A Dark Tunnel

I would love to hear someones opinion of whats going on in these lyrics.

I think it's about severe depression leading to suicide, possibly murder-suicide. The whole "Don't try to tell me that you love me cause you don't" makes me think of a relationship that went bad, maybe a break up or cheating. He's obviously angry - you can tell just by the tone and all the random violent threats he's making. "I'll shoot down every person that I want to love" is maybe a play on the phrase "shoot down" which can mean murder or decline something (an invitation, a date, etc). The chorus is obviously talking about suicide and the questions his "loved one" won't ever have answers for. I literally spent an hour playing with EQ stuff to try to hear the spoken part. I got what I could and couldn't distinguish any other single word. It's missing the middle part (the music gets louder and I couldn't lower it enough to hear clearly). If anyone knows what it says, lemme know. I have my own theory about it. I think it's a voicemail left for the person who killed themselves. This girl is thanking him for something. It sounds like he let her vent to him or was a shoulder to cry on. I don't think they know one another very well and she has no idea he's dead. Suicidal people tend to think that no one would care if they were dead or that everyone would be "better off" without them. This voice-mail flies in the face of that; someone did care and she's apparently left several voice-mails trying to get a hold of him. It makes me think about people who killed themselves and the little things they may have done for someone that left a huge impact without even realizing it. I guess the message is that you can never know what effect you have on people.

Oh, and "Dark Tunnel" probably references the whole light at the end of the tunnel thing that you supposedly see when you die. There is no light at the end of the tunnel for this person though, or at least they feel that way because they're severely depressed.

I like to think of this song as a call and response. The man shouts about his state of mind and the out of control depression which has totally consumed him, and the woman answers as sort of a heavenly voice to show him how beautiful the world could be. "You're gonna see the man in the sky..." It leaves things open as to whether he kills himself or something else happens, but someday his pain will pass.

Mostly I just love how brilliant the combination of the two different musical styles is.

It sounds very much like the contrast between the sense of connection. Of feeling loved, of being loved, of loving... and then that disconnection, which so often turns to violent hatred. It’s almost always the case that disconnected people drive off everyone they want close, and get angrier about it, and really, they have to take the time and reconnect in healthy ways. It’s not easy, but that’s a huge part of what helps our species experience happiness and connection, and feelings of connection are what reduce harm. That’s self medication, that’s out and out violence, that’s how those behaviors effect us, that’s this behaviors inflicted on others