Great point, AlexAsura, on the Virginia Woolf reference! It adds a whole new layer to the song. The band did an interview with AP and said the following:
"This song is about death. It is a narrative about the passing of a close friend of the band and what we went through during this time. The gospel vocals you hear on the record are sung as the character of death. I wanted it to be beautiful. Death is something most people fear, and yet it is a constant in this life. We fear it because we don't know anything else but life. Death is the ultimate question, but it is also the ultimate release. Every person I have lost in this life, I feel grateful for having known, but no one lives in vain. How do we judge our lives? A friend once told me, "It's not the years in your life, it's the life in your years." and life and death are what you make of them."
Great point, AlexAsura, on the Virginia Woolf reference! It adds a whole new layer to the song. The band did an interview with AP and said the following:
"This song is about death. It is a narrative about the passing of a close friend of the band and what we went through during this time. The gospel vocals you hear on the record are sung as the character of death. I wanted it to be beautiful. Death is something most people fear, and yet it is a constant in this life. We fear it because we don't know anything else but life. Death is the ultimate question, but it is also the ultimate release. Every person I have lost in this life, I feel grateful for having known, but no one lives in vain. How do we judge our lives? A friend once told me, "It's not the years in your life, it's the life in your years." and life and death are what you make of them."