The last line, by itself, is a wonderful haiku-sized poem. There's a touch of nihilism in it. It tends to reject religion, though not necessarily. What does one do with birth, and freedom? Now, Happy Birthday can mean simply that, joy at being born. But it can also mean all the happy birthdays one will collect over time (because, after all, when one says happy birthday, it's usually on the anniversary of one's birth, not the actual day of birth). So happy birthday simply becomes a method of counting time, of ticking the clock ("this is the time, and this is the record of the time," Laurie will say in another song). Happy birthday is a way of answering "what's next?" after birth.
And then, in an odd way, this parallels the first stanza with it's (pseudo?)marvel at the fact that a group of individuals has gathered at the same time.
We are all brought here "in medias res," in the middle of things. As Peter Blegvad sings, "stories all start once upon a meantime ... in the meantime life goes on, ticking like a mean time bomb."
The last line, by itself, is a wonderful haiku-sized poem. There's a touch of nihilism in it. It tends to reject religion, though not necessarily. What does one do with birth, and freedom? Now, Happy Birthday can mean simply that, joy at being born. But it can also mean all the happy birthdays one will collect over time (because, after all, when one says happy birthday, it's usually on the anniversary of one's birth, not the actual day of birth). So happy birthday simply becomes a method of counting time, of ticking the clock ("this is the time, and this is the record of the time," Laurie will say in another song). Happy birthday is a way of answering "what's next?" after birth. And then, in an odd way, this parallels the first stanza with it's (pseudo?)marvel at the fact that a group of individuals has gathered at the same time. We are all brought here "in medias res," in the middle of things. As Peter Blegvad sings, "stories all start once upon a meantime ... in the meantime life goes on, ticking like a mean time bomb."