Turn on the Light Lyrics

Lyric discussion by LifeFadingAway 

Cover art for Turn on the Light lyrics by Bad Religion

I think this whole song is about hope.

i had a friend who kept a candle in his pocket he used to touch it when the wind was blowing high i guess it made him feel like he could buck the system and when it flickered out we laid him down to die

There was a man who had some hope and always counted on it when things were going bad. Having this hope, he felt like he could do anything, but he lost it and there was nothing left of him.

turn on the light turn on a million blinding brilliant white incendiary lights a beacon in the night i'll burn relentlessly until my juice runs dry

Turn on the light, give some meaning to your life, give yourself something to believe in. Something that, even in the darkest times, will guide you. Believe in it until you can't anymore.

i'll construct a rack of tempered beams and trusses and equip it with a million tiny suns i'll install upon the room of my compartment and place tinfoil on my floor and on my walls

Tinfoil is known for reflecting. Here he's saying that he will have his whole life full of hope, something good, some kind of meaning.

and i'll burn like a roman fucking candle burn like a chasm in the night burn for a miniscule duration ecstatic immolation incorrigible delight

But there is false hope. And here it says it, he will follow this hope but will destroy himself with it.

I don't know if I agree with the smoking idea although there are some verses that strongly suggest it. What throws this theory off though is the;

i'll construct a rack of tempered beams and trusses and equip it with a million tiny suns i'll install upon the room of my compartment and place tinfoil on my floor and on my walls.

I can't think of anything to support the smoking idea with these lines. He's gonna make a million cigarette smoking machine? hehe.

I think that LifeFadingAway is somewhat right. I don't know about hope but I think of...