I think I've got it, and I can't believe I'm the first to make the connection between the name of the song and the lyrics. Synesthesia is basically people giving meanings or having emotional attatchments to numbers. Here, Steve refers to the statistics of deaths during a war, how soldiers are listed as a number, and they become a meaningless statistic with no resonance. So the message in the song is that the death of a soldier is not just a number, that the number means something - hence the title "Synesthesia". It reminds me of the saying "One person dies, it's a tragedy. Ten people die, it's a statistic." The song is a brilliantly unique play on meanings, like a lot of Steven's older songs.
Synesthesia is connecting two senses together. for example, smelling numbers, feeling letters, tasting colors. The title is really applying to "What you are listening to..." because the "Mind altering chemical" mentioned is called Synesthesia.
Synesthesia is connecting two senses together. for example, smelling numbers, feeling letters, tasting colors. The title is really applying to "What you are listening to..." because the "Mind altering chemical" mentioned is called Synesthesia.
The song is about a soilder in war writing a letter home to tell his loved ones he knows he's going to die. He gets shot in the back, ("my back is full of lead") they put him on the stretcher. The line "they're lying to my face" part applies to what paramedics say to the person on the stretcher. things like...
The song is about a soilder in war writing a letter home to tell his loved ones he knows he's going to die. He gets shot in the back, ("my back is full of lead") they put him on the stretcher. The line "they're lying to my face" part applies to what paramedics say to the person on the stretcher. things like "You're gonna make it" and such. He knows he's going to die, so they're just lying to him.
I think I've got it, and I can't believe I'm the first to make the connection between the name of the song and the lyrics. Synesthesia is basically people giving meanings or having emotional attatchments to numbers. Here, Steve refers to the statistics of deaths during a war, how soldiers are listed as a number, and they become a meaningless statistic with no resonance. So the message in the song is that the death of a soldier is not just a number, that the number means something - hence the title "Synesthesia". It reminds me of the saying "One person dies, it's a tragedy. Ten people die, it's a statistic." The song is a brilliantly unique play on meanings, like a lot of Steven's older songs.
Synesthesia is connecting two senses together. for example, smelling numbers, feeling letters, tasting colors. The title is really applying to "What you are listening to..." because the "Mind altering chemical" mentioned is called Synesthesia.
Synesthesia is connecting two senses together. for example, smelling numbers, feeling letters, tasting colors. The title is really applying to "What you are listening to..." because the "Mind altering chemical" mentioned is called Synesthesia.
The song is about a soilder in war writing a letter home to tell his loved ones he knows he's going to die. He gets shot in the back, ("my back is full of lead") they put him on the stretcher. The line "they're lying to my face" part applies to what paramedics say to the person on the stretcher. things like...
The song is about a soilder in war writing a letter home to tell his loved ones he knows he's going to die. He gets shot in the back, ("my back is full of lead") they put him on the stretcher. The line "they're lying to my face" part applies to what paramedics say to the person on the stretcher. things like "You're gonna make it" and such. He knows he's going to die, so they're just lying to him.