My thoughts on this song agree with some of the earlier posts about relationships and infidelity, but with an added feature...
This song is about a person stuck between two worlds, or perhaps two different possible outcomes, or perhaps two different possible lives.
One outcome is being with the same person for a very long time - sort of grounded and tied to them. There is love and familiarity, but it's a lot of work. Things become stale and old after a time. The work and the daily chaos of keeping this life in shape drowns out some passion. The shame might be because of infidelity, or might simply be shame that most of this work and life isn't bringing happiness like once thought.
The other outcome or life starts after the first chorus - "At the end of the line". The relationship is gone. The life is free to consume and acquire whatever it wants. Perhaps the "every pleasure burned to the wick" isn't about the pleasures burned up together in the relationship, but rather, all the pleasures to be had without worry of being tied down to someone else - basically a hedonist life of pleasure, but maybe no substance, nothing heavy and meaningful to keep you from floating away. At the end of the day, something is needed to validate existence - "to remind me once again why I'm even here".
These are 2 possibilities, each with it's own problems. It reminds me of the book "The Unbearable Lightness of Being". Not that great of a book, but a good look into existential choices.
Hence, "Half Gate" could mean a filter half open. A choice not answered. Stuck in between two worlds. Both are bleeding through. Both are depressing to the author. The chorus asks which one he's checked out of. There is no way to get back to this dichotomous choice though, the old self is gone.. in some great beyond.
My thoughts on this song agree with some of the earlier posts about relationships and infidelity, but with an added feature...
This song is about a person stuck between two worlds, or perhaps two different possible outcomes, or perhaps two different possible lives.
One outcome is being with the same person for a very long time - sort of grounded and tied to them. There is love and familiarity, but it's a lot of work. Things become stale and old after a time. The work and the daily chaos of keeping this life in shape drowns out some passion. The shame might be because of infidelity, or might simply be shame that most of this work and life isn't bringing happiness like once thought.
The other outcome or life starts after the first chorus - "At the end of the line". The relationship is gone. The life is free to consume and acquire whatever it wants. Perhaps the "every pleasure burned to the wick" isn't about the pleasures burned up together in the relationship, but rather, all the pleasures to be had without worry of being tied down to someone else - basically a hedonist life of pleasure, but maybe no substance, nothing heavy and meaningful to keep you from floating away. At the end of the day, something is needed to validate existence - "to remind me once again why I'm even here".
These are 2 possibilities, each with it's own problems. It reminds me of the book "The Unbearable Lightness of Being". Not that great of a book, but a good look into existential choices.
Hence, "Half Gate" could mean a filter half open. A choice not answered. Stuck in between two worlds. Both are bleeding through. Both are depressing to the author. The chorus asks which one he's checked out of. There is no way to get back to this dichotomous choice though, the old self is gone.. in some great beyond.