Haile Selassie

I think "How do you make a day in plain sight" is supposed to be

"Hide the Omega day in plain sight, too good to be true."

There's something so blissfully carefree about the words of this song.

Pilgrim across the water We are the same brother Hitchhiking back to Zion Hold in our tears as we flip the album What if this leads to ruin? You got a soul, use it All this despair forgiven Rolling away on a Wheel of Sevens She sings like the Queen of Sheba Voice through a blown speaker One drop and bubbling Leslie Calling me home like Haile Selassie

Pilgrim beside the fire It’s been a long winter We got a lot in common Cover our heads as they split the atom All of our days are numbered I’ve taken some comfort In knowing the wave has crested Knowing I don’t have to be an exception Children they fill the bleachers One is the next Caesar Keep all their minds collected Until he comes, until he comes

Hide the Omega Day in plain sight Too good to be true

I’ve seen stranger things I’ve seen that tree of smoke I’ve seen stranger things happen before

Pilgrim up on the mountain Barefoot and still climbing Filling the Book of Hours Day after day in the filth and squalor We are the chosen people Safe from the next evil One Love, magnetic memory Reel after reel spinning within me

I had the wildest dream last night I was swimming with you In that cenote the heavens made with black fire Just woke up too soon

I’ve seen stranger things I’ve seen those daytime ghosts I’ve seen stranger things happen before

I’ve seen stranger things I’ve seen that tree of smoke I’ve seen stranger things happen before

"In Rastafarianism, they're talking about fighting back against an imperial power with the best tools at their disposal, which are music and soul and weed and community," [Conor] says. "The symbolism in that music seemed very potent to me, and very appropriate."

Conor expressed in interviews that he wanted to include the Rasta message of being one. Not in the music, but in the lyrics.

"Hitchhiking back to Zion" Zion is what some Christians refer to as Israel, or the society that will be formed in the last days. It is said that these people will be of "one heart and one mind" which seems to go along with the Rasta idea.

The Wheel of Sevens is a wheel that has the seven verses of the Lord's prayer, from what I understand.

Haile Selassie is seen by the Rastafarian people "as a messianic figure who will lead a future golden age of eternal peace, righteousness, and prosperity." so he's like their Messiah. Again, this idea of Rastafarianism, and a people of peace, like Zion.

"Pilgrim beside the fire It’s been a long winter We got a lot in common Cover our heads as they split the atom All of our days are numbered I’ve taken some comfort In knowing the wave has crested Knowing I don’t have to be an exception"

as in he is relieved that this Omega Day hasn't come, so he can live life as usual? Not sure. I'm guessing the Omega Day is the day that this oneness is achieved. Sort of like Judgement Day?

No idea what he means by tree of smoke - anyone?

Book of Hours is a Christian book from the Middle Ages...

"We are the chosen people Safe from the next evil"

as in they're working towards some Eternal Salvation?

"One Love, magnetic memory (the idea of one, rasta theme) Reel after reel spinning within me"(over and over again, history, time moving forward?)

A cenote is a pool of land water surrounded by rock, basically.

The swimming in this cenote that "the heavens made with black fire" is compared to a dream, so maybe he's saying he isn't sure the heavens are really there, like Heaven is only somewhere you can believe in in dreams. I'm not sure.

Still, daytime ghosts, tree of smoke?

Help me, people, please:]

"I'm taking some comfort in knowing the wave has crested Knowing I don’t have to be an exception"

Slight lyric correction.

Also, i think this is a really important line in the song. He might be saying that he feels better that his generation wasn't the one responsible for the haphazard 20th century. Or he might be saying he feels better knowing that more and more people are starting to adopt a more modern view point and starting to see that things need to change. Or i might be way off. Either way i get a lot from this lyric.

"bubbling leslie" as in a leslie speaker

"Magnetic memory Reel after reel, spinning within me "

tape/reel to reel tape deck reference?

I hear a heavy cure influence in this whole album!

Megbird1691 - Very interesting interpretation and info.

Tree of smoke might be the burning bush...it's the only ting I can think of.

Daytime ghosts - angles....lost souls?

It feels as if he is singing this song for the Pilgrim (religious man while he, Connor is a non-believer ) stating how alike they really are and how they face the same dooming world.

"All this despair forgiven Rolling away on a Wheel of Sevens She sings like the Queen of Sheba Voice through a blown speaker One drop and bubbling Leslie Calling me home like Haile Selassie"

These lines seem to emphasize the allure of religious beliefs...when time are hard ones seem to just roll along and believe...because it's the easiest thing to do. Haile Sealassie is again a synonym for such beliefs....and it's calling him home....when he says "sings like the Queen of Sheba" he means singing temptingly...the Queen of Sheeba (mentioned in the Muslin Quran and the Bible too....not sure) was a beautiful seductress.

"Cover our heads as they split the atom All of our days are numbered I’ve taken some comfort In knowing the wave has crested Knowing I don’t have to be an exception Children they fill the bleachers One is the next Caesar Keep all their minds collected Until he comes, until he comes"

This veers away from religion into science and polities.....things that are wrong with the world today....there are atom bombs and nuclear weapons being made....but what can he and this pilgrim do about it...they just keep their head down and move on....he also finds a sense of comfort in this end....like he wants the hanging thread of apocalypse to be done and over with.
People keep on and on multiplying endlessly...one is the next Ceasar (tyrant) all their minds are kept uniform and collect. (things he has stated in earlier songs and bands about the death of individuality).

Hide the Omega Day in plain sight Too good to be true

While we are all kept "uniform" and busy we miss to see the Omega Day right in front of us.

I’ve seen stranger things I’ve seen that tree of smoke I’ve seen stranger things happen before

Not sure about the chorus...

"Pilgrim up on the mountain Barefoot and still climbing Filling the Book of Hours Day after day in the filth and squalor"

Struggling on through it all...

"We are the chosen people Safe from the next evil One Love, magnetic memory Reel after reel spinning within me "

Not sure about this either...

Tree of smoke' is indeed a biblical reference, although not the burning bush... though I don't myself know the specific lines I found this info: 'In the Bible, the Tree of Smoke is a portent, signaling the day when "the sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes."' In the context of the song, especially with reference to 'cover our heads as they split the atom' I would hazard that it's a reference to the 'tree of smoke' produced by an atomic bomb and a symbol of the dangers of modernity and technological advances... and all the strange things those bring.

I also thought it might be 'mimetic memory', not 'magnetic', which would make sense with the sci-fi tone of the album