Smoke

I have no idea what it's about so maybe seagreen is right but honestly I feel like that's a bit of a stretch. My personal interpretation is probably a stretch too though. I think it's about living and dying honestly. The doors could be birth, death and something else, maybe one is suicide while the other is natural causes. The smoke could represent the fact that in the act of living we are dying. We must breathe because we are alive but breathing also hurts us. The fact that she reminisces on the death of a friend, who is perhaps also the faceless portrait because he's dead. The father could be a reference to god, apparently watching us but absent. Maybe the remote nature of this father references doubt. Then she is no longer alone and the doors disappear, and the only way out is up into the light. Then they literally suffocate and die but they may be escaping as well. Or I could be wrong and it could be a woman's dying thoughts as she literally suffocates in smoke, without any symbolism at all.

I get a really strong PTSD vibe from these lyrics. The whole song seems to be about the narrator reimagining some negative event (possibly where her friend was killed by some assailant she didn't see but it's a stretch I know) and she blames herself for it and consequently is describing both the event and her reaction to it in therapy. The smoke filled room choking her is her mind with the PTSD and the dreams she is having. "Your father watching me" refers to the father of the friend whirs death she feels responsible for

There's a man with no face Just a blurred out portrait In a photo frame I'm losing again, I'm losing My friend is face down on the pavement

Then a woman, she screams 'It's terrible night' As the mood changes to dark from light Tell the doctor what's become of me So they can analyse, analyse my dreams

The last mention of the doctor seems very disparaging like she doesn't trust them or doesn't think the revisiting the event is helping. Or maybe it's because she knows what the smoke filled room signifies but doesn't want to acknowledge it.

Then we kiss and his lips turn into sand And the whole of him cascades through my hands Making a castle on the floor Then I'm alone again No keys and three doors In a smoke filled room

Now we're both in the room And we're breathing the fumes No doors this time, just a gap in the roof Light floods in, heaven we're blind Then slowly suffocating, we're dying

Then her friend is gone and she us left reeling from the after effects and the trauma which is manifesting in these dreams of this smoke-filled room where he is dying all over again, there are three doors and no keys (not sure what these mean ) but she is adamant she will die inside her own smoke-filled mind locked up unable to save her friend, believing that they are dying together.

It's about a prostitute who is starting to become more conscious of her past decisions and it's hard to look at because all her past encounters with 'clients' were 'smokey' or 'hazey' as a natural reflex to block out unpleasant or traumatic experiences.

"'In a smoke filled room With your father watching me
There's three doors and no keys
it's choking me"

the father being an older client the doors and keys are her dreams of alternative ways she could get off the street and live in safety but she feels there is no way out of the prostitute life

"There's a man with no face Just a blurred out portrait In a photo frame I'm losing again, I'm losing My friend is face down on the pavement'"

the portrait of the man is a symbol of how a man should be but the face is blurred out as to indicate there is no man there, just a sleazy perverse monster. 'my friend is face down on the pavement' is her prostitute friend that has been beaten by her pimp or a client

''Then a woman, she screams 'It's terrible night' As the mood changes to dark from light Tell the doctor what's become of me So they can analyse, analyse my dreams Of a smoke filled room''

the woman (prostitute) is so used to the danger of working as a hooker that when any reality of normal 'clean living' life shades into her warped world is to much for her to bare so it pains her. hence why she creates 'smoke' or haze when she is whoring herself to cover up her true feelings.

The smoke filled room is the room she is whoring herself in at the time and so she doesn't feel anything while it's happening she just blocks everything out.

"Then we kiss and his lips turn into sand And the whole of him cascades through my hands Making a castle on the floor Then I'm alone again No keys and three doors In a smoke filled room"

The man in this scenario is a lover but he too is corrupt and any fantasy of them running away to live a normal life together disintegrates eventually 'making a castle on the floor' ...then she's alone again with no keys an 3 doors, the room is still smoke meaning her reality is still not right for her

"Now we're both in the room And we're breathing the fumes No doors this time, just a gap in the roof Light floods in, heaven we're blind Then slowly suffocating, we're dying

We're dying in a smoke filled room"

She has repressed the reality of her actions so much so that her soul is dying, the man was already dead on the inside long ago but anyway.. They're both dying in the dream reality because they both don't want to face anything they've done properly with absolute truth.

i think its about a dream she repeatedly has and is expressing it to her therapist. A nightmare that she cant seem to understand ... most likely do to repressed emotions and experiences of her past.

A fire?

I've actually always taken these lyrics more literally. I think it's about the holocaust, talking about the gas chambers.

In a smoke filled room With your father watching me There's three doors and no keys It''s rising, it's choking me

This to me is talking about being in the gas chambers choking on the smoke, there are three entrances and no way out. This is supported in a different verse when she says "No doors now just a gap in the roof." This to me was talking about the holes in the roof where they dropped the gas through.

Then a woman, she screams 'It's terrible night' As the mood changes to dark from light Tell the doctor what's become of me So they can analyse, analyse my dreams

This to me is sort of a sarcastic verse almost, at first talking about the woman's fear and her screaming as everyone realizes what's going on too late. The more sarcastic part is when she talks about the doctor analyzing her dreams of the smoke filled room, of the gas chamber. That to me is talking about the ignorance of everyone outside the walls. Obviously through the rest of the song for the most part she is talking about people dying and falling to the floor as they suffocate in the smoke filled room, and faceless people looking in and watching them die.

I know it's dark and unpleasant, but most of their songs are. Unless I'm reading into this way too literally and it's really just a metaphorical song about her ex-boyfriend or something..this is just always what thought.