The thing I like about art is that it means something different to everyone. My interpretation is that this song is about an essential choice someone must make.
There are two points that reinforce the theme of a choice. First, the actual title of the song "paint OR pollen." A pollen paint job is actually a slang term defined by urban dictionary as "When it is spring and you are too lazy to wash your car and you car gets a yellow film on it and it stays" It seems odd then that the word OR would be inserted unless it was important. The second reinforcement is the two closing lines: "to choose to choose" (Blind Pilot)
I agree with a lot of what only1laugh said from her discussion of the lines through clot in your garden to wood in your brush. (her/his?) comments are well worth the read.
To be entirely honest, I believe all of the lyrics could address a potential relationship between the narrator and a significant other. The person he is addressing has to choose whether to pursue this romance despite past heartbreaks, this person can no longer ignore the situation. (I interpreted this from the metaphor BP makes about a struggling sailboat and from the metaphor of the tide carrying in things the addressed must chose to keep or discard).
The narrator promises that he will be there to support the person he is addressing. In the line "I am your cloth" (BP) He is saying, that if you want to be free (clean) once more and try something with me, I can be the TOOL with which you wash the pollen paint job off. Paint is a fresh start or to keep this pollen film. Ultimately this is your decision. I don't want you to jump into something you aren't committed to or at least until you're absolutely sure of what you want. "Don't move an inch, don't move a single second, until the shade behind your thoughts is not confused."
Though I chose to apply it to an intimate situation between lovers, it could just as easily be a non-romantic addressing. Or about another decision entirely. If you think so, or disagree, I'd like to hear your thoughts too.
The thing I like about art is that it means something different to everyone. My interpretation is that this song is about an essential choice someone must make.
There are two points that reinforce the theme of a choice. First, the actual title of the song "paint OR pollen." A pollen paint job is actually a slang term defined by urban dictionary as "When it is spring and you are too lazy to wash your car and you car gets a yellow film on it and it stays" It seems odd then that the word OR would be inserted unless it was important. The second reinforcement is the two closing lines: "to choose to choose" (Blind Pilot)
I agree with a lot of what only1laugh said from her discussion of the lines through clot in your garden to wood in your brush. (her/his?) comments are well worth the read.
To be entirely honest, I believe all of the lyrics could address a potential relationship between the narrator and a significant other. The person he is addressing has to choose whether to pursue this romance despite past heartbreaks, this person can no longer ignore the situation. (I interpreted this from the metaphor BP makes about a struggling sailboat and from the metaphor of the tide carrying in things the addressed must chose to keep or discard).
The narrator promises that he will be there to support the person he is addressing. In the line "I am your cloth" (BP) He is saying, that if you want to be free (clean) once more and try something with me, I can be the TOOL with which you wash the pollen paint job off. Paint is a fresh start or to keep this pollen film. Ultimately this is your decision. I don't want you to jump into something you aren't committed to or at least until you're absolutely sure of what you want. "Don't move an inch, don't move a single second, until the shade behind your thoughts is not confused."
Though I chose to apply it to an intimate situation between lovers, it could just as easily be a non-romantic addressing. Or about another decision entirely. If you think so, or disagree, I'd like to hear your thoughts too.
Thanks.