voiceontape's view on it is interesting and works on many levels, but it could also be just a hopeless statement about someone who is literally dead, and, like Wait! says, the like "you're not breathing" does kind of suggest this. it's that phase of denial, that overwhelming feeling after a loss of wanting to bring that person back from the dead even though it's never going to happen. in a sense that's what the whole song is about, it's the person's death haunting the speaker and the speaker constantly wishing that they could have somehow stopped the events leading up to that person's death. beautiful song.
voiceontape's view on it is interesting and works on many levels, but it could also be just a hopeless statement about someone who is literally dead, and, like Wait! says, the like "you're not breathing" does kind of suggest this. it's that phase of denial, that overwhelming feeling after a loss of wanting to bring that person back from the dead even though it's never going to happen. in a sense that's what the whole song is about, it's the person's death haunting the speaker and the speaker constantly wishing that they could have somehow stopped the events leading up to that person's death. beautiful song.