Exercise One

'When you're looking at life In a strange new room Maybe drowning soon Is this the start of it all?'

This is - not so much a response, as a reaction perhaps to the Socratic sentiment, that an unexamined life is not worth living.

'Turn on your TV Turn down your pulse'

Then the sense of alienation, wanting to escape, turning on TV, forgetting your thoughts that would drown you. 'Turn down your pulse' - escape from life.

'Turn away from it all It's all getting too much'

The song looks very simple, but actually it's very powerful, there is a strong feeling of stress, claustrophobia, the desire to understand combined with the inability to make sense of things.

Too much stress to deal with. Looking back at life wondering how you got to where you are now.

I've allways seen a connection in this with "Day of The Lords". Look at...

When you're looking at life In a strange new room Maybe drowning soon Is this the start of it all?

Compare to the first line of "DotL"

This is the room, the start of it all...

Maybe they're just both based off the same poem.

i agree with kilby =)

The original version of this song (of 3:10) is one of the most psychedelic songs ever. The guitar drives me crazy, the bass line seem to escape and go on a very swinging way but it's always returning to its starting point, like a circle. The drums are so repetitive and uses silence like a sound. And it lasts half of the song... It's just great!