The song sounds so sad. The whole thing is so downtempo and the song never really moves anywhere, it get's loud and quiet and whatnot but the melody hardly changes.
I believe the song tells the story of someone who is trying to reach a close friend but s/he is swallowed up inside something else, isolated from his or her friends and completely not their self. Whatever this may be is undecided, but it is truly dragging the friend down, causing nothing but misery, apathy etc.
The song's very title gives the image that the person only wishes the best for their friend. And right at the end of the song, the spoken words of a telephone operator simply give the mantra of "please hold the line", implying that the friend is 'currently unavailable' and (no matter how hard the person tries to contact the friend) nothing will get through.
In a similar vein, the song could also tell the story of a person trying to contact their lover who has moved on. Again, the person only wishes the best for the loved one but he or she can never actually reach them.
Personal side note: This second interpretation is currently what I'm going through at the moment, and - for now at least - this song is better than sex & drugs & post-rock'n'roll. I loved her, and I still do, but she doesn't know it and probably never will. I only want happiness for her, I want to say goodbye before she leaves my life... before I leave hers.
But I can never contact her. I always end up waiting, "holding the line"...
The song sounds so sad. The whole thing is so downtempo and the song never really moves anywhere, it get's loud and quiet and whatnot but the melody hardly changes.
I believe the song tells the story of someone who is trying to reach a close friend but s/he is swallowed up inside something else, isolated from his or her friends and completely not their self. Whatever this may be is undecided, but it is truly dragging the friend down, causing nothing but misery, apathy etc.
The song's very title gives the image that the person only wishes the best for their friend. And right at the end of the song, the spoken words of a telephone operator simply give the mantra of "please hold the line", implying that the friend is 'currently unavailable' and (no matter how hard the person tries to contact the friend) nothing will get through.
In a similar vein, the song could also tell the story of a person trying to contact their lover who has moved on. Again, the person only wishes the best for the loved one but he or she can never actually reach them.
Personal side note: This second interpretation is currently what I'm going through at the moment, and - for now at least - this song is better than sex & drugs & post-rock'n'roll. I loved her, and I still do, but she doesn't know it and probably never will. I only want happiness for her, I want to say goodbye before she leaves my life... before I leave hers. But I can never contact her. I always end up waiting, "holding the line"...