I love this site! Everyone has got a different take.
I take this song more literally than most interpretations here.
I hear it mocking survivalists.
I think when the survivalist friend touches the candle, when it looks like a climate catastrophe is coming, the friend is reassuring himself he'll be okay b/c he won't need electric lighting.
I believe this behavior, like so many BR mocks, is such a pitiful attempt at survival that it disgusts the singer, who has long ago put aside weak gestures like saving candles for doomsday and has ambivalently accepted the presence of electricity in his home. I think the "wreck of beams and trusses" is a not-so-hyperbolic way of describing a skyscraper. The "million tiny suns" refers to the millions and zillions of light bulbs we now use everyday to light up everything.
I believe the "miniscule duration" is a reference to the relatively small interval of human history in which fossil fuels will be available to power electric lights.
One really has to respect how well the lyrics and the music work together in most BR songs, and this one is a prime example!
I agree. The literal meaning has always struck me because of the visual it paints. 100% agree that a skyscraper is being described and also the reference to Roman candle, and a beacon in the night, both burn wildly and no matter how fantastic eventually fizzle out, like the Roman Empire or the "Million white blinding lights" could be a racial drop on Caucasians but more likely talking about how even stars will dwarf.
I agree. The literal meaning has always struck me because of the visual it paints. 100% agree that a skyscraper is being described and also the reference to Roman candle, and a beacon in the night, both burn wildly and no matter how fantastic eventually fizzle out, like the Roman Empire or the "Million white blinding lights" could be a racial drop on Caucasians but more likely talking about how even stars will dwarf.
I love this site! Everyone has got a different take.
I take this song more literally than most interpretations here.
I hear it mocking survivalists.
I think when the survivalist friend touches the candle, when it looks like a climate catastrophe is coming, the friend is reassuring himself he'll be okay b/c he won't need electric lighting.
I believe this behavior, like so many BR mocks, is such a pitiful attempt at survival that it disgusts the singer, who has long ago put aside weak gestures like saving candles for doomsday and has ambivalently accepted the presence of electricity in his home. I think the "wreck of beams and trusses" is a not-so-hyperbolic way of describing a skyscraper. The "million tiny suns" refers to the millions and zillions of light bulbs we now use everyday to light up everything.
I believe the "miniscule duration" is a reference to the relatively small interval of human history in which fossil fuels will be available to power electric lights.
One really has to respect how well the lyrics and the music work together in most BR songs, and this one is a prime example!
I agree. The literal meaning has always struck me because of the visual it paints. 100% agree that a skyscraper is being described and also the reference to Roman candle, and a beacon in the night, both burn wildly and no matter how fantastic eventually fizzle out, like the Roman Empire or the "Million white blinding lights" could be a racial drop on Caucasians but more likely talking about how even stars will dwarf.
I agree. The literal meaning has always struck me because of the visual it paints. 100% agree that a skyscraper is being described and also the reference to Roman candle, and a beacon in the night, both burn wildly and no matter how fantastic eventually fizzle out, like the Roman Empire or the "Million white blinding lights" could be a racial drop on Caucasians but more likely talking about how even stars will dwarf.