When I listen to this song, I hear a story about a small-town girl who grew up in the provinces. Since childhood, she either had premonitions of her destiny or literally saw five ghosts, and these visions have hounded her all her life. "Oh, what a beautiful day to try to die / Oh, for one sweet second without the eye" to me refers to her lifelong quest to thwart her own destiny and make a name for herself. It could also refer to a desire to not see these visions and to live normally.
In the second verse, I imagine that she's succeeded to some extent and is now a celebrity of some sort. All the opportunity open to her ("All the rivers of the city like flags of blue unfurled") must give her quite a thrill. Perhaps she lives a bit recklessly just to prove that the visions are wrong, and she can "try to die" on her own terms.
However, she is in an abusive relationship, making her living as a high-class escort, or the subject of one night's brutal attack. The vulnerability she feels the morning after brings back her childhood memories of the five ghosts, and perhaps she wonders if she will truly succeed in escaping her destiny.
For the last verse, I imagine that she has retired to her home province and, with her money, built a large estate on her childhood stomping grounds. From her balcony one late afternoon, she looks out and sees the visions again. By this time, however, she has accepted her destiny ("I don't tell them to move on"). As the sun sets, she goes for a walk under the trees she must have played in during her youth. Her "one and only friend" could literally be someone who has stood by her all these years or a personification of the destiny she's tried so hard to avoid--maybe even death itself, the death that has waited patiently for her all her life.
When I listen to this song, I hear a story about a small-town girl who grew up in the provinces. Since childhood, she either had premonitions of her destiny or literally saw five ghosts, and these visions have hounded her all her life. "Oh, what a beautiful day to try to die / Oh, for one sweet second without the eye" to me refers to her lifelong quest to thwart her own destiny and make a name for herself. It could also refer to a desire to not see these visions and to live normally.
In the second verse, I imagine that she's succeeded to some extent and is now a celebrity of some sort. All the opportunity open to her ("All the rivers of the city like flags of blue unfurled") must give her quite a thrill. Perhaps she lives a bit recklessly just to prove that the visions are wrong, and she can "try to die" on her own terms.
However, she is in an abusive relationship, making her living as a high-class escort, or the subject of one night's brutal attack. The vulnerability she feels the morning after brings back her childhood memories of the five ghosts, and perhaps she wonders if she will truly succeed in escaping her destiny.
For the last verse, I imagine that she has retired to her home province and, with her money, built a large estate on her childhood stomping grounds. From her balcony one late afternoon, she looks out and sees the visions again. By this time, however, she has accepted her destiny ("I don't tell them to move on"). As the sun sets, she goes for a walk under the trees she must have played in during her youth. Her "one and only friend" could literally be someone who has stood by her all these years or a personification of the destiny she's tried so hard to avoid--maybe even death itself, the death that has waited patiently for her all her life.