Distinctly apocalyptic feel, which used to scare me away from this song a little. Now I feel like I have a more clear idea of what it's getting at. degree7's comparison to The Hollow Men is spot on. It's as if this song is part five of that particular poem, the last leg of the album, standing at the outer limits of knowledge, on its deathbed, but before its reached its time.
"A view to remember
The center is missing"
When you compare this song to the earlier tracks like Crosseyed & Painless about a mania driven by an obsession with facts and logic, this song is like the subdued aftermath of the mania, in which the narrator reaches the state of ubiquity that comes after being denuded of everything but facts.
"They question how the future lies
...in someone's eyes"
In the end there's no truth except what our individual perspectives convince us is the truth (sounds like Seen And Not Seen doesn't it?). He's overloaded with this lucid worldview, it empties him, weakens his signal, causes a collapse, and sends him down a more quiet, less verbose road.
As an anecdote, I feel like I was once on that quiet road, and I rejected this song. The lyrics didn't carry anything meaningful for me other than a particularly unfavorable perspective on the situation, I used to skip it. Maybe I hadn't drifted as far, maybe I had drifted farther, maybe I was just up my own asshole about the whole thing. But it's tone just always seemed to me melodramatic (while without any logical flaws), and shed an inappropriately negative light on a truly and utterly neutral phenomenon. But I guess that's what you have to expect by imposing words on a situation that nullifies words.
@zage513 Damn, Zage I was a little spooked of this song and skipped it as well. Also aftermath of mania huh? I can relate to that feeling. I'm going to go on rant here, so bare with me.
@zage513 Damn, Zage I was a little spooked of this song and skipped it as well. Also aftermath of mania huh? I can relate to that feeling. I'm going to go on rant here, so bare with me.
First of all, I think this song is fueled from LSD. Because when I was on it I thought I knew exactly what he was talking about.
First of all, I think this song is fueled from LSD. Because when I was on it I thought I knew exactly what he was talking about.
Here we go,
"A terrible signal, too weak to recognize"
I think this is a faint reminder of his soul getting "ripped" away, from afar. Particularity, this is ego death. From what I felt and understand it,...
Here we go,
"A terrible signal, too weak to recognize"
I think this is a faint reminder of his soul getting "ripped" away, from afar. Particularity, this is ego death. From what I felt and understand it, imagine you sitting there, right now, and you feel your body. Your legs, feet, you feel grounded. You fell like you. Say you close your eyes right now. You still feel grounded, like you still have a body. But with ego death, you close your eyes and you lose that feeling of your body. Basically you forgot you ever had a body. You're just your mind. So that feeling would be terrible, which it is and isn't.
"A gentle collapsing, the removal of the insides"
More ego death, can/could feel like you soul is collapsing in on itself, As well as you insides are gone, you forgot your body.
"I'm touched by your pleas, I value these moments"
I love this line. He's touched that he feels this enlightenment but there's a paradox. He does value this because it makes him feel special. Possibly enlightened I guess. He values it but I would say from the "terrible signal" line that he does not enjoy it.
"A frequent returning, And leave unnoticed"
I'd say he gets this feeling alot. Probably from frequent LSD consumption. This feeling ran out for me thank god. Leave unnoticed, just probably happens so much that he might always feel like that.
"A condition of mercy, A change in the weather"
He might feel like these small touches makes him feel special. Like god has given him mercy because it's just a taste. He doesn't actually get to "die" and be like that all the time. The next line I don't know.
"A view to remember, The center is missing"
I think he saw/experienced this ego death or enlightenment or whatever you want to call it. The center is missing. That's him. Thats his body. Or his soul. Could be implying that that could happen to everyone.
"They question how the future lies, in someones eyes"
This is more complicated. I think he thinks that all of us question the future, and death. And that in someones eyes might be it. Like we only exist because we view the world so if we're not here the universe isn't. Some quantum theory thing. Goes back to I think Once in a Lifetime. When he says "Same as it ever was" over and over. Like if that's true, the universe is only here because we view it, then when say he's searching for answers, it always comes back to him. Like you can't look out for answers to the universe, it's only here because of us and thus the answer is in our heads. I hope that made sense. So if does keep searching then it keeps going back to him, over and over. "Same as it ever was". Enough of that.
"The gentile collapsing of every surface, We travel on the quiet road, the overload"
Ego death, which if he thinks that this could happen to everything, every atom, then everything might collapse. Quiet road is maybe too much ego death, like his body is way way gone and his mind/soul ascends maybe. Or just goes somewhere. And thus would be the ultimate overload. Your gone. Your soul. This earth. Everything.
Oh and the rest of this album tripped me out. I was lost in the sauce. I thought he was speaking to me, only me. And the video on YouTube for Once in a Lifetime, I thought he was real. Like real real. Not that he existed physically in front of me. But more that it was his spirit I guess. No, just like he was always there, always is there. This is really hard to explain. Also staring at this album cover. Ego death. You're just your mind. You have senses and can see and stuff but their...
Oh and the rest of this album tripped me out. I was lost in the sauce. I thought he was speaking to me, only me. And the video on YouTube for Once in a Lifetime, I thought he was real. Like real real. Not that he existed physically in front of me. But more that it was his spirit I guess. No, just like he was always there, always is there. This is really hard to explain. Also staring at this album cover. Ego death. You're just your mind. You have senses and can see and stuff but their faces are gone. They're gone. Body is gone. Who they are, who they were, all wiped out. Honestly, wiped clean.
Distinctly apocalyptic feel, which used to scare me away from this song a little. Now I feel like I have a more clear idea of what it's getting at. degree7's comparison to The Hollow Men is spot on. It's as if this song is part five of that particular poem, the last leg of the album, standing at the outer limits of knowledge, on its deathbed, but before its reached its time. "A view to remember The center is missing" When you compare this song to the earlier tracks like Crosseyed & Painless about a mania driven by an obsession with facts and logic, this song is like the subdued aftermath of the mania, in which the narrator reaches the state of ubiquity that comes after being denuded of everything but facts. "They question how the future lies ...in someone's eyes" In the end there's no truth except what our individual perspectives convince us is the truth (sounds like Seen And Not Seen doesn't it?). He's overloaded with this lucid worldview, it empties him, weakens his signal, causes a collapse, and sends him down a more quiet, less verbose road.
As an anecdote, I feel like I was once on that quiet road, and I rejected this song. The lyrics didn't carry anything meaningful for me other than a particularly unfavorable perspective on the situation, I used to skip it. Maybe I hadn't drifted as far, maybe I had drifted farther, maybe I was just up my own asshole about the whole thing. But it's tone just always seemed to me melodramatic (while without any logical flaws), and shed an inappropriately negative light on a truly and utterly neutral phenomenon. But I guess that's what you have to expect by imposing words on a situation that nullifies words.
@zage513 --- or it's just a song built around the 'OVERLOAD' sign on the back of large trucks
@zage513 --- or it's just a song built around the 'OVERLOAD' sign on the back of large trucks
@zage513 Damn, Zage I was a little spooked of this song and skipped it as well. Also aftermath of mania huh? I can relate to that feeling. I'm going to go on rant here, so bare with me.
@zage513 Damn, Zage I was a little spooked of this song and skipped it as well. Also aftermath of mania huh? I can relate to that feeling. I'm going to go on rant here, so bare with me.
First of all, I think this song is fueled from LSD. Because when I was on it I thought I knew exactly what he was talking about.
First of all, I think this song is fueled from LSD. Because when I was on it I thought I knew exactly what he was talking about.
Here we go, "A terrible signal, too weak to recognize" I think this is a faint reminder of his soul getting "ripped" away, from afar. Particularity, this is ego death. From what I felt and understand it,...
Here we go, "A terrible signal, too weak to recognize" I think this is a faint reminder of his soul getting "ripped" away, from afar. Particularity, this is ego death. From what I felt and understand it, imagine you sitting there, right now, and you feel your body. Your legs, feet, you feel grounded. You fell like you. Say you close your eyes right now. You still feel grounded, like you still have a body. But with ego death, you close your eyes and you lose that feeling of your body. Basically you forgot you ever had a body. You're just your mind. So that feeling would be terrible, which it is and isn't.
"A gentle collapsing, the removal of the insides" More ego death, can/could feel like you soul is collapsing in on itself, As well as you insides are gone, you forgot your body.
"I'm touched by your pleas, I value these moments" I love this line. He's touched that he feels this enlightenment but there's a paradox. He does value this because it makes him feel special. Possibly enlightened I guess. He values it but I would say from the "terrible signal" line that he does not enjoy it.
"A frequent returning, And leave unnoticed" I'd say he gets this feeling alot. Probably from frequent LSD consumption. This feeling ran out for me thank god. Leave unnoticed, just probably happens so much that he might always feel like that.
"A condition of mercy, A change in the weather" He might feel like these small touches makes him feel special. Like god has given him mercy because it's just a taste. He doesn't actually get to "die" and be like that all the time. The next line I don't know.
"A view to remember, The center is missing" I think he saw/experienced this ego death or enlightenment or whatever you want to call it. The center is missing. That's him. Thats his body. Or his soul. Could be implying that that could happen to everyone.
"They question how the future lies, in someones eyes" This is more complicated. I think he thinks that all of us question the future, and death. And that in someones eyes might be it. Like we only exist because we view the world so if we're not here the universe isn't. Some quantum theory thing. Goes back to I think Once in a Lifetime. When he says "Same as it ever was" over and over. Like if that's true, the universe is only here because we view it, then when say he's searching for answers, it always comes back to him. Like you can't look out for answers to the universe, it's only here because of us and thus the answer is in our heads. I hope that made sense. So if does keep searching then it keeps going back to him, over and over. "Same as it ever was". Enough of that.
"The gentile collapsing of every surface, We travel on the quiet road, the overload" Ego death, which if he thinks that this could happen to everything, every atom, then everything might collapse. Quiet road is maybe too much ego death, like his body is way way gone and his mind/soul ascends maybe. Or just goes somewhere. And thus would be the ultimate overload. Your gone. Your soul. This earth. Everything.
So that's that
Oh and the rest of this album tripped me out. I was lost in the sauce. I thought he was speaking to me, only me. And the video on YouTube for Once in a Lifetime, I thought he was real. Like real real. Not that he existed physically in front of me. But more that it was his spirit I guess. No, just like he was always there, always is there. This is really hard to explain. Also staring at this album cover. Ego death. You're just your mind. You have senses and can see and stuff but their...
Oh and the rest of this album tripped me out. I was lost in the sauce. I thought he was speaking to me, only me. And the video on YouTube for Once in a Lifetime, I thought he was real. Like real real. Not that he existed physically in front of me. But more that it was his spirit I guess. No, just like he was always there, always is there. This is really hard to explain. Also staring at this album cover. Ego death. You're just your mind. You have senses and can see and stuff but their faces are gone. They're gone. Body is gone. Who they are, who they were, all wiped out. Honestly, wiped clean.