Wanted to add this, though it might be quite obvious as you listen to the song:
// First he declares his belief, or indirectly, his faith; that the world will end
I dreamed the world would end
// Then he makes a commitment to that belief, with his words, asserting that he was not wrong, i.e. that he was right
I was not wrong
// Then he continues the sentence and contradicts his commitment, denying his belief
To doubt, to discredit
// Then he further continues the sentence; denying the "other words" (someone elses words, in contrast to the new word he "dreamt up today") and therefore committing to his own word, again
The other words I've heard before
// Then he continues the sentence, saying that the words came from "inside a shell pretending". If the words, those "other words" are actually his (I interpret the "shell" as his own, therefore those "other words" also came from him), then he ends up denying his own faith, yet again.
From inside a shell pretending
The singing/rhythm follows through well by pausing the sentence at the correct spots to be ambiguous up until he continues singing. This continuous contradiction and re-contradiction clearly expresses the doubt, in this case, in ones own faith.
The same tool is used in a later verse:
I know I'll fail
To break, to cast it down
where the sentence fragments can be concatenated together to get different, contradicting meanings:
I know I'll fail
I know I'll fail to break
I know I'll fail to break [it], to cast it down
I'm unable to interpret all of the song lyrics, but these observations are what I am fond of, and quite sure of in correctness. The fact that the other parts of the song, the melody and the rhythm, is in sync with the lyrics, reinforces the meaning of the lyrics.
Wanted to add this, though it might be quite obvious as you listen to the song:
// First he declares his belief, or indirectly, his faith; that the world will end I dreamed the world would end // Then he makes a commitment to that belief, with his words, asserting that he was not wrong, i.e. that he was right I was not wrong // Then he continues the sentence and contradicts his commitment, denying his belief To doubt, to discredit // Then he further continues the sentence; denying the "other words" (someone elses words, in contrast to the new word he "dreamt up today") and therefore committing to his own word, again The other words I've heard before // Then he continues the sentence, saying that the words came from "inside a shell pretending". If the words, those "other words" are actually his (I interpret the "shell" as his own, therefore those "other words" also came from him), then he ends up denying his own faith, yet again. From inside a shell pretending
The singing/rhythm follows through well by pausing the sentence at the correct spots to be ambiguous up until he continues singing. This continuous contradiction and re-contradiction clearly expresses the doubt, in this case, in ones own faith.
The same tool is used in a later verse:
I know I'll fail To break, to cast it down
where the sentence fragments can be concatenated together to get different, contradicting meanings:
I know I'll fail I know I'll fail to break I know I'll fail to break [it], to cast it down
I'm unable to interpret all of the song lyrics, but these observations are what I am fond of, and quite sure of in correctness. The fact that the other parts of the song, the melody and the rhythm, is in sync with the lyrics, reinforces the meaning of the lyrics.