Used to dream of time machines
Now it's been said, we're post-everything
As a child, imagining
Neckties and coastlines
I've seen the show, man, what a sight
Drenched us in approximated sunlight
The crowd was small and mostly blind, but kind
You're too kind
Now you are how you were when you were real
Now you are how you were when you were real
There you go again, on that circular trip
Lick the solar plex of some L.A. shaman
I'm out of breath, man, I'd better sit
Been living hard, living
All I do, all I do, all I do, all I do
Is I follow you, I follow you around
Well, I wouldn't waste another thought
On what is fair and what is not
The Quinceanera dress she bought
Was unstitched with bullets
All the guests in the garden screamed
Women and tires squealing
Such opulence, such misery
Unwinding, unwinding
All I do, all I do, all I do, all I do
Is I follow you, I follow you around
All I do, all I do, all I do, all I do
Is I follow you, I follow you around
Now you are how you were when you were real
Now you are how you were when you were real
Now you are how you were when you were real
Now you are how you were when you were real
Now it's been said, we're post-everything
As a child, imagining
Neckties and coastlines
I've seen the show, man, what a sight
Drenched us in approximated sunlight
The crowd was small and mostly blind, but kind
You're too kind
Now you are how you were when you were real
Now you are how you were when you were real
There you go again, on that circular trip
Lick the solar plex of some L.A. shaman
I'm out of breath, man, I'd better sit
Been living hard, living
All I do, all I do, all I do, all I do
Is I follow you, I follow you around
Well, I wouldn't waste another thought
On what is fair and what is not
The Quinceanera dress she bought
Was unstitched with bullets
All the guests in the garden screamed
Women and tires squealing
Such opulence, such misery
Unwinding, unwinding
All I do, all I do, all I do, all I do
Is I follow you, I follow you around
All I do, all I do, all I do, all I do
Is I follow you, I follow you around
Now you are how you were when you were real
Now you are how you were when you were real
Now you are how you were when you were real
Now you are how you were when you were real
Lyrics submitted by littlebabykatie
Approximate Sunlight [Companion Version] Lyrics as written by Nathaniel Walcott Conor M Oberst
Lyrics © SC PUBLISHING DBA SECRETLY CANADIAN PUB., Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
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As for the verse about the drive by, I believe he is discussing the unnatural state of humanity. I think he is paralleling the Quinceañera, which I take to be modern human’s delusion of what the universe is, with the primal fear of being killed.
Such opulence, such misery Unwinding, unwinding
The opulence is what we want the world to be and the misery is the true world. Oberst is saying, although society controls the two, in this instance they are “unwinding” and returning to the disorder they would naturally be in, and in that instance “you are how you were when you were real”
Also, a Quinceañera is a cultural "rite of passage" and is a symbolic transformation from childhood (innocence) to becoming an adult which is also thematic throughout the song. The bullet then, metaphorically unclothes her and innocence is lost.