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.
Got glue in your feathers
What brought you to this?
A flightless bird surrounded by
Red handed kids
In their borrowed black sheep's clothes
Now everybody's in on the joke
So practice your boredom
Look a thousand times removed
Cause only a freak would sing
In a crowded waiting room
They would turn you out in the cold
Because everybody's in on the joke
Are you missing a stranger
That you might have loved?
Do you feel that there's something
You don't feel enough?
There's a perfectly good poison
For the perfectly numb
If you want some
But naming the feeling
It just, it kills the charade
And if flowers should bloom
Upon your wallpaper face
It will follow you everywhere you go
Because everybody's in on the joke
Desire only burns
And envy's always green
A mind can only race
And a heart, it can only beat
There's these towering neon signs
We must uphold
To keep out the blackness
And run with the blue
Now only a fool would sing
As if he's telling the truth
Could you swallow down
That lump in your throat?
Because everybody's in on the joke
Are you missing a stranger
That you might have loved?
Do you feel that there's something
You don't feel enough?
There's a perfectly good poison....
Are you missing a stranger
That you might have loved?
Do you feel that there's something
You don't feel enough?
There's a perfectly good poison
For the perfectly numb
If you want some
What brought you to this?
A flightless bird surrounded by
Red handed kids
In their borrowed black sheep's clothes
Now everybody's in on the joke
So practice your boredom
Look a thousand times removed
Cause only a freak would sing
In a crowded waiting room
They would turn you out in the cold
Because everybody's in on the joke
Are you missing a stranger
That you might have loved?
Do you feel that there's something
You don't feel enough?
There's a perfectly good poison
For the perfectly numb
If you want some
But naming the feeling
It just, it kills the charade
And if flowers should bloom
Upon your wallpaper face
It will follow you everywhere you go
Because everybody's in on the joke
Desire only burns
And envy's always green
A mind can only race
And a heart, it can only beat
There's these towering neon signs
We must uphold
To keep out the blackness
And run with the blue
Now only a fool would sing
As if he's telling the truth
Could you swallow down
That lump in your throat?
Because everybody's in on the joke
Are you missing a stranger
That you might have loved?
Do you feel that there's something
You don't feel enough?
There's a perfectly good poison....
Are you missing a stranger
That you might have loved?
Do you feel that there's something
You don't feel enough?
There's a perfectly good poison
For the perfectly numb
If you want some
Lyrics submitted by EmotionSickness13
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I read this one as about anti-depressents ("A perfectly good poison / for the perfectly numb"..."If flowers should bloom upon your wallpaper face", etc.), and the conflicting senses of knowing that your missing out on something ("Are you missing a stranger / that you might have loved"), but at the same time a fear of what it may mean to lose your letter-boxed view of the world and directly face emotional issues.
I know a woman who seems extremely depressed most of the time. I have always felt so fortunate that I don't suffer from numbness OR depression. Feeling our emotions, naming them and dealing with them is the best way to feeling happy and peaceful. If you tuck them under a rug they become Mount Vesuvius and therefore problematic. Getting professional help for troubling emotions is the proper way to handle them. If you feel angry or wronged ( I guess you did jujubee) Intentionally lashing out at others and creating stupid mind games is NOT the proper way of handling your emotions. Seek therapy if you have any residual issues over people who created turbulence in your life. Take your anti-depressants if necessary. Again, I am genetically lucky that I am inherently happy.
If all else fails, try and do nice things for others. Some times that helps!
From Dempsey in Jmag: "I read (Infinte Jest by David Foster-Wallace) for the first time a few years ago, and then read everything else he'd every written. I missed his writing and I missed the characters. Its so huge and so vast, I feel like I know those people and I missed them. I ended up writing 'Safety in Numbness' inspired by a particular passage."
I picture this as a person who's bipolar, and the perfectly good poison is Lithium. Or, someone's severely depressed and they turn to cutting, the poison is the razor.