Ladder Song

someone finally managed to rhyme with orange. hahaha booya!!!

One of the big themes in this song is death. The ladder he is a metaphor for death. No one knows what happens after death, but you can be certain that you're gonna die. I feel like he mentions that "you're not alone in anything" in reference to someone who is thinking about death and is depressed. I agree with the last poster, it sounds as if he is saying that Buddha and Jesus can do their thing, he isn't paying attention to them. He would rather read science fiction.

That first chorus seems to imply that all of this talk of death is dealing with suicide. Ups and downs and twisted minds are all things that go back to depression and other things dealing with a mind that is confused.

The second verse is a bit more abstract, but I feel it has an air of betrayal. This could also go with the talk of traitors at the end of the first chorus. A charlatan was somebody who deceived people for money. When he says "be the first to know...", I think he means that if he dies, he'll be the first to know what is up the ladder, what happens after death. I don't know much about mantras but I believe that they have to do with prayer and meditation, an object of focus that can help one attain their spiritual goal. So possibly this is the person trying to work things out, get on the right track.

Here's where the song gets a bit confusing. He says he knows now...Possibly he meditated with the mantra and found some deep answer? Perhaps he finds out that what he really enjoys is music? He meditated and figured something out and then talks about a concert? I feel like the new age could be that thing that he figures out is what he is living for. He is going to embrace it and go all out (warrior paint). He opens his eyes and his mind and he appreciates life and sees it differently. A star is born may represent new hope, new life. He is emotional, and he wants to share it with someone that he finds precious, possibly somebody that he now embraces.

That last little bit seems like a reassuring statement. Perhaps he has decided to stick with the world, and he is asking himself when it will be done now that he is not going to end his own life. The world is a hallucination, it's a confusing place to live in sometimes, and it's hard to make sense of certain things at times. My favorite line of the song: "You're not along in anything, you're not alone in trying to be." That's chilling. That's what I would want to hear when I'm upset, depressed, etc. You're not alone, even when you feel alone, because there are others like you who are alone (I actually used a similar line in one of my songs so I really relate). I said "You're not as lonely as you feel that you may be, you see there's others just like you, who have a hard time dealing with their lives."

Beautiful song, let me know if you agree/disagree with anything I said. I interpreted it this way and I want other peoples' insight to help me understand it better.

No one knows where the ladder goes You’re gonna lose what you love the most You’re not alone in anything You’re not unique in dying

I feel estranged every now and then Fall asleep reading science fiction I want to fly in your silver ship Let Jesus hang and Buddha sit

It’s on now The days are long now The ups and the sundowns And a twisting mind

If I got to go first I’ll do it on my terms I’m tired of traitors Always changing sides They were friends of mine

Don’t hang around once the promise breaks Or you’ll be there when the next one’s made Kiss the feet of a charlatan Some imagined freedom

All the rest is predictable You can say you’re the first to know Bought a mantra to concentrate Car alarm or hissing snake

I know now How its gonna turn out You’ve got to calm down Or I’ll lose my place

Got to get to the center Got to get to the concert Run off with a dancer Gonna celebrate

We’ll welcome the New Age Covered in warrior paint Lights from the jungle to the sky See now a star is born Looks just like a blood orange Don’t it just make you want to cry? Precious friend of mine

Will I know when it’s finally done? This whole life is a hallucination You’re not alone in anything You’re not alone in trying to be

I'm really not trying to sound dickish, although it will certainly come out that way, but why is it that hardly anyone who submitted the lyrics to this song on any lyric site could recognize that he is saying "estranged"? It's really not that difficult to decipher and I think it's a pretty important line to this song if you believe it's about suicide, which I do. It adds a dimension, that Conor--or the narrator he is speaking as--did something to lose or damage his friendship with the person who took his own life. Maybe it was about becoming more distant ("Gotta get to the center / Gotta get to the concert") a girl ("Run off with a dancer / Gonna celebrate"). In the end I feel like he was trying to make amends ("We'll welcome the new age" and everything after that), but it was too late.

To me, Ladder Song not only exemplifies overwhelming sadness; it is also riddled with guilt.

I love the final line, "You're not alone in trying to be." It's great

Instead of covered in war, your pain. It's actually "covered in warrior paint"

The thing that made me fall so in love with this song was hearing "I'm tired of traitors, always changing sides, they were friends of mine" as simply grief over friends who've died. The betrayal is that irrational feeling you have of being left by the deceased.

What's beautiful is he's warning himself against caring for more people who could leave, but has to distract himself with everyday life to keep from thinking of death (Starting with "Bought a mantra.."). In the process he finds some sad beauty and accidentally (tragically) meets a new "precious friend." The star is a throwback to "Jejune Stars", and is a symbol for the way we're connected to each other and everything else.

It's a sad, hard, losing battle, but the message of the song and album is "you're not alone in fighting it"

Basically conclusion the narrator comes to is existential, even Nieschean ‘Thus spake … etc’. And so if that’s the case you might as well ‘go to the concert, run off with a dancer’ because all you have got and the most you can be is ‘to be’, and that is the same for everyone. There’s also a line in there about ‘when the promise breaks’, and this is an intra-textual reference to most of the content of the album. Ie religion, alternative views of reality, science fiction etc offer promises that tempt you to think you can escape from the never ending cycle of life. But it is false hope. Then again hope can and must exist because by connecting hope to ‘being’ you can really truly make the most of life by choosing ‘to be’

For eg, compare the first song with the last song. First song, an alternative reality powers you up to escape, be a star, lion of Judah on your motorbike, roar etc. Last song, by ‘being’ you can see a star born ….

I agree that the song is about death and afterlife. In these lines:

"See now a star is born Looks just like a blood orange Don't it just make you want to cry?"

It reminds me of the scientist Tycho Brae; he discovered a "new-born star" (it was acually dying) in a time when it was normally believed that everything above the moon (stars and planets) were unchanging. This disproved the old paradigme and gave therefore people a reason to doubt God and the afterlife. I think that this is what he has in mind when saying "don't it just make you want to cry?" because this is (was) a proof that maybe the afterlife wasn't what we thought it was after all.

I think this song is about the mind set of someone who is pondering the end of life. And being scared and clueless, but at the same time, there's nothing you can do.

"No one knows where the ladder goes You're gonna lose what you love the most You're not alone in anything You're not unique in dying"

No one knows what happens after death until you die, and everything you've built up on earth worthless in the end. Everything you feel "love" for will be gone.

"I feel estranged every now and then Fall asleep reading science fiction I want to fly in your silver ship Let Jesus hang and Buddha sit."

One of my favorite stanza's, as I can really relate. I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior. But the sick thing is I'm so jaded with it all. I pray every now and again. But mostly I'm going through the motions. I'm not angry with God. I just lack enthusiasm and motivation to do... anything really. I sit at night and tell myself I should be praying and reading my Bible or something... but I usually just read some science fiction and go to sleep... It's really messed up I know, but I suppose other struggle with it too. That's how I intemperate this stanza. He feels estranged to God and the idea of focusing on Him. So he just lets religion chill out and he just reads. I feel you Conor... ha

"It's on now The days are long now The ups and the sun downs And a twisting mind"

Basic apathy, going through the motions. Lack of emotion. Lack of concern.

"If I gotta go first I'll do it on my terms I'm tired of traitors Always changing sides They were friends of mine"

Here I think it's talking about how he'll die on his own terms, how he doesn't feel that life can or should be taken away without warning. A confused and frustrated though for sure.

"Don't hang around once the promise breaks Or you'll be there when the next one's made Kiss the feet of a charlatan Some imagined freedom"

Promises don't mean I thing, this could relate to the promise that God saves us if we believe in him. Maybe he's frustrated because he feels he hasn't lived up to the expectation that he believes God has? Either way, it's a warning to stay away from promises. Kiss the feet of a fraud (charlatan) And imagined freedom (redemption?) I think this stanza is overall about being frustrated with religion.

"All the rest is predictable You can say you're the first to know Bought a mantra to concentrate Car alarm or hissing snake"

Death is predictable, but everything else has to be a mind game, so it's obviously disheartening. Bought a mantra (used for meditation) to try and get an answer.

"I know now How it's gonna turn now You've got to calm down Or I'll lose my place Got to get to the center Got to get to the concert Run off with a dancer Gonna celebrate"

Sorta a sign of hope in the song. A sigh of relief that he may understand and he's going to live life for the moment right now.

"We'll welcome the new age Covered in warrior paint Lights from the jungle to the sky See now a star is born Looks just like a blood orange Don't it just make you want to cry? Precious friend of mine"

This stanza almost sounds like the turning point, a new age for him in life, he'll fight this war of depression and apathy and see light. A new star is born (a metaphor for him being reborn) Maybe he does it for the friend that he lost? "Don't it just make you want to cry? Precious friend of mine"

"Will I know when it's finally done? This whole life is a hallucination You're not alone in anything You're not alone in trying to be"

Will he truly understand when everything's over? I think this stanza represents self examination. The fact that even though he's afraid he may be wrong, he's got to put his faith in something. And finally, no one's alone in this. We all have these thoughts and struggles.

Freaking incredible song. I love it so much. People's Key is an incredible album. Who cares if it doesn't sound like their old stuff? The more diversity a band brings to me the happier I am!