Blue Spotted Tail

Here are the correct lyrics from the album version:

Why in the night sky are the lights hung? Why is the Earth moving 'round the sun? Floating in the vacuum with no purpose, not a one Why in the night sky are the lights hung?

Why is life made only for to end? Why do I do all this waiting then? Why this frightened part of me that's fated to pretend? Why is life made only for to end?

In the city only for a while Here to face the fortune and the bile I heard you on the radio, I couldn't help but smile In the city only for a while

Why in the night sky are the lights hung? Why is the Earth moving 'round the sun? Floating in the vacuum with no purpose, not a one Why in the night sky are the lights hung?

This song is one of the few that makes me cry when I hear it. Not because it is particularly sad or depressing, but because of the simplicity of the lyrics. He's pondering the vast emptiness of the vacuum of space and the seeming meaningnessless of life, but the comforting, mellow notes that go along with his words add so much colour and warmth to the song that it almost answers his own question. Sometimes questions don't have to have answers. Sometimes things just are, and that's the beauty of life. (Just my two cents.)

Though some things can't be answered, they are still beautiful to reflect on. There is a girl, and he cannot be with her, but he doesn't mind thinking about her.

Listened to this one all summer, when the lights from the city made the night sky glow orange. For those of us who live in the city, you get used to the bile to face the fortune. For those who don't, it's hard to get used to it, and you start to wonder why people would choose to live there with such a short life to live.

Maybe that's what he's thinking, maybe it's not, but what an ethereal, gorgeous song.

What makes this song most effective is its placement in the album after "The Argument" from the previous track. You get this feeling like you're being twisted into the ground while your insides are raked, and then all of a sudden here comes the Blue Spotted Tail. It's lyrical content is totally helpless, and the structure and melody are peacefully hokey. A song about an existential crisis and pondering the emptiness of life sung to an elementary structure and melody. I interpret it as being a very sarcastic piece, again, much due to its placement in the album. If there is any resolve felt from this track, it's artificial and unsatisfactory. Like faking a smile. I think that's the point.

it's "why do i do all this waiting then?"

I don't think this song is as sarcastic as some people have said. I'm tired of people calling hopeful things ironic or sarcastic just so they can say that they "get it". This song is simple because it asks very simple questions that are asked every day by the youngest child to the oldest person.

I don't believe this is an end-all answer to what the singer believes. Just looking at the words, most of the lyrics are interrogative. As well, the song is a delightful little ballad. It's not as if he is singing it in a hopeless vacuum. It's more like he's singing it looking back on the times when he's questioned the purpose of life- yet, he finds reasons to experience joy.

My person beliefs (faith in God) conflict with the idea of 'blissful meaninglessness.' I'm sure that concept has another name, but that's the idea that this song seems to convey on the surface. But is Pecknold really a surface level writer? I feel like his material runs a little deeper than that. Personally, I don't hear this song as the grave of one's faith. It seems more like a photograph of a season of doubt. You can look at an old photo of yourself and remember who you used to be, and gain a little bit of perspective that way.

I think "generals" might be "journals".

Beautiful song.

Wow! This sounds A LOT like Sibylle Baier in a very, very good way!