I don't think Band of Horses play it better at all. I still like this cover, but it feels so predictable. The New Year's version has a slow, almost resigned quality, which I think works really well with the lyrics.
I see this as being about how he thinks the "world's decaying" - well, has already decayed actually! The end of life (as he thinks it ought to be) is already here. Everyone had all this hope and optimism about the new millennium and saw it as a new start, when the world would be great, but he can't see that there's anything out there worth caring about. He thinks everyone's "lost their souls" - perhaps he blames it on technology ("the satellites" etc. being a distraction and no one thinks about other people or communicates) or maybe it's just the lifestyle in general - he seems scornful "watch them throw a party like there's something worth celebrating."
Does he see himself as a martyr? Maybe he thinks he could have the ways to "stop the world decaying" but no one would listen to him, not even those who pretend to be pious and good. He feels like he's one of the only people who can see what's wrong with the world - everyone else parties. Anyway, for him, the end is here. There's nothing he can do as an individual to change things so he's just going to be hiding.
That's just my opinion, feel free to tear it to shreads!
I don't think Band of Horses play it better at all. I still like this cover, but it feels so predictable. The New Year's version has a slow, almost resigned quality, which I think works really well with the lyrics.
I see this as being about how he thinks the "world's decaying" - well, has already decayed actually! The end of life (as he thinks it ought to be) is already here. Everyone had all this hope and optimism about the new millennium and saw it as a new start, when the world would be great, but he can't see that there's anything out there worth caring about. He thinks everyone's "lost their souls" - perhaps he blames it on technology ("the satellites" etc. being a distraction and no one thinks about other people or communicates) or maybe it's just the lifestyle in general - he seems scornful "watch them throw a party like there's something worth celebrating."
Does he see himself as a martyr? Maybe he thinks he could have the ways to "stop the world decaying" but no one would listen to him, not even those who pretend to be pious and good. He feels like he's one of the only people who can see what's wrong with the world - everyone else parties. Anyway, for him, the end is here. There's nothing he can do as an individual to change things so he's just going to be hiding.
That's just my opinion, feel free to tear it to shreads!