Yeah, I heard that before (Stipe breaking up the couple), and since then the song's meaning has become somewhat more clear, but not by much. I think Stipe was simply using this as the basis for the song, and the song's imagery itself stems from the original idea in a stream-of-conscious sort of way. The "swallowing the ocean" part and the title were dead giveaways that this song is Stipe connecting the story of the Five Chinese Brothers to his situation, for whatever reason. I agree with the idea of him representing the selfish boy in this analogy. It would make the most sense. As for "South Central Rain" being about the same thing, I don't recall reading that in the interview, and I have a very different interpretation of that song's lyrics. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty positive that one has a completely different meaning. I can't see how the lyrics would make much sense with that interpretation at all.
Yeah, I heard that before (Stipe breaking up the couple), and since then the song's meaning has become somewhat more clear, but not by much. I think Stipe was simply using this as the basis for the song, and the song's imagery itself stems from the original idea in a stream-of-conscious sort of way. The "swallowing the ocean" part and the title were dead giveaways that this song is Stipe connecting the story of the Five Chinese Brothers to his situation, for whatever reason. I agree with the idea of him representing the selfish boy in this analogy. It would make the most sense. As for "South Central Rain" being about the same thing, I don't recall reading that in the interview, and I have a very different interpretation of that song's lyrics. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty positive that one has a completely different meaning. I can't see how the lyrics would make much sense with that interpretation at all.