Icarus

I think this song is trying to teach people to go against the "You Only Live Once" mindset. It's a rejection of the trend for young people to do crazy things before they have to grow up and become an "adult".

The song mostly describes somebody who is a party animal, doing as many crazy things as possible. The "digging your own grave" isn't a grave for your dead body, it is a grave for your dead personality.

The chorus goes on to the describe that this person's life has only just begun and he's ruining it by flying too close to the sun (being too wild and crazy) at an early age.

He's unsure of his future, so he goes into the "You Only Live Once" mindset, but because of this he may experience "a fall" that he won't recover from.

As he grows up he figures out what he wants to do, retracts from his crazy life and puts on his armour in favour of a life of security and certainty. This is the "grave" he is now in that was described earlier in the song. His personality is dead, wasted in his youth by "flying too close to the sun" and if he had just grown up at his own pace, he would have been able to live a fuller life.

Well, Icarus is the son of Daedalus, an esteemed inventor from Ancient Greece(He made the Labyrinth, the one that is mentioned in the Percy Jackson Series), and when trying to escape a King and the confines of the labyrinth, he created 2 pairs of wings for him and his son(made of actual feathers and wax). The catch to these wings is that you can't fly too close to the sun(hint-hint), as the wax would then melt, and you can't fly too close to the water, as the spray would make the feathers wet, making them useless. Icarus, ignoring his Father's warning, swooped everywhere, and headed "towards an early grave," in the ocean.

That background taken care of, onto the song lyrics:

Look who's digging their own grave That is what they all say You'll drink yourself to death (Referring to a person who is young and unsure of themselves, as well as a little rebellious)

Look who makes their own bed Lies right down within it And what will you have left? (Referring to the destitute state they are in, and how they feel when accomplishing small tasks that they used to depend on others for)

Out on the front doorstep Drinking from a paper cup (Once again, referring to a destitute state) You won't remember this (I'm unsure about this part)

Living beyond your years Acting out all their fears You feel it in your chest (Saying that the person is lucky to be alive based on what they've done, and that others are worried about the person. The last line tells of the person realizing this.)

Your hands protect the flames From the wild winds around you (Transitioning to Icarus' point of view, the "flames" is the sun, and Icarus is looking at it with his hands "circling" it. The "wild winds" is caused by Icarus' insane flight path.)

Icarus is flying too close to the sun Icarus's life, it has only just begun It's just begun (Talking of the sadness of Icarus dying so young.[I think he was around 14 or so...])

Standing on the cliff face Highest foe you'll ever grace It scares me half to death (Talking of Icarus' beginning fear.)

Look out to the future But it tells you nothing So take another breath (The person's un-surety of themselves)

Your hands protect the flames From the wild winds around you

Icarus is flying too close to the sun Icarus's life, it has only just begun This is how it feels to take a fall Icarus is flying towards an early grave (Icarus' death)

You put up your defenses when you leave You leave because you're certain Of who you want to be (The person finally realizing that they need to settle down a bit, and putting on the defense of a gray business suit.)

You're putting up your armor when you leave You leave because you're certain Of who you want to be (Same thing, just phrased dif.)

Icarus is flying too close to the sun Icarus's life, it has only just begun This is how it feels to take a fall Icarus is flying towards an early grave

Icarus is a mythical character who tried to escape from Athens but he didn't heed to warning about flying to close to the sun His fake wings melted because they were made of wax. Then he died by falling into the sea.

I have a different take on this. I think this song is about not knowing yourself and the journey of finding out who you are/are not. It’s about people’s criticism of people’s bad decisions and people's journey through life and takes apart the Icarus story and rather than heed people’s warnings or get burnt, it rather, talks about how it’s normal to get burnt and fall in life because the future is uncertain and changes just like you. Getting burnt is part of being human and part of the journey and unavoidable (just like our flaws).

Look who's digging their own grave That is what they all say You'll drink yourself to death

Look who makes their own bed Lies right down within it And what will you have left? (people criticizing bad life choices and the person making immature/bad decisions because that is who they are at the time-- also, young people not seeing their own mortality-- despite other's warnings)

Out on the front doorstep Drinking from a paper cup You won't remember this (You won’t remember this because it doesn't matter because you’re not that person any longer, this is one point in a journey (and cuz this person is wasted) —turning point)

Living beyond your years Acting out all their fears You feel it in your chest

(this is when the person changes/grows up/thinks they know who they want to be; they are taking a chance or a leap) (living beyond your years—wiser; acting out all their fears—doing what everyone is afraid to do; feel it in your chest—but you know it’s what you have to do)

Your hands protect the flames From the wild winds around you

Icarus is flying too close to the sun Icarus's life, it has only just begun It's just begun

(your taking a chance and getting burnt but it’s ok because your young and the journey has just started)

Standing on the cliff face Highest foe you'll ever grace It scares me half to death ( The future is the cliff and it scares you because of your choices/flaws and not knowing who you are)

Look out to the future But it tells you nothing So take another breath

(You can’t foresee who you will be or what will result in your choices---you just have to ‘take another breath’ and take a leap

Your hands protect the flames From the wild winds around you

Icarus is flying too close to the sun Icarus's life, it has only just begun This is how it feels to take a fall Icarus is flying towards an early grave

You put up your defenses when you leave You leave because you're certain Of who you want to be

You're putting up your armor when you leave You leave because you're certain Of who you want to be

(the moment when a person thinks they know who they want to be and are adamant and justifying their choice but finds out that looking back, perhaps they were mistaken; maybe this isn’t what they want)

Icarus is flying too close to the sun Icarus's life, it has only just begun This is how it feels to take a fall Icarus is flying towards an early grave (Icarus took a fall, and this is how it feels to take a fall: change/make mistakes/to find out who you wanted to be is not. In the case of Icarus, it results in his death, in the case of the person, it is the death of who they were connecting back to the beginning of the song)

This is a concerned parent lamenting their child's reckless behavior (drinking yourself to death) and puts them self in Daedalus' shoes, looking up at his child whom he has equipped with the wings to fly (metaphorically speaking a parent who desires their child to enjoy life) but takes it all too high flying egotistically up too close to the sun (living beyond your years) which i feel is a child doing what the parent probably did when he was much older. Yes I take this song as a sad parent helplessly watching their child ruin their life (digging your own grave) by loose morals and weak ethics, which sadly stem from their advice to enjoy life which has been taken too practically.

I think this song is about a man with a tough life and high expectations of them that gets addicted to the feeling he gets when he drinks, like this illusion that alcohol gives you, the feeling of invincibility and of a better life. Icarus,is a mythical character who was the son of Daedalus, they were trapped in an island and Daedalus made 2 wings for them in order to escape the island but he warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun because the sun's heat would melt the wax that glued the wings, in the story Icarus can't control himself and in the end he forgets, he flew too close to the sun, he fell, and died. I'll explain the connection later.

2 first verses are talking about it, about how he's killing himself with his drinking habits even when he gets warnings from other people

Look who's digging their own grave That is what they all say You'll drink yourself to death

Look who makes their own bed Lies right down within it And what will you have left?

Out on the front doorstep Drinking from a paper cup You won't remember this

He won't remember anything because he is drunk

Living beyond your years Acting out all their fears You feel it in your chest

This one I think is talking about this illusion I talked about, he feels invincible, he has no fears

Your hands protect the flames From the wild winds around you

Icarus is flying too close to the sun Icarus's life, it has only just begun It's just begun

These 2 verses are actually linking to Icarus, I think the writer is sort of comparing the man to Icarus, the man got addicted to the feeling that alcohol gives him and Icarus got addicted to the feeling he gets when he flies higher and higher and getting close to the sun which represents something good, maybe the highest point a man can reach. The man is metaphorically trying to get to a sunand the feeling of getting so high with alcohol, when he drinks his life looks better and the expectations are filled for awhile. Icarus is physically getting and higher and higher trying to reach the sun. They're both addicted to this feeling totally forgetting how dangerous is their way to get this feeling. And their life is just began because they're both very young.

Standing on the cliff face Highest foe you'll ever grace It scares me half to death

I think this is the point where we understand who the speaker is, probably in the man's story a friend or a family member I'm not completely sure but we know he's looking from the side and he's worried about the man, I think he's also compared to Daedalus in Icarus story, so maybe it is the man's father.

Look out to the future But it tells you nothing So take another breath

The man is trying to find a purpose in his life or to understand what his future will look like but he finds nothing maybe because he knows he doesn't have a lot of future ahead with his dangerous life style

Your hands protect the flames From the wild winds around you

Icarus is flying too close to the sun Icarus's life, it has only just begun This is how it feels to take a fall Icarus is flying towards an early grave

I already explained that but now there are extra 2 lines who talks about the actual death. He's falling, he was at the highest point he could reach, Icarus almost reached the sun, the man probably drank to much and had the best feeling he could have. Icarus fell to his death and the man died.

You put up your defenses when you leave You leave because you're certain Of who you want to be

You're putting up your armor when you leave You leave because you're certain Of who you want to be

I don't really know what i think about these two, to be honest.