Forest

"I don't know why I feed on emotion There's a stomach inside my brain"

He enjoys other people's feelings so much, that he actually hungers for them. Could be, that he even actively provokes intense feelings in others. Maybe his own emotions are too terrifying so he uses the others' as a distraction. Or maybe he feels numb and uses the others' emotions to feel anything at all.

"I don't wanna be heard I want to be listened to"

People generally hear what they want to hear. He longs for someone to take the effort of listening to his meaning behind his words rather than just consuming them. By just consuming words the other person ignores the speaker/writer, which can cause a feeling of dispensability and/or invisibility in him.

"Does it bother anyone else That someone else has your name?"

We are unique, so why should we share our name with someone else who is a completely different person? It is rather sad that we are used to being just another jane or joe and not even realize let alone worry about it. Phrasing this as a question challenges the reader/listener to question this fact.

"I scream, you scream, we all scream 'Cause we're terrified of what's around the corner We stay in place 'Cause we don't want to lose our lives So let's think of something better"

Fear of the unknown is very common, which makes us walk the same roads and do the same things as always and as everyone else around us. Even when we get bored or fed up or revolted by our routines we shrink from trying new things, because it frightens us. He challenges us to overcome our fear and find better ways of dealing with it rather than just ignoring it and thereby staying slave to habits induced by culture or upbringing.

"Down in the forest We'll sing a chorus One that everybody knows Hands held higher, We'll be on fire Singing songs that nobody wrote"

I can't help but think that this is about sex which in this context stands for letting out our real self when we are with the right person. True, it could simply mean loud screaming our frustration out in the safe recluse of the forest, but I personally wouldn't call that "singing". Also in this part he talks about "we" not "I". "Hands held higher" implies that we can't help but simply surrender to showing our true self to the one person that matters once we feel unobserved by others.

"My brain has given up White flags are hoisted I took some food for thought It might be poisoned The stomach in my brain Throws up onto the page"

He has fought a battle against surrendering to open up, lost it and as a result he has changed. The brain that used to feed on the emotions of others to hide behind is now coming out of its closet and instead shows its real self in writing about itself.

"Quickly moving towards a storm Moving forward, torn Into pieces over reasons of what these storms are for"

By leaving the safe place of the known (hiding) he moves forward to the unknown (opening up) which feels threatening. He continues forward even if that means great discomfort and uncertainty.

"I don't understand why everything I adore Takes a different form when I squint my eyes Have you ever done that? When you squint your eyes And your eyelashes make it look a little not right And then when just enough light Comes from just the right side And you find you're not who you're supposed to be?"

By squinting we narrow our field of vision so we can focus on certain things. Focussing and dividing that part into small pieces (eyelashes that cut like lines through the vision) makes us see things more clearly. When we are in the right frame of mind this can lead to insights about ourselves. The role(s) we play in our everyday life start to feel wrong. We realize that we live a life imposed on us and that that the things our ego appreciates are insignificant when facing the bottom line of existence aka our true self.

"This is not what you're supposed to see Please, remember me I am supposed to be King of a kingdom or swinging on a swing"

These are the thoughts of resistance that come up when walking new paths. We realize that others can see the change in us and that frightens us. Our changing is meant to stay a secret at least until we know our new self and feel safe with it, so we implore the world to stay focussed on the image we used to portrait. In this case either a person in control of himself and others or a harmless, happy child.

"Something happened to my imagination This situation's becoming dire My tree house is on fire And for some reason I smell gas on my hands This is not what I had planned"

Imagination is the first step on the road to self awareness. What if. But sooner or later instead of just being someone else in our minds we sooner or later start acting differently. This feels extremely scary and causes a feeling of chaos and destruction. The tree house resembles a recluse inside a recluse, a safe place in the middle of nowhere. Destroying the tree house means not withholding anything any longer from the one special person who is allowed to see our true self to the very bone of our existence. Being able and willing to do so even surprises ourselves. Opening up was not intended, it just happened out of its own accord.

That's what I get from these lyrics. Thanks for reading :-)