I don't think the lyrics are that obvious, this song is so much more intricate. If you watch the video on YouTube, you can find some hidden meaning, which may reveal the lyricist’s message.
I’m not sure if I have it correct, but here’s my attempt:
I find it interesting she is singing about another person, comparing herself to this other person. I believe she is singing in the voice of another person who has a form of psychosis, dementia, illusion conceptions, schizophrenia or Alzheimer.
From the beginning, she refers to this other person who is inexplicitly alone (we could go on for days about the meaning of the word alone). She then furthers to notice the “person” as being of the same high (mindset, way of thinking, attitude) and same eyes (again mindset, outlook, vision). This is clearly a clue she is talking about an extension of herself.
She then says, “but you can’t borrow my clothes all the time”, as in overwhelmed and fighting the presence of this “person” in her life or mind. It is at this point, in the video, a marquee flashes the words, “Half Houses Normally”. Which I believe takes on the meaning of a hospital for the mentally impaired. Right after the marquee, the video transitions to a figurine of two lambs (normal self and sick self). Lambs are a symbol for suffering, meekness, sacrifice and purity.
All the while, the haunting music in the background has a deliberate confusion to it, including a repetitive telephone beep, symbolizing disconnection from society. In the video, she is playing bingo, a game that offers her the security of mental focus within her world dominated by randomness and confusion. Because she is in a room full of geriatric individuals, this may reveal she is possibly singing about someone she “once” knew who suffered from schizophrenia, dementia, etc.
The chorus, “bad things, dead things, sad things have to happen sometimes”, means death. This is why I believe the person she is singing about is no longer living.
While watching the video, we are then taken to her visiting a buffet line and being served boiled peas. There is an ancient association of beans, legumes and particularly peas with death and the dead. In Europe, often beans and peas are served at funeral dinners.
Her next lyrics take us to, “I let the snow, melt in my mouth. Until my head hurts, until I’m out”. I would translate this to her holding onto her memories of the deceased and being consumed in her nostalgia of happy and sad memories.
In the video we are taken to a moment where she believes to have won the bingo game, high notes of a guitar rift sequence ensue, flashbacks of her happiest moments of childhood occur, then we discover she missed a spot and ultimately did not win the game … Maybe this is possible symbolism to psychosis, where the patient often has a temporary relapse of “normal” moments, only to regress, thus creating “bad”, “sad” and “confusion” within the “half houses normally” she sings about??
I don't think the lyrics are that obvious, this song is so much more intricate. If you watch the video on YouTube, you can find some hidden meaning, which may reveal the lyricist’s message.
I’m not sure if I have it correct, but here’s my attempt:
I find it interesting she is singing about another person, comparing herself to this other person. I believe she is singing in the voice of another person who has a form of psychosis, dementia, illusion conceptions, schizophrenia or Alzheimer.
From the beginning, she refers to this other person who is inexplicitly alone (we could go on for days about the meaning of the word alone). She then furthers to notice the “person” as being of the same high (mindset, way of thinking, attitude) and same eyes (again mindset, outlook, vision). This is clearly a clue she is talking about an extension of herself.
She then says, “but you can’t borrow my clothes all the time”, as in overwhelmed and fighting the presence of this “person” in her life or mind. It is at this point, in the video, a marquee flashes the words, “Half Houses Normally”. Which I believe takes on the meaning of a hospital for the mentally impaired. Right after the marquee, the video transitions to a figurine of two lambs (normal self and sick self). Lambs are a symbol for suffering, meekness, sacrifice and purity.
All the while, the haunting music in the background has a deliberate confusion to it, including a repetitive telephone beep, symbolizing disconnection from society. In the video, she is playing bingo, a game that offers her the security of mental focus within her world dominated by randomness and confusion. Because she is in a room full of geriatric individuals, this may reveal she is possibly singing about someone she “once” knew who suffered from schizophrenia, dementia, etc.
The chorus, “bad things, dead things, sad things have to happen sometimes”, means death. This is why I believe the person she is singing about is no longer living.
While watching the video, we are then taken to her visiting a buffet line and being served boiled peas. There is an ancient association of beans, legumes and particularly peas with death and the dead. In Europe, often beans and peas are served at funeral dinners.
Her next lyrics take us to, “I let the snow, melt in my mouth. Until my head hurts, until I’m out”. I would translate this to her holding onto her memories of the deceased and being consumed in her nostalgia of happy and sad memories.
In the video we are taken to a moment where she believes to have won the bingo game, high notes of a guitar rift sequence ensue, flashbacks of her happiest moments of childhood occur, then we discover she missed a spot and ultimately did not win the game … Maybe this is possible symbolism to psychosis, where the patient often has a temporary relapse of “normal” moments, only to regress, thus creating “bad”, “sad” and “confusion” within the “half houses normally” she sings about??