The opening of this song sort of parallels this Shakespearean quote "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages."
This seems to be his final exit. He's not dead yet (while the lights stayed on) but he is about to die. (the familiar buzz was now long gone, i just waited there) He's waiting to die & prepares himself by taking a seat i front of the cardboard screen & his life is played before his eyes. In a world full of so many people entering & exiting the stage, no one cares that the curtains are about to be drawn on him. His soul is leaving his body "as the music soared into the air, as the lights went down" & then he sees her, the "angel from his nightmare" so to speak. His death is a nightmare where " they took to the crowd and aimed towards me. as the circle closed I held onto the one with splintered clothes." It seems as if there are unwelcome or evil beings after him & in the midst of it all he spots a familiar presence who appears to be reaching out to him & trying to help him despite the damage done in their past. "I couldn't end it there" suggests that he is still clinging to life &/or the threads that tie the two together, but she is crumbling & breaking away from him just as she did 20 years previously. The advice "don't open your eyes and you can swim" is the same as she gave him long ago: you'll be okay if you can block out the world, your problems, your fears. You can stay afloat by not being blindsided, so close your eyes, tune it all out. Now she is meaning it to block out the who or whatever is coming after him& to let her go, & then & only then he can pass on into the afterlife & be at peace.
Funnily enough, just when you said that this song sort of parallels that Shakespearean quote, the part "I held onto the one with splintered clothes" reminded me of this random line from a poem Shakespeare wrote once called "Sad Cypress", where the speaker goes "my shroud of white, stuck all with yew [thus making me think of that person with tree? splinters stuck all over his clothing]/ oh prepare it, my part of death no one so true did share it". So it kind of felt like in the midst of everything, he tried to grab someone to save him,...
Funnily enough, just when you said that this song sort of parallels that Shakespearean quote, the part "I held onto the one with splintered clothes" reminded me of this random line from a poem Shakespeare wrote once called "Sad Cypress", where the speaker goes "my shroud of white, stuck all with yew [thus making me think of that person with tree? splinters stuck all over his clothing]/ oh prepare it, my part of death no one so true did share it". So it kind of felt like in the midst of everything, he tried to grab someone to save him, only to realise that it was himself he was reaching out for.
The opening of this song sort of parallels this Shakespearean quote "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages."
This seems to be his final exit. He's not dead yet (while the lights stayed on) but he is about to die. (the familiar buzz was now long gone, i just waited there) He's waiting to die & prepares himself by taking a seat i front of the cardboard screen & his life is played before his eyes. In a world full of so many people entering & exiting the stage, no one cares that the curtains are about to be drawn on him. His soul is leaving his body "as the music soared into the air, as the lights went down" & then he sees her, the "angel from his nightmare" so to speak. His death is a nightmare where " they took to the crowd and aimed towards me. as the circle closed I held onto the one with splintered clothes." It seems as if there are unwelcome or evil beings after him & in the midst of it all he spots a familiar presence who appears to be reaching out to him & trying to help him despite the damage done in their past. "I couldn't end it there" suggests that he is still clinging to life &/or the threads that tie the two together, but she is crumbling & breaking away from him just as she did 20 years previously. The advice "don't open your eyes and you can swim" is the same as she gave him long ago: you'll be okay if you can block out the world, your problems, your fears. You can stay afloat by not being blindsided, so close your eyes, tune it all out. Now she is meaning it to block out the who or whatever is coming after him& to let her go, & then & only then he can pass on into the afterlife & be at peace.
Funnily enough, just when you said that this song sort of parallels that Shakespearean quote, the part "I held onto the one with splintered clothes" reminded me of this random line from a poem Shakespeare wrote once called "Sad Cypress", where the speaker goes "my shroud of white, stuck all with yew [thus making me think of that person with tree? splinters stuck all over his clothing]/ oh prepare it, my part of death no one so true did share it". So it kind of felt like in the midst of everything, he tried to grab someone to save him,...
Funnily enough, just when you said that this song sort of parallels that Shakespearean quote, the part "I held onto the one with splintered clothes" reminded me of this random line from a poem Shakespeare wrote once called "Sad Cypress", where the speaker goes "my shroud of white, stuck all with yew [thus making me think of that person with tree? splinters stuck all over his clothing]/ oh prepare it, my part of death no one so true did share it". So it kind of felt like in the midst of everything, he tried to grab someone to save him, only to realise that it was himself he was reaching out for.