I DEFINITELY don't think this is about a person in an actual coma....
i personally think the "lion in a coma" is some sort of destructive/powerful/aggressive, lion-like force that the singer tries to suppress within himself. the suppression of the "lion" in himself makes him anxious like when a person with ADD tries to sit still: "my nervous tick has capped a lip, my cheeks are chewed down to the bit."
this pent-up aggression, also referred to as "wilderness," is "up in [his] head" and could be released sexually by "taking the wilderness out of [his] clothes and into [his] bedroom."
it almost sounds like a bipolar disorder that the singer is trying to keep under control, as expressed in that WHOLE unsure stanza where the singer sounds like he's fighting with himself and "feels fine" only "sometimes [when] the sun will shine." the entire stanza sounds like fighting with oneself over a possible bipolarity:
"sometimes the sun will shine
yes i am just feelin' fine
sometimes i'm not aware
where I am or what i care
sometimes i'm well-to-do
but I don't know what to do
sometimes i don't agree
with my thoughts on being free"
though bipolar, the singer desperately wants his very unstable good feelings to stay with him ("please don't leave me things that feel good")
the agression in him, the "lion in a coma" wants to be expressed and is fighting to get out and "use his aching bones."
I DEFINITELY don't think this is about a person in an actual coma....
i personally think the "lion in a coma" is some sort of destructive/powerful/aggressive, lion-like force that the singer tries to suppress within himself. the suppression of the "lion" in himself makes him anxious like when a person with ADD tries to sit still: "my nervous tick has capped a lip, my cheeks are chewed down to the bit."
this pent-up aggression, also referred to as "wilderness," is "up in [his] head" and could be released sexually by "taking the wilderness out of [his] clothes and into [his] bedroom." it almost sounds like a bipolar disorder that the singer is trying to keep under control, as expressed in that WHOLE unsure stanza where the singer sounds like he's fighting with himself and "feels fine" only "sometimes [when] the sun will shine." the entire stanza sounds like fighting with oneself over a possible bipolarity: "sometimes the sun will shine yes i am just feelin' fine sometimes i'm not aware where I am or what i care sometimes i'm well-to-do but I don't know what to do sometimes i don't agree with my thoughts on being free" though bipolar, the singer desperately wants his very unstable good feelings to stay with him ("please don't leave me things that feel good") the agression in him, the "lion in a coma" wants to be expressed and is fighting to get out and "use his aching bones."