I think this song, on the surface, tells a very uncomplicated tale. A girl is a total spaceshot in class, stares out the window and gets caught, perhaps gets in trouble, eventually gets sexually abused by her teacher, and when she attempts to stop him, he loses his temper and throws her out the window.
However, I personally think this little tale is symbolic for the bullshit educational system in place (depending, of course, on which state you're living in). "Went to school with boring teachers who thought they was all my preachers," the character has higher expectations of her teachers than they are delivering: Not only are they boring her, they are feeding her a load of preach-y crap, and she sees right through them. She finds her time better spent staring out the window, which, of course, no teacher likes in a student.
The window is a symbol for the possible ejection from societal norms as built by the educational system i.e. the need to sit in rows and fill in the correct little bubble, instead of fueling creativity freethought the way schools ought to, making everyone settle for uninteresting lives because that is all they have ever known. Out the window is the opportunity for something more exciting, more beautiful, but it's a reversal what the society expects of you, so if you get caught staring at it you get in trouble. Make sense? That's the point of the first couple of verses: "I went flyin' out of my window / I went flyin' out of my window / been caught doin' it once or twice / but it feels so real nice / oh it feels so real nice / saw the earth and I saw the sky / saw the earth and I saw the sky / been caught doin' it once or twigh / but it feels so real nigh / oh it feels so real nigh / oh it feels so real nigh." Why would she go flying out of her own window? Well, she isn't literally, but she is in a metaphoric sense. She's rejecting the lifestyle enforced upon her, is what it really means. And by rejecting it, she comes to a stronger understanding of the world that others miss out on by simply accepting the status quo. Hence, "I saw the earth and I saw the sky."
As for the sexually abusive teacher, Regina is taking the metaphor to a new level of intensity: now, not only are her educators boring her and preaching, they are behaving in a DESTRUCTIVE manner towards her. In a sense, what is truly being abused is her approach to her life, her desire to break free from the society as described above. Well, the society can only try to shape you into what it wants so much before it finally gives up and rejects you altogether; that would be the narrator of the song being thrown out the window by her teacher.
Regina sees the rigid societal expectations of its students as a great atrocity (and accordingly uses an atrocity as a metaphor), and wishes that the perpetrators of perpetuating this style of schooling could be held accountable. But alas! They cannot, and continue to "abuse" the minds of students with a poor or even falsely-based education-- "not caught once, not caught twice."
The remainder of the song is a cheerful, "And I've been flying ever since, I've been flying in the skies." Now liberated at last from the invisible chains of the school system, the narrator is able to figuratively spread her wings and fly, having the space and freedom to fulfill her true potential, becoming a part of the skies she mentioned earlier in the song that was symbolic for understanding the truth and beauty of life.
One can cut the meaning short from here if they choose, because that is certainly on very complete interpretation. OR you can take it a step further and reveal the potential dark side to be found here. At the very end of the song, there is a THUD, possibly showing that the narrator was in fact falling the entire time, probably to her death. Now, on a symbolic level, that can mean that she failed once she was ejected from the society, but I personally have a slightly more optimistic view: She knew she was falling to her death but joyously reveled the sensation of flying, deciding that this death was more exciting and potent than an entire lifetime in the stiff and bland world she has finally just escaped.
Well, that's all a bit of a stretch. But that's how I like to think of it anyway, especially since Regina Spektor is very big on symbolism in her songs.
PS- I TOTALLY agree with ChristyPan and ChristyPan's sister.
I think this song, on the surface, tells a very uncomplicated tale. A girl is a total spaceshot in class, stares out the window and gets caught, perhaps gets in trouble, eventually gets sexually abused by her teacher, and when she attempts to stop him, he loses his temper and throws her out the window.
However, I personally think this little tale is symbolic for the bullshit educational system in place (depending, of course, on which state you're living in). "Went to school with boring teachers who thought they was all my preachers," the character has higher expectations of her teachers than they are delivering: Not only are they boring her, they are feeding her a load of preach-y crap, and she sees right through them. She finds her time better spent staring out the window, which, of course, no teacher likes in a student.
The window is a symbol for the possible ejection from societal norms as built by the educational system i.e. the need to sit in rows and fill in the correct little bubble, instead of fueling creativity freethought the way schools ought to, making everyone settle for uninteresting lives because that is all they have ever known. Out the window is the opportunity for something more exciting, more beautiful, but it's a reversal what the society expects of you, so if you get caught staring at it you get in trouble. Make sense? That's the point of the first couple of verses: "I went flyin' out of my window / I went flyin' out of my window / been caught doin' it once or twice / but it feels so real nice / oh it feels so real nice / saw the earth and I saw the sky / saw the earth and I saw the sky / been caught doin' it once or twigh / but it feels so real nigh / oh it feels so real nigh / oh it feels so real nigh." Why would she go flying out of her own window? Well, she isn't literally, but she is in a metaphoric sense. She's rejecting the lifestyle enforced upon her, is what it really means. And by rejecting it, she comes to a stronger understanding of the world that others miss out on by simply accepting the status quo. Hence, "I saw the earth and I saw the sky."
As for the sexually abusive teacher, Regina is taking the metaphor to a new level of intensity: now, not only are her educators boring her and preaching, they are behaving in a DESTRUCTIVE manner towards her. In a sense, what is truly being abused is her approach to her life, her desire to break free from the society as described above. Well, the society can only try to shape you into what it wants so much before it finally gives up and rejects you altogether; that would be the narrator of the song being thrown out the window by her teacher.
Regina sees the rigid societal expectations of its students as a great atrocity (and accordingly uses an atrocity as a metaphor), and wishes that the perpetrators of perpetuating this style of schooling could be held accountable. But alas! They cannot, and continue to "abuse" the minds of students with a poor or even falsely-based education-- "not caught once, not caught twice."
The remainder of the song is a cheerful, "And I've been flying ever since, I've been flying in the skies." Now liberated at last from the invisible chains of the school system, the narrator is able to figuratively spread her wings and fly, having the space and freedom to fulfill her true potential, becoming a part of the skies she mentioned earlier in the song that was symbolic for understanding the truth and beauty of life.
One can cut the meaning short from here if they choose, because that is certainly on very complete interpretation. OR you can take it a step further and reveal the potential dark side to be found here. At the very end of the song, there is a THUD, possibly showing that the narrator was in fact falling the entire time, probably to her death. Now, on a symbolic level, that can mean that she failed once she was ejected from the society, but I personally have a slightly more optimistic view: She knew she was falling to her death but joyously reveled the sensation of flying, deciding that this death was more exciting and potent than an entire lifetime in the stiff and bland world she has finally just escaped.
Well, that's all a bit of a stretch. But that's how I like to think of it anyway, especially since Regina Spektor is very big on symbolism in her songs.
PS- I TOTALLY agree with ChristyPan and ChristyPan's sister.