Trees

To me this song is a prayer. I know it's hard for non-Christians to accept but stay with me here. You might just find a bit of yourself in this. This prayer is from a person who is feeling alone, as most of Tyler's songs are.

As Christians, we are taught that we are supposed to build a relationship with God. We are told that God hears all of our prayers.

However, it's obvious that while he was writing this song, Tyler felt disconnected from God, like God was standing just out of reach, leaving Tyler alone. I myself feel this often. That's why I relate to this song so much.

"Silent, in the trees." That's how God is described in this song. Tyler's lyrical metaphors are amazing. If you think about someone hiding in the trees, they would easily be able to see you, but would be hidden in shadow, and would be very hard to spot. The person in the trees would probably be purposefully avoiding contact with you. This is how Tyler feels God is toward him, watching, but choosing not to show himself. This is accurate for me personally. Whenever I try to talk to God, I don't get a response, and that's a bit frustrating to me. Prayer is supposed to be a conversation, and it takes two to have a conversation.

As for the part that says: "And that's where I am, silent, in the trees." Tyler is most likely alone at this point. But what really matters is that he is silent. He is alone with himself. Using knowledge from his other songs, especially Car Radio (which is a great song), we can infer what's going on here. In Car Radio, he says two important things that we need to remember for this song. "I ponder of something terrifying, cause this time there's no sound to hide behind." and "Oh dear, I don't know if we know why we're here; Oh my too deep please stop thinking." These two lyrics mean that when Tyler is in silence, his thoughts turn dark, and he is scared by them. He'll do anything to get rid of them, even stop thinking at all. It is likely that he would pray to God as an outlet for his emotions and a source of comfort.

He is scared by his thoughts, and his emotions almost overwhelm him; hence "I can feel my death." and "Why won't you speak where I happen to be? Silent, in the trees, standing cowardly." Tyler is close to the breaking point, alone with his thoughts. He is asking why God won't talk to him, even when he is at his weakest. He might even be fighting suicidal urges at this point.

So really this song is a prayer to God, asking him to just show himself already. Tyler is scared, and he is looking for a source of comfort and relief. He is frustrated by the fact that God won't respond to him, despite his faith. "I want to know you, I want to see, I want to say hello." Tyler isn't holding anything back here. He is giving his full being to God. But we don't get a happy ending like we do in Ode to Sleep. The song ends with Tyler calling out to God in his panic. Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Tyler doesn't get what he wants. He doesn't get a response. He is still alone at the end of the song.

This song really is lyrical genius. It makes me personally wonder what happened to make him keep his faith in God. I need one of those moments. Major props to Tyler for taking my most difficult thoughts and making it into music. And major props to him for surviving whatever he was going through to make him feel this scared. And to you reader, major props to you for surviving. Whatever your situation, the trees are never as lonely and scary as they seem. Despite my struggles with faith, I believe that God is there for us. And so does Tyler.

I know this is way off but I like to interpret this for social anxiety, which I have. Saying I can feel you is kinda like thinking in your own mind that they're hovering over you making myself nervous.

The wanting to know you and saying hello is perfect for me.

The religion thing throws a lot of people off, but I felt it was easy to relate the song to the story of Zacchaeus in the bible. The song to me signifies a dialogue between Jesus and Zacchaeus where Jesus notices him in the tree standing cowardly. Zacchaeus knows that Jesus see's him and says how he feels his breath and death.

Zacchaeus was a tax collector who wanted to see Jesus. But he was a very short man. Maybe the point that he is a tax collector in that time and age meant that he wanted to stay in the tree cowardly. Yet, he still wanted to see Jesus the great Nazarene! Ultimately, the song ends off by him giving this utterance of how he wants to say "know", "see" and "say hello" to Jesus.

reference Luke 19 : 1-10

I think the best way to interpret this is as a dialogue between the singer and God. He is saying "I know where you stand, silent in the trees". He then says he is also there. Then the writer asks, "Why won't you speak?", obviously looking to hear an answer from God, and many of us know sometimes it is hard to hear God.

He says he can feel God: "I can feel your breath" "I want to know you, I want to see" is pretty obvious.

Then ultimately, he just wants to say hello. Just wants to see God.

I don't think God is being compared to trees or anything, but just that trees are a part of his creation and is the example the writers used in this song. I love this song and really speaks to me, as I have struggled throughout my life to hear God's voice when I need it most.

It's none other than Genesis 3:8-10 and the lyricist wanting to speak with God like Adam did in the Garden.

"And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden toward the cool of the day; and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto the man, and said unto him: 'Where art thou?' And he said: 'I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.' "

I like to think that's its about lack of hope.

I feel like this song is about seeing who you want to be and seeing who you are. But you don't know how to be who you want to be so you're stuck.

I think this song is about social anxiety. I have it and everything he says sounds like something I think when I want to make friends. For example, when he says "standing cowardly," he's scared of what people think about him. Another example is when he says, "I want to know you" and "I want to say hello," he wants to know them as a person and he wants to say hi and be their friend. This song always meant something to me but I never what it was until I analyzed the lyrics more today.

Sometimes when we're going through something hard we want God to show up in a thundercloud. Sometimes he's silent when we feel vulnerable. That's when we need to have faith.

I think Tyler is portraying this feeling of his prayers bouncing off the walls. Even though he can feel God's presence he isn't satisfied. Hello.

Stay Alive

To me this isn't a prayer, I myself am not very religious. I feel it is as if in this song Tyler is expressing that he is hiding from himself in a way that is anxiety. We have doubts about ourselves and we easily hate on ourselves. When he says, "Why don't you speak where you happen to be? Silent in the trees standing cowardly." I see it as him criticizing himself over and over again about how he doesn't act on how he feels. I feel that it is a metaphor when he says "feeling his death" that he is almost promising himself that he will fail with himself and his life. He is hiding from himself in the trees to show that he is also embarrassed/ashamed of who he is, this is why he is hiding in a forest (pun intended) to try to connect with his thoughts and who he is alone. When he screams hello he is finally accepting who he is. A lot of people poke holes in themselves constantly being mean to themselves when really they are awesome! Towards the end of the song he starts to stop criticizing himself and starts thinking to himself in silence in the Josh Dunn solo. He them makes up with himself and becomes in touch with his motions by screaming hello. It could be a prayer but again, I am not a religious person so I find it hard to connect to. This is why I like TØP, a lot of people have their own opinions about how the songs mean to them, no one argues that their opinion is the best, we are just a crowd of voices sharing opinions baced on just a few words in a pattern. I find that fascinating.