Something that no one has commented on yet is just how sad it is to have to ask someone to sing you "Happy Birthday". If one imagines that this is actually being sung on the narrator's birthday, the fact that he's "oh so slowly" going through these routines like doing the dishes, and then that he has to ask someone to sing him "Happy Birthday", which people usually jump at doing without being asked, reflects strong isolation. Combined with the yearning "like it's gonna be your last day" even gives it suicidal undertones, just by the fact that on his birthday he's sitting alone thinking about the idea of having a last day at all.
This side of it is much easier for me to see today because it is my birthday. Don't worry, I'm having an ok one, but the lyrics certainly work in that context.
I don't think that having thoughts about one's own mortality on one's birthday is a 'suicidal tendency' - birthdays are milestones on the path to your eventual demise. What he seems to be doing in the song is motivate himself to live despite the thoughts of death that birthday's bring up. Not arguing that it is depressing, most certainly is.
I don't think that having thoughts about one's own mortality on one's birthday is a 'suicidal tendency' - birthdays are milestones on the path to your eventual demise. What he seems to be doing in the song is motivate himself to live despite the thoughts of death that birthday's bring up. Not arguing that it is depressing, most certainly is.
I was just listening to this song and it is my birthday also. I was listening to it because it somehow synchronized with my actual feelings and when I read your thoughts on it I finally get why it is so understandable for me. I feel just as you described.
I was just listening to this song and it is my birthday also. I was listening to it because it somehow synchronized with my actual feelings and when I read your thoughts on it I finally get why it is so understandable for me. I feel just as you described.
Something that no one has commented on yet is just how sad it is to have to ask someone to sing you "Happy Birthday". If one imagines that this is actually being sung on the narrator's birthday, the fact that he's "oh so slowly" going through these routines like doing the dishes, and then that he has to ask someone to sing him "Happy Birthday", which people usually jump at doing without being asked, reflects strong isolation. Combined with the yearning "like it's gonna be your last day" even gives it suicidal undertones, just by the fact that on his birthday he's sitting alone thinking about the idea of having a last day at all.
This side of it is much easier for me to see today because it is my birthday. Don't worry, I'm having an ok one, but the lyrics certainly work in that context.
I don't think that having thoughts about one's own mortality on one's birthday is a 'suicidal tendency' - birthdays are milestones on the path to your eventual demise. What he seems to be doing in the song is motivate himself to live despite the thoughts of death that birthday's bring up. Not arguing that it is depressing, most certainly is.
I don't think that having thoughts about one's own mortality on one's birthday is a 'suicidal tendency' - birthdays are milestones on the path to your eventual demise. What he seems to be doing in the song is motivate himself to live despite the thoughts of death that birthday's bring up. Not arguing that it is depressing, most certainly is.
But it is also beautiful.
But it is also beautiful.
I was just listening to this song and it is my birthday also. I was listening to it because it somehow synchronized with my actual feelings and when I read your thoughts on it I finally get why it is so understandable for me. I feel just as you described.
I was just listening to this song and it is my birthday also. I was listening to it because it somehow synchronized with my actual feelings and when I read your thoughts on it I finally get why it is so understandable for me. I feel just as you described.
So sing me a happy birthday then.
So sing me a happy birthday then.