The Universe Is Going to Catch You

I think this song is about tripping on acid. I did acid when I was eighteen, and while I was high I felt like I understood everything, and I comprehended a vast amount of knowledge and, let me tell you, I slept in the crooked arms of justice and I felt safe. I thought the universe would catch me. That I was on some different level now, that suddenly the rules of Karma I'd always wanted to be real would finally catch up with me and prove themselves.

"It's been a long time coming It's not up for debate You've been a hollowed-out apple Though you're standing up straight"

The person mentioned is probably a normal person, maybe someone who doesn't break many rules or who keeps in line most of the time. His friends convince him he's a "hollowed-out apple" and needs to experience LSD to jumpstart his soul or become a little more interesting or something.

It's later than you think And we're not going to wait If you continue to tell us If you continue to tell us "The universe is going to catch you"

The first line alludes to the fact that the tripping has begun. When I dropped acid, my time perception was completely messed up for a good eight or nine hours. Which can be a little exhausting, by the way.

I think the rest is just conversation during the trip, but I'm not sure. Meh.

Well, it was fine until you fell off Of the face of the Earth Because we would call you at home And no one picked up the phone But we were worried that you'd fallen In the river, or worse But then you sent us back a letter It said in capital letters "THE UNIVERSE IS GOING TO CATCH YOU"

This person is completely caught up in their trip. He is really into it and trying to explain it to his friends, who I assume are more drug-experienced and don't take him seriously. I think he's starting to worry them with his insistence and fervor.

Come back inside To this house To your home Made of steel-structured styrofoam

As opposed to the chemical-induced "home" he's found.

Nobody's out there But someone is singing you Back to your birthplace That voice is the same voice You heard on the same night that Everything glowed

In my opinion it's alluding to another trip now, because obviously this guy was convinced the truth can only be exposed while he's in an altered state. The "same voice" is the acid. It does talk to you in certain ways, and now he's dropped again--

Took you into the air And the arms of the universe Kept you from falling

The trip was going as well as last time.

But after that happened Those arms did not come back So when you leapt up And nobody caught you Your neck broke

I mean, this could be a literal translation, and the guy could have accidentally died while tripping, being so sure that nothing bad could happen to him. Maybe he leapt from a building thinking he couldn't die. Or it could be metaphorically, like when he stopped tripping he realized that it was all a fantasy, it wasn't real, and his sense of comfort was a lie. And he couldn't cope with that.

That's what it sounds like to me, anyway.