Heap and Sigsworth stated in 10/02 to VH1 some of what the intent was:
VH1: The lyrics for “Flicks” and “Must Be Dreaming” are very surreal. Do those images just pop into your head or do you work very intently on creating them?
Heap: “Flicks” just flew really easily. I like the idea of taking moments of your life that are really important to you and creating a film out of them, like 15 memories you just can’t live without. It’s weird, because you can start off with an idea and be really excited about writing the song. Then, three months later, when you finally get around to writing a song - or finishing it - it’s totally different!
Sigsworth: One of my favorite songs is Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al,” where he starts like he’s telling you a story - “A man walks down the street …” and then before you know it, the story has gone off to Neptune. You don’t know at what point it went from being conventional storytelling into complete sci-fi. If you can draw people in, set up something that they believe is real, and then subvert it, that’s the best. So I’m assuming that it is intended to be ambiguous and open to multiple interpretations.
Heap and Sigsworth stated in 10/02 to VH1 some of what the intent was: