Alive (Nightmare) (feat. Ratatat) Lyrics

Lyric discussion by jtc90 

Cover art for Alive (Nightmare) (feat. Ratatat) lyrics by Kid Cudi

I feel that this song is a reference to the state of mind that the protagonist of the album finds while on a psychedelic trip and how the trip is guiding him to a better understanding of his love for the girl he is tripping with and a better understanding of the problems he is facing in the relationship and his life. The first part is a description of the onset of the trip. He begins to feel the onset of the effects and becomes aware of the psychological confusion in his mind. The current state of mind he is in seems inescapable and very strange. He then notices the common somatic effect of mushrooms which is the change in body temperature, then the rock speaking to him represents his first hallucinations and he realizes something is very different and the shift into a higher consciousness is occurring very rapidly. He feels more energy and heightened senses, his vision sharpens and begins his journey. He becomes optimistic about his search for love with this girl and he is hopeful that it is not too late for this love to become truly possible. The next part talks about his religious beliefs and how the light he is searching for represents heaven and the girl he's with finds the light and also calls it heaven. They share a profound spiritual and religious discovery together. He then talks about how he hopes the girl will look past his the "beast" in him which is causing problems in their relationship. He hopes that she will help him conquer his personality traits that stress the relationship and save his heart and soul from being consumed by this "curse". The last part is what he feels coming out of his trip. The Moonlight, which represents the psychedelic state, showed him the light and even after the trip is over he still can see this light. He then can focus on the light and ignore the evil which was the root of the problems he was facing. His experience made him more connected with himself and he now approaches life with a new perspective in which he follows what his heart and intuition tells him. The trip had the same effect on the girl and he tells her that she should recognize the changes it brought upon her as well as him. He tells her that whatever her future holds, whether it be in love with him or someone else he will respect her. He understands now that fighting with her is no longer necessary because he has accepted that fate will take its own course. He realizes that all the things that trouble and could possibly trouble the relationship will just be and he accepts that. Thats my take on it, the song and the album represent a story of a man on a journey through life and this part is him describing the little story that took place inside his head during his psychedelic experience with his girlfriend with the wolf symbolizing his third person observation of himself after ego death.

My Interpretation