I think a key image in this song is lost by a simple lyric mistranslation in two spots. The lyrics in the third verse actually involve the line, "To be in your heart, I failed my own," and in the fourth, "I'm still here, reclimbing every rung". The song seems to be a 'tribute', of sorts, to somebody who simply cannot progress, someone who has lost in the past, and refuses to stop focusing on the 'good' in what was, ultimately, a failure. It's a smear of the 'every stormcloud has a silver lining' mentality. Sometimes, you fail. Sometimes, you lose, and you couldn't have won if you tried harder, and focusing on the good denies you the ability to accept your own fallibility and weakness, and improve. The 'narrator' seems to be trying desperately, even against immaterial, omnipotent forces like God, Time, Love, and even Death, to recapture something he's lost, and lost -for good-. Like trying to mend a split fencing foil with bubble-gum, it's a futile effort, but because of the new, learned instinct to 'look on the bright side', the strength found in admitting failure has died out for the narrator. Powerful song.
I think a key image in this song is lost by a simple lyric mistranslation in two spots. The lyrics in the third verse actually involve the line, "To be in your heart, I failed my own," and in the fourth, "I'm still here, reclimbing every rung". The song seems to be a 'tribute', of sorts, to somebody who simply cannot progress, someone who has lost in the past, and refuses to stop focusing on the 'good' in what was, ultimately, a failure. It's a smear of the 'every stormcloud has a silver lining' mentality. Sometimes, you fail. Sometimes, you lose, and you couldn't have won if you tried harder, and focusing on the good denies you the ability to accept your own fallibility and weakness, and improve. The 'narrator' seems to be trying desperately, even against immaterial, omnipotent forces like God, Time, Love, and even Death, to recapture something he's lost, and lost -for good-. Like trying to mend a split fencing foil with bubble-gum, it's a futile effort, but because of the new, learned instinct to 'look on the bright side', the strength found in admitting failure has died out for the narrator. Powerful song.