For me, the meaning rests in how the lyrics combine the banal with the spiritual. Consider, the mention of the "Garden Grill", a banal place whose name references the original garden (Eden), its pale reflection made more obvious by the fact that the plant life there is plastic.
The line about no more miracles, contrasting with the washing of the dishes, highlights the protagonist's inability to connect to the hints of divinity all around him due the distractions of more mundane concerns. Thus, he feels this kind of "stimuli" obscures his ability to connect.
The next stanza demonstrates how alienating this situation has become; vast oceans exist, but without any spiritual component behind it, all that can be drawn from the world is cold emotion, and paranoia.
The next part, (But still the warmth flows through me...) would seem to indicate that, internally at least, the narrator has some remnant of desire to connect to the divine; the lines that follow represent that some sort of action is taking place at this point in the story, something that the protagonist feels is inevitable.
Gabriel's songs often put the joys of physical connection in the same league as spiritual ones -- and it helps that the line, "Lay your hands on me" is a double-entendre. The laying on of hands is a common element of many religious observances. It is also a pretty blunt request to be touched in a more general, perhaps sexual way. Thus, perhaps the narrator finds in physical contact something more profound than the weak shadows of spiritual fulfillment described earlier in the song.
@meegle Beautifully expressed and oh so eloquent, plus I love that tailspin at the very end > except, I personally believe you are spot on & for this, I thank you!
@meegle Beautifully expressed and oh so eloquent, plus I love that tailspin at the very end > except, I personally believe you are spot on & for this, I thank you!
For me, the meaning rests in how the lyrics combine the banal with the spiritual. Consider, the mention of the "Garden Grill", a banal place whose name references the original garden (Eden), its pale reflection made more obvious by the fact that the plant life there is plastic.
The line about no more miracles, contrasting with the washing of the dishes, highlights the protagonist's inability to connect to the hints of divinity all around him due the distractions of more mundane concerns. Thus, he feels this kind of "stimuli" obscures his ability to connect.
The next stanza demonstrates how alienating this situation has become; vast oceans exist, but without any spiritual component behind it, all that can be drawn from the world is cold emotion, and paranoia.
The next part, (But still the warmth flows through me...) would seem to indicate that, internally at least, the narrator has some remnant of desire to connect to the divine; the lines that follow represent that some sort of action is taking place at this point in the story, something that the protagonist feels is inevitable.
Gabriel's songs often put the joys of physical connection in the same league as spiritual ones -- and it helps that the line, "Lay your hands on me" is a double-entendre. The laying on of hands is a common element of many religious observances. It is also a pretty blunt request to be touched in a more general, perhaps sexual way. Thus, perhaps the narrator finds in physical contact something more profound than the weak shadows of spiritual fulfillment described earlier in the song.
(Then again, I'm probably way off!)
@meegle Beautifully expressed and oh so eloquent, plus I love that tailspin at the very end > except, I personally believe you are spot on & for this, I thank you!
@meegle Beautifully expressed and oh so eloquent, plus I love that tailspin at the very end > except, I personally believe you are spot on & for this, I thank you!