Pondering with big questions and trying to find out the meaning of life is the biggest challenge anyone will ever face. Everyone has given these things a thought, but some never give up, and may even eventually go mad or give in to despair.
I think this is all about a couple. One of them (the narrator in this song) has given up on the big questions, whereas the other one is not giving up, and is almost going crazy.
"You get the car
I'll get the night off
You'll get the chance to take the world apart and figure out how it works"
Here the narrator says he's willing to support his friend (or lover) in his or her quest for a meaning.
"Don't let me know what you find out"
He knows that there is no answer, no meaning, but has been able to ignore that fact and live life happily. That's why he doesn't want to hear it when his friend finds it out. He doesn't want to risk his own happiness.
"If I don't die or worse I'm gonna need a nap
at best I'll be asleep when you get back"
Finding out that everything is meaningless can make you die (suicide?), or worse (go mad, get depressed). So he's warning his friend that it's going to be a long and hard trip.
"I wanna see it when you find out what comets, stars and moons are all about
I wanna see their faces turn to backs of heads and slowly get smaller"
Still he wishes that his friend will find answers. Maybe he just loves the childlike curiosity of his friend, the never ending questioning of things, even though he knows it will set him or her apart from other people who want to live their lives without thinking about these kinds of things.
"I want specifics on the general idea
I wanna think what I should know
I want you to do me what to show
I wanna see movies of my dreams"
I think this just means that he wants his friend to do what he didn't have the courage or the brains for; to find out something concrete about the world.
"I wanna see it when you get stoned on a cloudy breezy desert afternoon
I wanna see it untame itself and break its owner"
I think this symbolizes the situation where the questions start to curse his friend. He's getting stoned just to escape from the questions he's so frustrated with? The thing that is untaming itself is the persons mind. The reason why he still wants to see it, is because he what he really loves about his friend is the way he never gives up, and is even braver than the narrator himself, who gave up with these questions.
Pondering with big questions and trying to find out the meaning of life is the biggest challenge anyone will ever face. Everyone has given these things a thought, but some never give up, and may even eventually go mad or give in to despair.
I think this is all about a couple. One of them (the narrator in this song) has given up on the big questions, whereas the other one is not giving up, and is almost going crazy.
"You get the car I'll get the night off You'll get the chance to take the world apart and figure out how it works"
Here the narrator says he's willing to support his friend (or lover) in his or her quest for a meaning.
"Don't let me know what you find out"
He knows that there is no answer, no meaning, but has been able to ignore that fact and live life happily. That's why he doesn't want to hear it when his friend finds it out. He doesn't want to risk his own happiness.
"If I don't die or worse I'm gonna need a nap at best I'll be asleep when you get back"
Finding out that everything is meaningless can make you die (suicide?), or worse (go mad, get depressed). So he's warning his friend that it's going to be a long and hard trip.
"I wanna see it when you find out what comets, stars and moons are all about I wanna see their faces turn to backs of heads and slowly get smaller"
Still he wishes that his friend will find answers. Maybe he just loves the childlike curiosity of his friend, the never ending questioning of things, even though he knows it will set him or her apart from other people who want to live their lives without thinking about these kinds of things.
"I want specifics on the general idea I wanna think what I should know I want you to do me what to show I wanna see movies of my dreams"
I think this just means that he wants his friend to do what he didn't have the courage or the brains for; to find out something concrete about the world.
"I wanna see it when you get stoned on a cloudy breezy desert afternoon I wanna see it untame itself and break its owner"
I think this symbolizes the situation where the questions start to curse his friend. He's getting stoned just to escape from the questions he's so frustrated with? The thing that is untaming itself is the persons mind. The reason why he still wants to see it, is because he what he really loves about his friend is the way he never gives up, and is even braver than the narrator himself, who gave up with these questions.