Trainer Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Zuken 

Cover art for Trainer lyrics by Pinback

From the start it seems the song is about perception and how different people see things in an entirely different point of view, "Two that look won't see the same thing." "Some will pass and some will stay" to me seems to be a test of critical or analytic thinking. Some people choose to think outside the box and some are fine with not questioning anything around them. "Stick your arm inside the mirror" sounds like dreaming especially with the next line "Crawl back into bed." The "mirror" world of dreams where everything seems real and logical, but is false. This could be said to be a strong metaphor for what life really is. "Who is the hood and who is the victim." In life and the universe, it seems hard to tell who is the good guy and who is really the bad guy. Some people value human life in high regard and treat it like we are somehow "chosen." Other people see human life as just another life form on Earth or even a virus to the Earth. That we are not special in any way, just egotistic/narcissistic. "What is sand? What is the ocean?" If you really get down to the basics, everything is made of what is inside the universe, making it all basically come from the same source. It's all connected to the periodic table. Though from human interaction, they are entirely different. The last lines are foggy to me, other than explaining fear.

My Interpretation