This is very clearly a song about religion and one's connection.
"What david calls servant and Master. Will you play it too?" - Is a reference to God. It is subtle, because one doesn't think of God as a "servant," but think of how many things God is asked to do on behalf of His followers in the Bible. He provides food, He heals and provides both succor and refuge. God is many things in the Bible, including servant to those He leads. This, then, makes sense when he says, "Will you play it, too?" I.E. Will you play God?
"As this displacement begs for water..." - Displacement means to be moved, or shifted. It also means to be lost. The reference to water indicates the person is in hell...and the water imagery is cleverly continued with the "Swimming, bathing, drowning in sorrow..." Quite possibly this is a hint of a reference to Jonas' "hell." Contrary to belief, the Bible is quite clear that "hell" is individual. It's not a burning, fiery pit (my own personal belief is that life here on earth is "hell").
The second stanza...where he's crawling across the "cracked expansion" this is a reference to religion and it's teaching altogether...it is the feeling of one who is in a desert of need. Crawling is a form of supplication. The cracked expansion is not just the lack of nurishment that religion feed's its followers, but also the lack of stability and the literal "cracks" in it's reasoning and actions....hence being "buried" by its "sand of pure intentions" those who are desperately "wanting someone to follow."
The narrator has given religion a chance: "For a change, I'll refrain from hiding all of me from you." The result is less than optimal, "Pray for rain" (remember, he's in a "desert"...maybe of his own pain? "Rain" would be a relief and nourishment) "lose your name" (lose your identity). "And watch all your dreams fall through" (the loss of hope).
Again, a part of the chance the narrator is giving religion, "I fall upon my knees, come crashing." The fact that he isn't dropping to his knees voluntarily tells you something...he has been brought to this point out of desperation. It is his last resort, the last thing he can think of to get the relief, answers, nourishment, he needs. I personally think it's relief and answers by the last stanza of the song, which is what convinces most the song is about relationships. It is not. It's about religion and death and loss...as most songs on this Album are.
"I flee to, I flee to decemberunderground.
As you exhale, I breathe in and sink into,
The water underground,
And I grow pale without you."
December is a desolate time of year, it is the heart of winter when all living, green and growing things have died. This stanza isn't about relationships, it is about the death of a loved one. As s/he exhales (i.e. dies, this is the last breath of a dying person), the narrator "breathes in" (i.e. continues to exist and live...albeit in hell).
"And I grow pale, without you." - Self explanatory, the narrator, living without a loved one, is a shadow, a ghost of what he/she was. He misses that person and is "pale" (i.e. sick, mourning, despondent) without him/her.
This is very clearly a song about religion and one's connection.
"What david calls servant and Master. Will you play it too?" - Is a reference to God. It is subtle, because one doesn't think of God as a "servant," but think of how many things God is asked to do on behalf of His followers in the Bible. He provides food, He heals and provides both succor and refuge. God is many things in the Bible, including servant to those He leads. This, then, makes sense when he says, "Will you play it, too?" I.E. Will you play God?
"As this displacement begs for water..." - Displacement means to be moved, or shifted. It also means to be lost. The reference to water indicates the person is in hell...and the water imagery is cleverly continued with the "Swimming, bathing, drowning in sorrow..." Quite possibly this is a hint of a reference to Jonas' "hell." Contrary to belief, the Bible is quite clear that "hell" is individual. It's not a burning, fiery pit (my own personal belief is that life here on earth is "hell").
The second stanza...where he's crawling across the "cracked expansion" this is a reference to religion and it's teaching altogether...it is the feeling of one who is in a desert of need. Crawling is a form of supplication. The cracked expansion is not just the lack of nurishment that religion feed's its followers, but also the lack of stability and the literal "cracks" in it's reasoning and actions....hence being "buried" by its "sand of pure intentions" those who are desperately "wanting someone to follow."
The narrator has given religion a chance: "For a change, I'll refrain from hiding all of me from you." The result is less than optimal, "Pray for rain" (remember, he's in a "desert"...maybe of his own pain? "Rain" would be a relief and nourishment) "lose your name" (lose your identity). "And watch all your dreams fall through" (the loss of hope).
Again, a part of the chance the narrator is giving religion, "I fall upon my knees, come crashing." The fact that he isn't dropping to his knees voluntarily tells you something...he has been brought to this point out of desperation. It is his last resort, the last thing he can think of to get the relief, answers, nourishment, he needs. I personally think it's relief and answers by the last stanza of the song, which is what convinces most the song is about relationships. It is not. It's about religion and death and loss...as most songs on this Album are.
"I flee to, I flee to decemberunderground. As you exhale, I breathe in and sink into, The water underground, And I grow pale without you."
December is a desolate time of year, it is the heart of winter when all living, green and growing things have died. This stanza isn't about relationships, it is about the death of a loved one. As s/he exhales (i.e. dies, this is the last breath of a dying person), the narrator "breathes in" (i.e. continues to exist and live...albeit in hell).
"And I grow pale, without you." - Self explanatory, the narrator, living without a loved one, is a shadow, a ghost of what he/she was. He misses that person and is "pale" (i.e. sick, mourning, despondent) without him/her.