Bambi

I think the song is about inheriting alcoholism from his mother.

She comes home drunk, and even though she tries to hide it from him, he still sees it.

"Turning into black and white" it becomes a memory.

"Barely awake but I still got my stripes" She did a pretty good job of hiding it, but it still had an effect on him. He has all these memories of his mom abusing alcohol interwoven with some of his other childhood memories of her.

Now that he's inherited the alcoholism, he can reflect back on this blur of memories and process them, realizing his mom is "the killer with a colored kite." In other words, he now understands that she was drunk and was indirectly "killing" him by exposing him to it and passing it on even though she was also doing her best as a mom.

He seems to acknowledge that he understands it was a difficult time for his mom and why she was drinking when he says "a tiny kingdom at the bottom of the trees, where I was always a winner and I was usually right." That line implies that she was feeling down like a loser, and that she felt like she was making mistakes or being wrong. Maybe his parents were going through a divorce? In the next part "where I was always a winner and I was barely alone", implies she was either alone now or at least feeling lonely without the alcohol.

Great song.

BTW, pretty sure it says "barely awake" not "buried awake."

It's "barely awake" and "spinning threads to A throne" according to the lyrics sheet.

Their lyrics can have so many different meanings but for me this song is trying to explain an addiction. How life can feel boring or turn into black and white. But your addiction is a killer with a colored kite in a black and white world.

In the verses, a mother might be trying to explain her actions to her young child. She wants to explain about coming "home wasted" and shields him from tragic ending of the movie Bambi ("you can watch it when you're a bit older"). For the choruses, the son may be hurt/confused from childhood trauma/his mother's inadequacy ("you're the killer") and unable to resolve his anger ("i still got my stripes... don't know what to do"). As in the old saying "a tiger can't change his stripes." He begs his mother to "tell [him] what to do."

Just a thought :)

What does he say after "underneath the swinging lights"? "Very awake"?

here's what I got, some minor corrections:

I wanna tell you there's a really good reason why I came home wasted in the middle of the night a tiny kingdom at the bottom of the trees where I was always a winner and I was usually right

oh, you can watch it when you get a bit older but for now in the bad bits, I should cover your eyes she painted pictures with the tips of her fingers sewing buttons to Bambi, tying strings to a kite

turning into black and white underneath the swinging lights buried awake but I still got my stripes 'cause you're the killer with the colored kite

I wanna tell you there's a really good reason why I came down easy, spinning threads to your throne a tiny kingdom at the bottom of the trees where I was always a winner and I was barely alone

turning into black and white underneath the swinging lights buried awake but I still got my stripes 'cause you're the killer with the colored kite

tangled up to untie don't know what to do tangled up to untie don't know what to do

turning into black and white underneath the swinging lights buried awake but I still got my stripes 'cause you're the killer with the colored kite

turning into black and white

I am so glad you've got these up already. I need to start singing the right words in time for Bonnaroo! This song is incredible, by the way.

after listening to this 50+ times today it just hit me ... "tangled up, tongue tied".

and it's definitely "tell me what to do" rather than "don't know what to do"

This song hits home pretty well for me. From what I think it means anyways.

They never cease to amaze me, I love all their work.