This song is just electrifying.

It seems to be about how we think we would like to trade places with the versions of ourselves we see in the mirror (or in the glass!) who live in an identical world but never feel the trials and tribulations of the real world because they're just illusions of people. Our protagonist gets the chance to swap places for real, but immediately regrets it because in the glass everything is empty, and all the joy is gone as well as the pain.

And it's so often true - people get jealous of mediocrity and are too lazy to live exciting lives because of the risk, opting to live empty lives instead.

I can't pick a favorite from this album, but this is definitely one of the many. Favorite line of the entire album is from this song, "Every day is the same: we're praying for rain" (next to the line about love saving us in "Back From Kathmandu").

I agree with willhirsch's comment, though I'll give a deeper analysis:

“Well at first there was, there was just no question”

• In the beginning he didn’t question “Who wouldn’t rather be their reflection?” -Wouldn’t you be happier in a place with no problems or worries? “And when I got here everything was cold and perfect” -When he switched with his reflection, he found the place had no emotion, but because it didn’t have emotion, there was no faults, and it was “perfect”

“It was clear and bright like midwinter sunlight” -This could mean 3 things; a) the decision, b) his last day in the real world, or c) the reflection’s land (Though I doubt it since bright = warm, but he said the place was cold) “My heartbeat counting down the moments, precise and quiet” -He was extremely nervous beforehand, heart beating heavily, but decided to keep quiet “I looked out and saw my own reflection, helpless” -He looked in the mirror and saw his reflection “I looked out and saw him overwhelmed and helpless”

• Between the last 2 lines the switch takes place, and he is now the reflection looking at himself

“What have I done?” -He regrets his decision

“And as time went on, you could feel the silence”

• The more he stayed there, he realized the lack of emotion was getting to him “Solidifying the sound of my thoughts was paralyzing”
• If you mesh these two lines, he’s saying the lack of public discussion (prevention of speaking ones mind) crushed his thoughts/idea’s (he lost hope) and was unable to do anything about it (trapped, paralyzed, helpless) “I tried to call out to him but the glass was perfect” -He tried to escape, but since the glass has no faults, it wouldn’t let him, for reasons unknown

“What have I done?” -Again, regrets his decision “What wicked penance to get what you want”

• He put himself through this horrible torture because he did something wrong, all for this one person

“Everyday is the same: we’re praying for rain”

• Rain is considered a miracle is some tribes in the desert since water is so scarce, so basically they’re praying for a miracle “And when it finally came, and when it came”
• Now we’re in past tense, saying a miracle did come “Everyday was the same: still praying for rain”
• if you split the sentence in two, he’s saying after the miracle nothing happened, and they continue praying for another one, since there’s nothing else they can do

Please understand that it is VERY hard to try and explain these things. There are other interpretations of some lines, so I could be wrong. I also realized that the third and last stanza remind me of communist lifestyles, though I could be mistaken because in the chorus he’s talking about “to get what you want”, so it could be about a girl as well, and the singer in-between in his real life and his rock-star life.

If you listen to Ira Glass interviewing the band on the "Extra-Nice edition", you'll learn that much of this album is about Damian's failing marriage and divorce (he writes all the lyrics). In fact the whole record is almost a concept album about the end of his relationship with his wife. And this being the finalé of the record, it's not hard to see that this might be the finalé to the relationship.

It's pretty clear if you listen to the lyrics on some of the other songs that he places a fair amount of blame on himself. I think this is the big realisation that the realtionship is doomed; in a moment of reflection (har, har) Damian realises that he's been detached in order to protect his own feelings, but that detachment was killing the relationship.

The coda is where I kind of fall off this metaphor... but coming from Australia, where we just suffered a decades-long drought, I think it might be this: we're praying for the relationship to fix itself, that tomorrow we'll wake up and everything will be okay. We're praying that tomorrow it rains and the crops will grow and we won't have to sell the farm. But when it finally came: we didn't even notice. We just continued praying that everything would be fine, as the real saviour came and went.

It's pretty condemning of the narrator. Of both of them, I guess. It seems like he thought it would have been really easy to salvage the relationship if he'd only noticed it was under threat.

I think the above have already got it in one, so I'm just going to mention — this song reminds me SO MUCH of the BBC's ASHES TO ASHES, and needs to be played over the Season 2 finale.