The line "All your praying moments amount to just one breath" is a direct biblical reference to the brevity of the life of man in the grand scheme. I love how she follows that with a suprised gasp.
The song is full of these contrasting ideas of extremely long periods of time and brief, flashing moments. It's a metaphor for the conflict between her and the person to whom she is singing. Personally I see a double meaning: the relationship aspect--the long period of time (the relationship) and the short moments (sex). It sounds like she's only happy when she's sleeping with him, if she is at all.
Then there's the religious aspect that they disagree how to spend this brief life of theirs, she wants to just enjoy it and go out like a shooting star, he takes it as an urging to live devoted to his religion and convert people (Doesn't have to be Christianity necessarily). Either way, she thinks his devotion is lunacy and he's blind to her desires, so maybe they both think each other is crazy.
I don't think the song is about Sufjan. He's deeply religious but not in the same way this song seems to describe.
The line "All your praying moments amount to just one breath" is a direct biblical reference to the brevity of the life of man in the grand scheme. I love how she follows that with a suprised gasp. The song is full of these contrasting ideas of extremely long periods of time and brief, flashing moments. It's a metaphor for the conflict between her and the person to whom she is singing. Personally I see a double meaning: the relationship aspect--the long period of time (the relationship) and the short moments (sex). It sounds like she's only happy when she's sleeping with him, if she is at all. Then there's the religious aspect that they disagree how to spend this brief life of theirs, she wants to just enjoy it and go out like a shooting star, he takes it as an urging to live devoted to his religion and convert people (Doesn't have to be Christianity necessarily). Either way, she thinks his devotion is lunacy and he's blind to her desires, so maybe they both think each other is crazy.
I don't think the song is about Sufjan. He's deeply religious but not in the same way this song seems to describe.