This song sort of gives me an impression of medically induced happiness. She's (I assume this is about Elizabeth, like much of the first half of the album) sitting in a ward, looking out, looking around, talking to herself, and allows herself to be swallowed into the smaller thoughts like locking the window properly and the physical sensation of her jacket, while the bigger questions previously asked in songs like "3 Speed" are numbed away by a sedated "la la la", complimented sublimely by some over-the-top-positive string pieces. To me, this is a shattering critique of medically solving depressions, as everything is merely hidden away. And, as we see later, it of course springs back into the surface, with catastrophic results.
This song is also a very good example of how song structure and arrangement is literally equal to the lyrics in terms of telling the story of the album, and enhances my feeling that there is no single note or word on this album that isn't part of the "big picture".
This song sort of gives me an impression of medically induced happiness. She's (I assume this is about Elizabeth, like much of the first half of the album) sitting in a ward, looking out, looking around, talking to herself, and allows herself to be swallowed into the smaller thoughts like locking the window properly and the physical sensation of her jacket, while the bigger questions previously asked in songs like "3 Speed" are numbed away by a sedated "la la la", complimented sublimely by some over-the-top-positive string pieces. To me, this is a shattering critique of medically solving depressions, as everything is merely hidden away. And, as we see later, it of course springs back into the surface, with catastrophic results.
This song is also a very good example of how song structure and arrangement is literally equal to the lyrics in terms of telling the story of the album, and enhances my feeling that there is no single note or word on this album that isn't part of the "big picture".