pieces of pieces of rush hour, buses
I dream in emails, worn out phrases
Mile after mile of just empty pages
Wrap yourself around me
Wrap yourself around me
As the needle, slips into the run out groove
Maybe I'll feel it too
Maybe you'll feel it too
Maybe you'll feel it too (Spineless dreamers)
Maybe you'll feel it too (hide in churches)
(Pieces of pieces of rush hour, buses)
I dream in emails, worn out phrases
Mile after mile of just empty pages
Spineless dreamers, hide in churches
Pieces of pieces of rush hour, buses
Lyrics submitted by MLBfreek35
Perfect Symmetry Lyrics as written by Timothy James Rice-oxley Richard David Hughes
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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There's a really good reason this song is the title track. It pretty much sums up the whole album.
The central theme for the song and the album is what can be achieved, and where we should set our goals.
First two stanzas indicate what is going on with mankind right now. It's "wreckage" and humans are just "the wisest of the animals." I love that line because it shows that we might think highly of ourselves, but we're really just animals. At the same time, we have achieved a lot for animals.
"This life is lived in perfect symmetry" - That line has so many possible meanings. From the following line, one may deduce that all actions will be reciprocated. It can also indicate that there is perfection in the world, we just have to find it. There's also a slight implication that everyone has another half, someone with the same perfect symmetry as them. The list just goes on and on and on... It's up to the listener to get what they can out of this.
The stanza after the first chorus shows that we can do things in futility, like searching through pages and pages of text, when all you're really looking for is who won and by what score. And these things don't help, because "we're no closer than we were before"
Back into the chorus: it starts by asking "who are you, what are you living for?" Which shows that some people don't know what they're here for, but they need a purpose in order to live a full life.
The stanza after the second chorus (Maybe you'll find...) says that we have got to set our goals high, and we can do so much better than we're doing (sound familiar? Maybe the title of another Keane song?) because we don't have an unlimited time on this earth, and there might not be a heaven where we can live forever after.
The next couple lines serve to get people off their asses and into a new place where they can dream big, and realize those dreams.
I think there are a few places where atheistic support is hinted at, especially where it says "there is no golden gate, there is no heaven waiting for you." Also, the softer bit where the backing vocals sing "Spineless dreamers hide in churches" which to me says that people with no spine, or no backbone, nothing keeping them going, go to church to put something in their lives so they have something to live for. Not only that, but they're "hiding" in churches, perhaps covering up a bigger truth.
The two lines from "I dream in emails..." to "...just empty pages" show how some people are so screwed up by society that they can't do things for themselves.
All in all, I love this song lyrically because it's very open to interpretation while having a very deep and encouraging meaning. And it's not about love, which is a plus in this musical age.