Busy Bees

Ill start by saying this is my favorite album ever produced and Brian has said the two things that inspired this album were the nostalgia of being in his hometown and the want to create a horror movie atmosphere. A lot of my interpretation comes from his tone while singing as well

"I heart metal, I heart wine" Hes getting over something, drowning his sorrows in alcohol and aggressive music

"The woods that scare me, saved my life"' Along with the metal and the wine, he goes into the woods to try and take his mind off of his internal sorrows by distracting him with the danger of the woods

"Lesson learned after twice, the trees are blinking bright, shake in the rhythmic light" But hes done this at least twice before and he's found comfort in the woods, there is a surreal beauty to the woods

"Never felt anything like, the cold of these empty spaces" This beauty doesn't last because he goes back to his sorrow and isolation and the woods just become a large empty space

"Fog from bottles, end of light, dont start making gears grind" As he looks back through the fog into the past, at the point where he lost his light, he wishes he could have stopped himself from letting it fall apart (as things do when gears start grinding)

"The backroad findings, could change my mind" He feels perhaps he could find some solace if he moved back to society

"If I could just slow down, and scribble on missing pages, who would I write it for, and who would write it for me" Here he reveals that he is depressed because somebody (probably his significant other) left him, he has nobody to talk to and nobody to talk back to him. He wishes he could just slow down and explain why he "grinded the gears" to them but you cant write in a book if there are no pages

"Some people wait just for a little bit, why cant I wait just for a little bit" It sounds to me like he tried to have sex with or propose marriage to this person too quickly and she rejected him - hence grinding the gears and breaking down the machine of their relationship

The song then repeats yet more intensely as maybe he sobers and he repeats lines which I find could have some double meanings

"If I could just slow down" slow down his thoughts and emotions and begin to move forward

"Busy bees dont really fly" Life lesson: The negative. If you rush into things there is a good chance of those things falling apart or The positive. Slow your pace and enjoy life and what youve got, dont get too greedy

I swear I heard him say "Fuck the models."

Brian mentioned this song as being inspired by some weird events that all happened when he was visiting the area where he grew up:

"A bunch of people with clean automobile records got into car wrecks. In a two week span there was three car wrecks. Two were me. I was driving back to Silver Lake, where we live, which is about 40 minutes from the Canyon. There was this truck on the freeway and its straps broke loose and these wooden pallets fell off. I didn’t get hit that bad; other people in front of me got hit pretty bad. That was scary. Then about two weeks later, I was driving alone in the Canyon and there was rain and leaves and brush all over the road. I slipped and hit a tree at night. I was pretty shaken at that point. Then somebody who worked with us on the album flipped over driving home. There is a song on the record called “Busy Bees” that explains all those moments. All that transferred into intensity in the studio." (Source:http://www.fuse.tv/2012/04/fuse-friday-q-a-silversun-pickups-brian-aubert)

You can easily see the connection between the lyrics and some of the details he mentions. For example: "trees are blinking bright" describes the trees illuminated by the headlights as he is about to crash.

SoapManpv has made a very good point regarding the first three lines. The narrator is trying to get over something, namely the car crashes, with alcohol and metal music.

If I could just slow down And scribble on missing pages Who would I write it for And who would write it for me For me For me now

To me this part describes what went through his mind during one of those accidents. He wished for some time to at least write a note, probably to leave a message if the accident should turn out to be fatal. And he can't quite make up his mind who to write to and is wondering if someone would write to him in such a situation. Basically he is asking himself who is most important to him and if there is someone to whom he is the most important person.

Some people wait just for a little bit Why can’t I wait just for a little bit?

That part is probably expressing his regrets: Why did I drive so fast / why have I been in such a rush? Maybe he is also taking a jab at his temper in this regard. A similar message can be found in this part:

The back road findings Could change my mind Busy bees don’t really fly

If you are too busy, rushed and in a hurry, you won't come very far or reach your destination. You won't be able to "fly" under these circumstances. That is what he learned from the crashes.

I feel this song is about exploring something new and not knowing what will happen and what’s there