All the meanings I have read seem very realistic, but also very simplistic, i.e. 'Learning to walk again' would not have to literally mean 'going back on the road when on tour'. To me, this song has a deeper meaning, not sure if you'll agree or not.
The best place for me to start explaining what this song means to me is in the chorus line 'learning to walk again'. When I first heard this, to me it sounded like a cry for the world over to start again, after we've successfully screwed it up with talks of depression, war, paranoia etc. This song could have a deep meaning as a cry for the world to go back to the way it was.
The opening line 'a million miles away, your signal in the distance, "To whom it may concern"' to me is the way the world used to be, trying to send a signal trying to get the world out of this mess, hoping someone will hear it. The next line 'I think I lost my way, getting good at starting over, every time that I return' then also makes sense if you think of him talking from "a person who's lost hope"'s perspective, who manages to hear the signal.
The "paper mountains" reference here could show how we built such a great world from nothing, then destroyed it, i.e. "sat and watched them burn". In the next line "I think I found my place", this "person who's lost hope" is deciding where his loyalties in this world lie, and the line after "can't you feel it growing stronger, little conquerors" is him asking the powers that be, i.e. the "little conquerors", if they can feel that the world is fighting back against them, getting stronger every day.
Those are a few examples to back up my interpretation. Remember, it's only my opinion on its meaning, you don't have to agree, just another way of looking at it!
@cricketfreak It's nice to see someone got it a decade ago, I just heard it in the song a few weeks past.
@cricketfreak It's nice to see someone got it a decade ago, I just heard it in the song a few weeks past.
My mind was blown when I heard the paper mountains burning part. He's singing about babylon and its many iterations, every senseless, heartless pointless empire in the history of humanity that was built on a paper mountain, or the vacuous commandments of men that bring in no effect or power into reality.
Everytime that he returns, imo is the Christ-like figure, that comes and unbinds the oppressed. The enlightened one that can see further. He's struggling to begin since...
My mind was blown when I heard the paper mountains burning part. He's singing about babylon and its many iterations, every senseless, heartless pointless empire in the history of humanity that was built on a paper mountain, or the vacuous commandments of men that bring in no effect or power into reality.
Everytime that he returns, imo is the Christ-like figure, that comes and unbinds the oppressed. The enlightened one that can see further. He's struggling to begin since every iteration of salvation is different.
Totally agree on your take of the little conquerors, he's talking about the tyrants, the short minded, tha forceful mindsets that deny any inherent beauty in nature and ascribe their own empty meaning to make life worth the same as a bunch of ink and paper.
Hi all.
All the meanings I have read seem very realistic, but also very simplistic, i.e. 'Learning to walk again' would not have to literally mean 'going back on the road when on tour'. To me, this song has a deeper meaning, not sure if you'll agree or not.
The best place for me to start explaining what this song means to me is in the chorus line 'learning to walk again'. When I first heard this, to me it sounded like a cry for the world over to start again, after we've successfully screwed it up with talks of depression, war, paranoia etc. This song could have a deep meaning as a cry for the world to go back to the way it was.
The opening line 'a million miles away, your signal in the distance, "To whom it may concern"' to me is the way the world used to be, trying to send a signal trying to get the world out of this mess, hoping someone will hear it. The next line 'I think I lost my way, getting good at starting over, every time that I return' then also makes sense if you think of him talking from "a person who's lost hope"'s perspective, who manages to hear the signal.
The "paper mountains" reference here could show how we built such a great world from nothing, then destroyed it, i.e. "sat and watched them burn". In the next line "I think I found my place", this "person who's lost hope" is deciding where his loyalties in this world lie, and the line after "can't you feel it growing stronger, little conquerors" is him asking the powers that be, i.e. the "little conquerors", if they can feel that the world is fighting back against them, getting stronger every day.
Those are a few examples to back up my interpretation. Remember, it's only my opinion on its meaning, you don't have to agree, just another way of looking at it!
@cricketfreak It's nice to see someone got it a decade ago, I just heard it in the song a few weeks past.
@cricketfreak It's nice to see someone got it a decade ago, I just heard it in the song a few weeks past.
My mind was blown when I heard the paper mountains burning part. He's singing about babylon and its many iterations, every senseless, heartless pointless empire in the history of humanity that was built on a paper mountain, or the vacuous commandments of men that bring in no effect or power into reality. Everytime that he returns, imo is the Christ-like figure, that comes and unbinds the oppressed. The enlightened one that can see further. He's struggling to begin since...
My mind was blown when I heard the paper mountains burning part. He's singing about babylon and its many iterations, every senseless, heartless pointless empire in the history of humanity that was built on a paper mountain, or the vacuous commandments of men that bring in no effect or power into reality. Everytime that he returns, imo is the Christ-like figure, that comes and unbinds the oppressed. The enlightened one that can see further. He's struggling to begin since every iteration of salvation is different. Totally agree on your take of the little conquerors, he's talking about the tyrants, the short minded, tha forceful mindsets that deny any inherent beauty in nature and ascribe their own empty meaning to make life worth the same as a bunch of ink and paper.