This is such a great and complex song! I expecially love the title, and how it fits in with the verses.
I think it's about how he once thought at a young age that the world was huge and complex and one day he would experience it all. but in the first verse i think he is saying that the world is a show. "the crowd was small and mostly blind" says that none of the people really know or understand the vast complexities of the world, so they're blind. and they are small compared to everything.
but i think he's realized all this is false, and now that he knows this and experienced everything, he is almost back to where he started. confused still and looking at the world as a mystery. the way he thought when he was young, but in a different way this time. "now you are how you were when you were real".
i also think that the song is about conor. he is saying 'you' but really referring to himself.
dude, you've got it. in the chorus he is definitely referring to himself primarily (but of course his lyrics are always multidimensional). although people are saying this record is a lot more outward looking, I think it's just as inward as any of his other material, only there's less angst there now. but i would speculate that the part about "the crowd was small, and mostly blind" relates to the larger theme on the album of the paradox of a "modern unity". the idea that as mass media and technology continue to expand and saturate our...
dude, you've got it. in the chorus he is definitely referring to himself primarily (but of course his lyrics are always multidimensional). although people are saying this record is a lot more outward looking, I think it's just as inward as any of his other material, only there's less angst there now. but i would speculate that the part about "the crowd was small, and mostly blind" relates to the larger theme on the album of the paradox of a "modern unity". the idea that as mass media and technology continue to expand and saturate our lives, in a sense our ideas as a global culture shrink. we are continually becoming a "smaller" crowd, and being blinded in a sense by what corporate america wants us to see and believe and do. and the part about being kind is obviously a pun because in a lot of ways we seem to be gladly accepting this way of life.
but i think you're right that conor has alas accepted that this is how time and the world are progressing and rather than be consumed by all that is wrong, our best bet is to focus on the positives and the fact that happiness is important and contagious and we need to go back to basics and care for ourselves and others and what we can control.
This is such a great and complex song! I expecially love the title, and how it fits in with the verses.
I think it's about how he once thought at a young age that the world was huge and complex and one day he would experience it all. but in the first verse i think he is saying that the world is a show. "the crowd was small and mostly blind" says that none of the people really know or understand the vast complexities of the world, so they're blind. and they are small compared to everything. but i think he's realized all this is false, and now that he knows this and experienced everything, he is almost back to where he started. confused still and looking at the world as a mystery. the way he thought when he was young, but in a different way this time. "now you are how you were when you were real".
i also think that the song is about conor. he is saying 'you' but really referring to himself.
what do you all think?
ps. soooo excited to see him live!!
dude, you've got it. in the chorus he is definitely referring to himself primarily (but of course his lyrics are always multidimensional). although people are saying this record is a lot more outward looking, I think it's just as inward as any of his other material, only there's less angst there now. but i would speculate that the part about "the crowd was small, and mostly blind" relates to the larger theme on the album of the paradox of a "modern unity". the idea that as mass media and technology continue to expand and saturate our...
dude, you've got it. in the chorus he is definitely referring to himself primarily (but of course his lyrics are always multidimensional). although people are saying this record is a lot more outward looking, I think it's just as inward as any of his other material, only there's less angst there now. but i would speculate that the part about "the crowd was small, and mostly blind" relates to the larger theme on the album of the paradox of a "modern unity". the idea that as mass media and technology continue to expand and saturate our lives, in a sense our ideas as a global culture shrink. we are continually becoming a "smaller" crowd, and being blinded in a sense by what corporate america wants us to see and believe and do. and the part about being kind is obviously a pun because in a lot of ways we seem to be gladly accepting this way of life.
but i think you're right that conor has alas accepted that this is how time and the world are progressing and rather than be consumed by all that is wrong, our best bet is to focus on the positives and the fact that happiness is important and contagious and we need to go back to basics and care for ourselves and others and what we can control.