The biblical references here are so incredibly difficult to miss. I think the song is about knowing that there is some god, but not really understanding that god or what we are supposed to do with that knowledge.
"If I could wake my crooked heart
If I was there right from the start
To feel what it was like to be turned on"
----Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. "Turned on" could have two meanings here. When they ate the fruit from the tree, they recognized each others nakedness and would have been sexually turned on. But they also became conscious of themselves and could have been powered (or turned) on in a sense.
"Running for cover,
running to hide."
----Following the realization of their nakedness, Adam and Eve both run to hide when they hear god coming into the Garden because they don't want to be seen naked.
"If I could be a wiser man
To rest my head and trust the plan
I'm fighting like a child to get my way."
-----He wishes he could trust god's plan, but he wants what he wants. Just like most of us. This is important again in the bridge.
"If I could see the garden place
before the fall when things have changed
I wasn't there and neither were you
but I take the blame as you should too my friend."
-----Another reference to the Garden of Eden and the Fall of Man. Though we weren't there, we still continue to sin and so have to take the blame for ourselves.
"We've been trying with each other to unravel the age old story,
But I'm starting to think there's a reason that we don't understand."
-----Like I said earlier, with the "wiser man" and "trust the plan" part, we keep trying to understand this "age old story" and all of god's plan. But in reality, we're never going to understand it, and maybe there is a reason that we don't.
"And it's easy to blame someone else for my wants and my worry,
But I know, I accept that it's just a part of who I am"
-----Similar to taking the blame for the fall and our sins. It's much easier to blame others for our faults, and we are kind of wired to do so. And he accepts that.
The biblical references here are so incredibly difficult to miss. I think the song is about knowing that there is some god, but not really understanding that god or what we are supposed to do with that knowledge.
"If I could wake my crooked heart If I was there right from the start To feel what it was like to be turned on"
----Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. "Turned on" could have two meanings here. When they ate the fruit from the tree, they recognized each others nakedness and would have been sexually turned on. But they also became conscious of themselves and could have been powered (or turned) on in a sense.
"Running for cover, running to hide."
----Following the realization of their nakedness, Adam and Eve both run to hide when they hear god coming into the Garden because they don't want to be seen naked.
"If I could be a wiser man To rest my head and trust the plan I'm fighting like a child to get my way."
-----He wishes he could trust god's plan, but he wants what he wants. Just like most of us. This is important again in the bridge.
"If I could see the garden place before the fall when things have changed I wasn't there and neither were you but I take the blame as you should too my friend."
-----Another reference to the Garden of Eden and the Fall of Man. Though we weren't there, we still continue to sin and so have to take the blame for ourselves.
"We've been trying with each other to unravel the age old story, But I'm starting to think there's a reason that we don't understand."
-----Like I said earlier, with the "wiser man" and "trust the plan" part, we keep trying to understand this "age old story" and all of god's plan. But in reality, we're never going to understand it, and maybe there is a reason that we don't.
"And it's easy to blame someone else for my wants and my worry, But I know, I accept that it's just a part of who I am"
-----Similar to taking the blame for the fall and our sins. It's much easier to blame others for our faults, and we are kind of wired to do so. And he accepts that.