I interpret this song in a very literal way - basically it's the story, written from a viewer in the future, about someone who escaped the earth that he believed was in a terrible state (for reasons i'll go into later on).
"Adrift again 2000 man"
Here we have a man from around the year 2000 who is adrift in space (although, as we later find out, this is an intentional act).
"You lost your maps,
You lost the plans
Did you hear them yell,
"Land, damn it land"?
You say you can't
Well I hope you can
I hope you can"
The 2000 man has told all the people on earth that he is lost and can't come back to earth, but really he WANTS to be lost and alone. The narrator of the story is nonetheless fooled, and like all the people on earth, has tried to 'help him' and invite him to come back.
"How's it going 2000 man
Welcome back to solid ground my friend
I heard all your controls were jammed
Well it's just nice to have you back again"
Later on (and following a shift in the song) 2000 man comes back to earth, and the narrator is glad and still trying to pry out of him how he got 'stuck' in space. However ...
"But I guess they still don't understand
And they can never understand"
... it's still the same old story on earth as before. The people that 2000 man escaped still believe in the same things, and, the narrator believes, they always will.
"And they said go find 2000 man
And they said tell him we've got new plans"
The people of earth want 2000 man - the man who rejected the ways of his culture - back on earth, because they want to tell him they've changed. They want to reincorporate the rebel. But ...
"But instead I'm here to tell you, friend
I believe they want you to give in"
... they haven't changed at all, and although the narrator wants 2000 man back, he also wants to warn him of this.
"Are you giving in 2000 man?"
2000 man has come back to the same culture. The narrator asks: are you ready to give up your struggle now?
"Did you love this world and did this world not love you?"
2000 man loved the world, but rejected his culture.
"Don't give in 2000 man"
The final plea from the narrator.
I guess it's up to you what you think that culture could be - so bad that someone would choose to be alone in space rather than face it. Whether it's Parkov's concern of a society "becoming obsessed with complex but ultimately meaningless things", or Nehllah's struggles of civilization or Jean-Baptiste's ecological concerns.
However, I have heard Grandaddy speak in interviews and they have regularly put forward these ideas - of the self-destructive decadence of consumerism and over-production, but mainly of over-reliance on technology and the problems that this brings (these themes feature across Grandaddy's work, and lend many to believe that the Sophtware Slump is a concept album). In fact, I remember Jason Lytle saying he was disappointed that the Millenium Bug hadn't, in the end, destroyed all the computers - is this what 2000 man hoped to escape from?
I interpret this song in a very literal way - basically it's the story, written from a viewer in the future, about someone who escaped the earth that he believed was in a terrible state (for reasons i'll go into later on).
"Adrift again 2000 man" Here we have a man from around the year 2000 who is adrift in space (although, as we later find out, this is an intentional act).
"You lost your maps, You lost the plans Did you hear them yell, "Land, damn it land"? You say you can't Well I hope you can I hope you can"
The 2000 man has told all the people on earth that he is lost and can't come back to earth, but really he WANTS to be lost and alone. The narrator of the story is nonetheless fooled, and like all the people on earth, has tried to 'help him' and invite him to come back.
"How's it going 2000 man Welcome back to solid ground my friend I heard all your controls were jammed Well it's just nice to have you back again"
Later on (and following a shift in the song) 2000 man comes back to earth, and the narrator is glad and still trying to pry out of him how he got 'stuck' in space. However ...
"But I guess they still don't understand And they can never understand"
... it's still the same old story on earth as before. The people that 2000 man escaped still believe in the same things, and, the narrator believes, they always will.
"And they said go find 2000 man And they said tell him we've got new plans"
The people of earth want 2000 man - the man who rejected the ways of his culture - back on earth, because they want to tell him they've changed. They want to reincorporate the rebel. But ...
"But instead I'm here to tell you, friend I believe they want you to give in"
... they haven't changed at all, and although the narrator wants 2000 man back, he also wants to warn him of this.
"Are you giving in 2000 man?"
2000 man has come back to the same culture. The narrator asks: are you ready to give up your struggle now?
"Did you love this world and did this world not love you?"
2000 man loved the world, but rejected his culture.
"Don't give in 2000 man"
The final plea from the narrator.
I guess it's up to you what you think that culture could be - so bad that someone would choose to be alone in space rather than face it. Whether it's Parkov's concern of a society "becoming obsessed with complex but ultimately meaningless things", or Nehllah's struggles of civilization or Jean-Baptiste's ecological concerns.
However, I have heard Grandaddy speak in interviews and they have regularly put forward these ideas - of the self-destructive decadence of consumerism and over-production, but mainly of over-reliance on technology and the problems that this brings (these themes feature across Grandaddy's work, and lend many to believe that the Sophtware Slump is a concept album). In fact, I remember Jason Lytle saying he was disappointed that the Millenium Bug hadn't, in the end, destroyed all the computers - is this what 2000 man hoped to escape from?