The heroin experts on here have convinced me that this is at least on the surface what the song is about. I agree you can overlay it with religious imagery too, particularly Buddhism since Lhasa is in Tibet (although the city's name is misspelled on the album lyrics--unless there is some other place called Lasa that we're all missing) and meditation results in a similar time-out-of-mind experience, as well as the "light in my eyes, perfection and grace" which sounds suspiciously like the Buddha. So you could look at it like religion is a drug as well. I'm kind of sad, because the Dan already has so many drug songs and I always thought this particular song had a strikingly different tone than the rest of the songs on the album, and particularly mysterious lyrics if one is not a smack addict... The music is so, well, happy. The interlude is one of my favorite 45 seconds of music. So if anything it seems like an unironic tribute to heroin, unlike many of their other songs which usually end in despair. But that is a bit disappointing, because my prior interpretation involved a mystic with a crystal ball and magical things happening in some sort of seance, which frankly is a lot more interesting than either getting high or getting zen. Bummer.
I doubt it has anything religious that was intentional. Drugs and spirituality is something people have discovered probably before organized religion so it could be. I haven't done heroine but I have dabbled with opiates and I can say it's not one of those drugs. Also if I'm not mistaken Becker's girlfriend overdosed on heroin not long after this song. So they were probably into heroin at the time. Smart people really love drugs. And we are less likely to get addicted.
I doubt it has anything religious that was intentional. Drugs and spirituality is something people have discovered probably before organized religion so it could be. I haven't done heroine but I have dabbled with opiates and I can say it's not one of those drugs. Also if I'm not mistaken Becker's girlfriend overdosed on heroin not long after this song. So they were probably into heroin at the time. Smart people really love drugs. And we are less likely to get addicted.
The heroin experts on here have convinced me that this is at least on the surface what the song is about. I agree you can overlay it with religious imagery too, particularly Buddhism since Lhasa is in Tibet (although the city's name is misspelled on the album lyrics--unless there is some other place called Lasa that we're all missing) and meditation results in a similar time-out-of-mind experience, as well as the "light in my eyes, perfection and grace" which sounds suspiciously like the Buddha. So you could look at it like religion is a drug as well. I'm kind of sad, because the Dan already has so many drug songs and I always thought this particular song had a strikingly different tone than the rest of the songs on the album, and particularly mysterious lyrics if one is not a smack addict... The music is so, well, happy. The interlude is one of my favorite 45 seconds of music. So if anything it seems like an unironic tribute to heroin, unlike many of their other songs which usually end in despair. But that is a bit disappointing, because my prior interpretation involved a mystic with a crystal ball and magical things happening in some sort of seance, which frankly is a lot more interesting than either getting high or getting zen. Bummer.
I doubt it has anything religious that was intentional. Drugs and spirituality is something people have discovered probably before organized religion so it could be. I haven't done heroine but I have dabbled with opiates and I can say it's not one of those drugs. Also if I'm not mistaken Becker's girlfriend overdosed on heroin not long after this song. So they were probably into heroin at the time. Smart people really love drugs. And we are less likely to get addicted.
I doubt it has anything religious that was intentional. Drugs and spirituality is something people have discovered probably before organized religion so it could be. I haven't done heroine but I have dabbled with opiates and I can say it's not one of those drugs. Also if I'm not mistaken Becker's girlfriend overdosed on heroin not long after this song. So they were probably into heroin at the time. Smart people really love drugs. And we are less likely to get addicted.
http://www.thewire.com/technology/2011/11/science-sure-smart-people-love-drugs/45015/
http://www.thewire.com/technology/2011/11/science-sure-smart-people-love-drugs/45015/