Aegis

Pretty damn good. Better than almost everything from Bedlam

It really doesn't sound like he's saying "I'm not running away", but rather "and their running away".

This song is written through the point of view of Solomon Grundy. The nursery rhyme goes:

"Solomon Grundy, Born on a Monday, Christened on Tuesday, Married on Wednesday, Took ill on Thursday, Grew worse on Friday, Died on Saturday, Buried on Sunday. That was the end, Of Solomon Grundy."

The most obvious allusion to this nursery rhyme is in the first four lines, particularly the fourth line, "that come Sunday, I'm in the ground?"

The character Solomon Grundy is based off of this nursery rhyme as a DC Comics supervillian who is a zombie.

So clever. I love this band

It sounds like the narrator of the song is facing down a terrible fate, and has opted for death instead. There's no way of him or her escaping whatever that fate should be, and the only option they have left is to accept whatever fate they have or die.

Also I'm pretty sure the last line of the song is "I am running away", which makes it even more poignant I guess. The person is prepared to go take one for the team, not running away from their death, but in the end they're not brave enough take the bullet.

this song is FUCKING AWESOME!

This being the last Volta album, and thinking about their reluctance to reunite past bands and claim their own significance (specifically Omar), I got to thinking about this song in the context of the band ending and the members feeling like they'd just been going through the motions, feeling uninspired and propped up to perform like monkeys. "Engrammic marks of ligature" - musical notations burned into their brains/memories to be repeated every night of tour. "Under the aegis of cognition" - under the microscope/death stare/medusas head of public recognition and subsequent expectation after achieving success. "Saber rattling with bones I've left behind" - people won't let go of their past efforts (atdi, previous Volta albums), still demanding the old or holding it up for comparison to the new; or, people still seeing them as they once were, younger earlier versions of themselves, bringing up songs that represent emotions long since dealt with and not actually relevant to the band anymore. "Seen not heard" - people want them to show up on festival bills or whatever just for the look. "Debt collector" / "obloquy" - reasons they still do it all. All things sparking an internal battle between continuing on with it by trying to find a way to fight the feeling of meaninglessness that's crept in - "I'm not running away" "even if there is no way back home" - vs throwing in the towel and accepting that maybe it can't mean what it once did, that this jaded feeling isn't just something that happens to other bands but now applies to them too - "is it time to tailor fit the notion that come Sunday I'm in the ground?" Probably a silly idea, Volta songs are impossible to decipher and can mean a million things, but interesting to think about and kind of helps me map out the song which in turn helps me consider other possible meanings