Avalon

Well, I think this song might be discussing life, death, and change. Avalon, being a place of immortal beings, seems to fit this theme. Also, I think then that Avalon can be a metaphor for the afterlife (or at least that metaphor is hinted at).

"As the sun comes creeping up the mountain and the wind blows over from the sea." Think of this verse as a day beginning. The day represents life.

"Hey, we're brought into this land like tiny particles of sand, unsure of who we're smarter than, or what we're meant to be." When you are born you are small and lack identity or purpose. Young people are especially full of doubt, speculation, and wonder. When you are young you are finding out your limits (who you are smarter than) and what your possibilities in life are (what we're meant to be).

"Oh the grains sift coarsely through the hour glass and collect like their victims in the bowl." Here is a metaphor for life through the hourglass. The hourglass symbolizing time. So you are a grain of sand and when you get to the bottom of the hourglass you die.

"The ungodly force of change erodes all sense of earthly gains. While tending to the mundane will terrorize your soul." I'm not very sure about this line. I think BR is saying that change and time will erode your former self. That is, you'll lose your connection to your former, child-like, ways of thinking (earthly grains). The second part is more clear. If you "tend to the mundane," that is, having a boring job or tend to boring mundane details in your life it will drag you down and "terrorize your soul."

"And it's no! It's no use thinking that you're wrong. The past is old and gone. It's best to move along and find your Avalon." So here the lyrics are suggesting, I think somewhat mockingly, that you should not reflect on your life or contemplate your wrongs. Instead, you should try to "find your Avalon." Avalon here could represent some sort immortality -- like writing a great book, a great song, being famous, etc or it could represent Avalon the place -- like making enough money to retreat to some Avalon-like paradise. Another possibility might be with Avalon the mtyh. According to wiki Arthur went to Avalon to recover after a big battle. So the lyrics might be suggesting that you not fight time and change, but instead retreat, not fight it, and find your personal little happiness. I think of all the lyrics, the chorus is the most ambiguous.

"Well, I wish that I could tell you it was easy, just take the paved road right to paradise. But the truth is my friend, the pain and suffering never ends. Make amends with medicine, amnesia, and lies." Life is not easy and there is no easy way to true happiness. In reality, life is hard. There is "pain and suffering" through all of it. The second part regarding "amends" I think is a critical lyric. It is saying that people deal with life through medication (drugs, alcohol, etc), amnesia (just forget the hard times or the bad events), and lies (self-explanatory).

"The grains sift coarsely through the hour glass and they pound like boulders on the brain." To me, this means as time goes and you get older you think more and more about death.

"All those things you did for fun, never hurting anyone, careless shadows in the sun, just empty and lame." As you approach death, all the things in your life just seem empty and lame. I think this hooks into the "Avalon" thing. That is, the trivialities in life seems meaningless and you might want to find your own time of immortality through your deeds.

"And it's no . . . it's no use thinking that you're wrong. The past is old and gone. It's best to move along and find your Avalon."

"So now the day races from the twilight. How the fields are enveloped by the shade. And the story that you'll tell, inventory of your well, crack the shell and find the mortar silted and decayed." Death (twilight) approaches. What does your life mean? The story that you'll tell will not be fulfilling. When you dig beneath the surface the shell will be "crack[ed]" and the "mortar silted and decayed."

"And it's no! It's no use thinking that you're wrong. The past is dead and gone. It's best to move along and find your Avalon. It's best to hurry on and find your Avalon." Again, a critical lyric, why worry about the past? Try and find the mythical Avalon where you (king Arthur) can heal.

But maybe King Arthur should be thinking about where he went wrong in battle? Instead of moving along?

These are my initial thoughts. Perhaps someone else has a better read of the song. I may comeback and reply to myself after I've had more time to think about the song.