i agree that it's definitely a poem set to words, the interpretation michael azerrad gave in "our band could be your life" always made the most sense to me, which is basically that clint wrote this while in rehab for his alcoholism, which explains all the sterile hospital imagery as well as the "icy wet white sheets" (withdrawals). as for the "chorus", about being a ball of mica inside a rock, as well as the following "there will be no whistles, no radios" as speaking to the isolated, insular environment and experience he was going through, cut off from the rest of the world.
i agree that it's definitely a poem set to words, the interpretation michael azerrad gave in "our band could be your life" always made the most sense to me, which is basically that clint wrote this while in rehab for his alcoholism, which explains all the sterile hospital imagery as well as the "icy wet white sheets" (withdrawals). as for the "chorus", about being a ball of mica inside a rock, as well as the following "there will be no whistles, no radios" as speaking to the isolated, insular environment and experience he was going through, cut off from the rest of the world.