While it may be, in some ways, literal, the way it's written up gives it a deeper meaning. This is a song about mortality. Coffins are a symbol of death, and this boy builds them for everyone. Kings and beggars both come to him because, in the end, no one escapes death. Everyone is mortal; the lines about how the boy has built one for him, the singer, and will build one for the listener supports this. The coffins aren't built for work or play because both work and play are, to some extent, optional. The coffins are a necessity; he HAS to build them because death doesn't stop. Every coffin is unique because every life is unique, but in the end everyone ends up dead and buried, and, just like it's a shame to through these carefully made coffins into the ground, it's a shame to see every unique life end and be buried.
This is the most spot on explanation I have read. Everyone else is either taking it too literally or far too abstractly. I feel that this is quite obviously the meaning of the song, whether or not the original idea came from a boyfriend. Basically it's about the impermanence of our existence.
This is the most spot on explanation I have read. Everyone else is either taking it too literally or far too abstractly. I feel that this is quite obviously the meaning of the song, whether or not the original idea came from a boyfriend. Basically it's about the impermanence of our existence.
@Vespertine Finally! Someone else gets the distinction between the song being inspired by the incident and the song being about the incident. I won't dispute that the song is inspired by the incident with her boyfriend, but people are butchering the song by saying it's only about that one incident in her past. It's not a literal, historical account; that incident is simply the inspiration that led to a much deeper song. I'm just glad that someone else can actually interpret a song and not let a simple story get in the way.
@Vespertine Finally! Someone else gets the distinction between the song being inspired by the incident and the song being about the incident. I won't dispute that the song is inspired by the incident with her boyfriend, but people are butchering the song by saying it's only about that one incident in her past. It's not a literal, historical account; that incident is simply the inspiration that led to a much deeper song. I'm just glad that someone else can actually interpret a song and not let a simple story get in the way.
While it may be, in some ways, literal, the way it's written up gives it a deeper meaning. This is a song about mortality. Coffins are a symbol of death, and this boy builds them for everyone. Kings and beggars both come to him because, in the end, no one escapes death. Everyone is mortal; the lines about how the boy has built one for him, the singer, and will build one for the listener supports this. The coffins aren't built for work or play because both work and play are, to some extent, optional. The coffins are a necessity; he HAS to build them because death doesn't stop. Every coffin is unique because every life is unique, but in the end everyone ends up dead and buried, and, just like it's a shame to through these carefully made coffins into the ground, it's a shame to see every unique life end and be buried.
Agreed. the boy exemplifies death in some ways.
Agreed. the boy exemplifies death in some ways.
This is the most spot on explanation I have read. Everyone else is either taking it too literally or far too abstractly. I feel that this is quite obviously the meaning of the song, whether or not the original idea came from a boyfriend. Basically it's about the impermanence of our existence.
This is the most spot on explanation I have read. Everyone else is either taking it too literally or far too abstractly. I feel that this is quite obviously the meaning of the song, whether or not the original idea came from a boyfriend. Basically it's about the impermanence of our existence.
This was the interpretation I had aswell.
This was the interpretation I had aswell.
@Vespertine Finally! Someone else gets the distinction between the song being inspired by the incident and the song being about the incident. I won't dispute that the song is inspired by the incident with her boyfriend, but people are butchering the song by saying it's only about that one incident in her past. It's not a literal, historical account; that incident is simply the inspiration that led to a much deeper song. I'm just glad that someone else can actually interpret a song and not let a simple story get in the way.
@Vespertine Finally! Someone else gets the distinction between the song being inspired by the incident and the song being about the incident. I won't dispute that the song is inspired by the incident with her boyfriend, but people are butchering the song by saying it's only about that one incident in her past. It's not a literal, historical account; that incident is simply the inspiration that led to a much deeper song. I'm just glad that someone else can actually interpret a song and not let a simple story get in the way.