Shell Games

Here's my take on this song after listening to it for the first time and reading all these comments:

First stanza - Alludes to his previous albums (except A Collection of Songs and The Story is in the Soil) and how he placed them before an "arbiter" (an 'arbiter' is someone who judges completely, so to me, it seems like it's either A) the music industry, B) the people who are listening to his music (possibly not just the fans, but everyone), or C) some sort of omnipotent God-like figure) Given this is Conor, I'd bet on it being the music industry.

Second stanza - A stanza all about "what ifs" - If he could change his mind, if he could prepare himself for another life, if he could forgive himself for the times he was cruel.

I'll skip the chorus for a second, just because it (the chorus) becomes clearer to me after the third and fourth stanzas.

Third stanza - Talks all about his music career as a 'kid without a cause'. He did drugs, strove to be pure, honest, and truthful, was somewhat obsessed with death, how he wrote about all of this in his music, with lots of energy (piss in vinegar translates to 'loads of energy') and then sold all of it to the music industry.

Fourth stanza - He then transitions his past career into the now by saying that he's STILL angry (just as he was then in all of his other albums) at the 'architect' (the God-like figure, or the individual who theorized life to be one repetitious motion after another) who created the every-man (mankind), and, likewise, Sisyphus (the character of a story about a man who repeats the same motions again and again for eternity). He's mad at this guy for creating this torturous life, causing him to slip into madness, which then so happens to be the only place where anyone can truly be free (...from the madness of normal living, day-in and day-out, respectively).

Conor then states that he doesn't want to play this "shell game" known as life, for it's seemingly just a con, a fraud.

This fourth stanza leads me to believe that the chorus is referencing the story of Sisyphus; however, instead of Sisyphus - who represents mankind - having to push a boulder all his life, he's really pushing - get ready for it - a collective and universal love, over and over again. Mankind is constantly, collectively pushing a heavy load of love up a hill - and Conor is stating that HE can't do it alone - it requires everyone. "Here it comes, that heavy love, we're never going to move it alone, here it comes, that heavy love, I only want to share in the load".

And mind you, this is a story written by Conor, about Conor, where he leaves us with the last line of the song, stating how he wants to live his life together with everyone, he wants to share it with everyone.

I think this song goes from discussing how he viewed life as a cup half-empty, to how he now wants to live it as a cup half-full.

And yes, I guess that sounds kinda corny, but the song is heavily masked in the poetry of the lyrics, and ultimately comes out sounding a lot better than simply singing about cups being empty and full and whatnot. It's well-written with its symbolism.

And for what it's worth, the fifth stanza - Conor tells us he couldn't deal with 'distorted' facts (possibly exaggerated facts on subjects such as life and death?) He then draws into the theme of needing everyone to make up the whole, instead of just himself (his private life cannot be explained by anyone else).

Six stanza - This seems to help justify my take on the chorus, and how it's about needing everyone together to push the heavy boulder of love up its hill (on the count of three! all together now!).