Well, I'd hate to break tradition and actually talk about the song meaning, but... i am captivated by the chorus: "Without me there's nothing / I'm the only thing that dies / If it came down to your life or mine / I would do the stupid thing / And let you keep on living". How many ideas does this point to? I see it as something like this: Being trapped in our own subjective world, we become the most important thing in the world (this is solipsism) - because everything else is real only to the extent that you are. As far as you are concerned, reality ends when you die. So given the choice between saving your own life, or sacrificing yourself for someone else, it would seem obvious that you should save yourself. Yet, loving someone intensely can make you care about them even more than yourself - breaking the solipsistic spell and making you willing to do the stupid thing and let them keep on living - even if it means ending your world.
Well, I'd hate to break tradition and actually talk about the song meaning, but... i am captivated by the chorus: "Without me there's nothing / I'm the only thing that dies / If it came down to your life or mine / I would do the stupid thing / And let you keep on living". How many ideas does this point to? I see it as something like this: Being trapped in our own subjective world, we become the most important thing in the world (this is solipsism) - because everything else is real only to the extent that you are. As far as you are concerned, reality ends when you die. So given the choice between saving your own life, or sacrificing yourself for someone else, it would seem obvious that you should save yourself. Yet, loving someone intensely can make you care about them even more than yourself - breaking the solipsistic spell and making you willing to do the stupid thing and let them keep on living - even if it means ending your world.
eh?