I spent some time analyzing this song. While my assumption of its meaning is depressing , I think it may be accurate. It is about how fragile life is and how quickly it can end. It seem to be taken from the point of view of someone at a cemetery as sprinklers go on.
Let me break down how I see it.
Numbed by too many anti-depressants he is at a lovers funeral getting soaked by the sprinkler or rain but not caring. He just wants to know why he is alive when his love isn't. He thinks of a show he saw on tv about the birth of man. Unlike religion the scientist (experts) explain the creation of life as a pure luck mix of elements. They continue on to the millions of sperm who die off trying to find an egg. There are so many ways not to make it.
The next verse is a car accident. The lover's body is laying on the road. The scene is so devastating he can't look at it. The Hazardous Materials are the blood and broken glass, etc. at the scene. His love will never go home again or be with him again. The lover is what goes undelivered.
He was in the passengers seat. He may have been to drunk or high to drive. That may be why he lived. Now he has to let go of all his sorrow and guilt. He won't let himself just grieve. He is desperate to move on and no longer be haunted by that last moment. He gets himself numb with way to many anti-depressants.
Imbibed refers absorbing too much. I'm guessing in his case it's a combo of alcohol, pills, and the water from the mister soaking his skin. The blisters could be physical or could be referring to sharp criticism of himself or both. To an extreme him might have injured himself in an attempt to feel. People are saying things to him like," She was a good person. We'll miss her." And the one he can''t deal with now," It's not your fault." He think it is his fault, he is the one who should have died. He thinks that what the people are secretly saying.
@Odessa1 I like this analysis a lot. The "we" in the first stanza rather than "I" wasn't fitting the image of a lonely, depressed driver, so I think you're right about a couple.
I also think there are many meanings of "undelivered." There's a now undeliverable cargo load of hazardous materials that just collided with his car. As you say, his lover is "undelivered" but I also think his lover was pregnant, suggested by both the "collision of two substances" and the idea that a baby is "delivered." Lastly I think he feels undelivered, in the sense of needing salvation or...
@Odessa1 I like this analysis a lot. The "we" in the first stanza rather than "I" wasn't fitting the image of a lonely, depressed driver, so I think you're right about a couple.
I also think there are many meanings of "undelivered." There's a now undeliverable cargo load of hazardous materials that just collided with his car. As you say, his lover is "undelivered" but I also think his lover was pregnant, suggested by both the "collision of two substances" and the idea that a baby is "delivered." Lastly I think he feels undelivered, in the sense of needing salvation or deliverance from guilt and self-destruction and not being able to find it.
I spent some time analyzing this song. While my assumption of its meaning is depressing , I think it may be accurate. It is about how fragile life is and how quickly it can end. It seem to be taken from the point of view of someone at a cemetery as sprinklers go on. Let me break down how I see it. Numbed by too many anti-depressants he is at a lovers funeral getting soaked by the sprinkler or rain but not caring. He just wants to know why he is alive when his love isn't. He thinks of a show he saw on tv about the birth of man. Unlike religion the scientist (experts) explain the creation of life as a pure luck mix of elements. They continue on to the millions of sperm who die off trying to find an egg. There are so many ways not to make it. The next verse is a car accident. The lover's body is laying on the road. The scene is so devastating he can't look at it. The Hazardous Materials are the blood and broken glass, etc. at the scene. His love will never go home again or be with him again. The lover is what goes undelivered. He was in the passengers seat. He may have been to drunk or high to drive. That may be why he lived. Now he has to let go of all his sorrow and guilt. He won't let himself just grieve. He is desperate to move on and no longer be haunted by that last moment. He gets himself numb with way to many anti-depressants. Imbibed refers absorbing too much. I'm guessing in his case it's a combo of alcohol, pills, and the water from the mister soaking his skin. The blisters could be physical or could be referring to sharp criticism of himself or both. To an extreme him might have injured himself in an attempt to feel. People are saying things to him like," She was a good person. We'll miss her." And the one he can''t deal with now," It's not your fault." He think it is his fault, he is the one who should have died. He thinks that what the people are secretly saying.
@Odessa1 I like this analysis a lot. The "we" in the first stanza rather than "I" wasn't fitting the image of a lonely, depressed driver, so I think you're right about a couple. I also think there are many meanings of "undelivered." There's a now undeliverable cargo load of hazardous materials that just collided with his car. As you say, his lover is "undelivered" but I also think his lover was pregnant, suggested by both the "collision of two substances" and the idea that a baby is "delivered." Lastly I think he feels undelivered, in the sense of needing salvation or...
@Odessa1 I like this analysis a lot. The "we" in the first stanza rather than "I" wasn't fitting the image of a lonely, depressed driver, so I think you're right about a couple.
I also think there are many meanings of "undelivered." There's a now undeliverable cargo load of hazardous materials that just collided with his car. As you say, his lover is "undelivered" but I also think his lover was pregnant, suggested by both the "collision of two substances" and the idea that a baby is "delivered." Lastly I think he feels undelivered, in the sense of needing salvation or deliverance from guilt and self-destruction and not being able to find it.