I find this to be a pretty damn scary song. My favorite - and in my opinion most telling - part is Thom's tired voice singing "don't fall asleep at the wheel" as the background noise quiets down for a moment. It's as if Thom is the voice of society hammering into the "driver's" head what he knows but at the same time doesn't want to hear. He can't fall asleep now, because if he does, there will be an accident. In There There terms, he is an accident waiting to happen. And yet all he hears is "please keep moving, gotta keep moving." Though it could be also interpreted as the driver talking to himself, pushing himself too far - or perhaps he knows that he needs to push himself constantly, force himself beyond his means, in order to survive.
Unfortunately other lines in the song don't quite fit into this interpretation, but that line was the one that always stood out to me and thus formulated my interpretation of it.
I find this to be a pretty damn scary song. My favorite - and in my opinion most telling - part is Thom's tired voice singing "don't fall asleep at the wheel" as the background noise quiets down for a moment. It's as if Thom is the voice of society hammering into the "driver's" head what he knows but at the same time doesn't want to hear. He can't fall asleep now, because if he does, there will be an accident. In There There terms, he is an accident waiting to happen. And yet all he hears is "please keep moving, gotta keep moving." Though it could be also interpreted as the driver talking to himself, pushing himself too far - or perhaps he knows that he needs to push himself constantly, force himself beyond his means, in order to survive.
Unfortunately other lines in the song don't quite fit into this interpretation, but that line was the one that always stood out to me and thus formulated my interpretation of it.
Amazing song, in any case.