Looking back at this song after several years and one of the hardest lessons life has to teach, I have to agree with ptree's view. I'd never, ever, seen it that way, but I have to say the "room with a view" now totally strikes me as a metaphore for someone contemplating memories.
However, it is very open. This is what makes this song so great, I think: you can find so many meanings to it.
Now, this is very subjective, of course, but, as ptree, I can definitely see this song being about a lost love.
The first verse could refer to some kind of delayed realization of what happened, and the implication (no, not Dennis Reynold's "implication"). She realized right away they'd part forever, but he didn't. She knew, but not him. Or maybe he thought they'd be together forever, but she knew from the start it would never last. Something along those lines anyway.
In any case, the second verse is the fall into despair after the realization (tomorrow is gone). The voices may be from his past, however I'd bet on the distant voices of people trying to help him through a tough time, except it's just like background noise to him. He simply can't hear them clearly as he's stuck in this room, alone.
The third verse, for me, definitely puts him in the spectator seat, powerless, condamned to watch these leaves outside his window, untouchable, unalterable, completely out of reach, just blowing in the wind. You don't change the past. He tries to espace the pain by climbing the walls, as now he sees things for what they were.
As for the last verse, I'm still unsure whether he killed himself and the hole is indeed a grave, but I'm inlcined to believe it's the opposite. He finally made it out of the room somehow, because people needed him (the audience cried out for more). He won the battle, the pain and suffering fade away, and it's just another day.
Finally, the "hit heaven far too high" line would, in this interpretation, refer to his attachement to someone that was far too great, a love that was far too strong.
I'm very uncertain if this is what the lyrics are supposed to portray, especially since I've never seen the early PT songs to be much about love, but right now it just feels right to me.
Looking back at this song after several years and one of the hardest lessons life has to teach, I have to agree with ptree's view. I'd never, ever, seen it that way, but I have to say the "room with a view" now totally strikes me as a metaphore for someone contemplating memories. However, it is very open. This is what makes this song so great, I think: you can find so many meanings to it.
Now, this is very subjective, of course, but, as ptree, I can definitely see this song being about a lost love.
The first verse could refer to some kind of delayed realization of what happened, and the implication (no, not Dennis Reynold's "implication"). She realized right away they'd part forever, but he didn't. She knew, but not him. Or maybe he thought they'd be together forever, but she knew from the start it would never last. Something along those lines anyway.
In any case, the second verse is the fall into despair after the realization (tomorrow is gone). The voices may be from his past, however I'd bet on the distant voices of people trying to help him through a tough time, except it's just like background noise to him. He simply can't hear them clearly as he's stuck in this room, alone.
The third verse, for me, definitely puts him in the spectator seat, powerless, condamned to watch these leaves outside his window, untouchable, unalterable, completely out of reach, just blowing in the wind. You don't change the past. He tries to espace the pain by climbing the walls, as now he sees things for what they were.
As for the last verse, I'm still unsure whether he killed himself and the hole is indeed a grave, but I'm inlcined to believe it's the opposite. He finally made it out of the room somehow, because people needed him (the audience cried out for more). He won the battle, the pain and suffering fade away, and it's just another day.
Finally, the "hit heaven far too high" line would, in this interpretation, refer to his attachement to someone that was far too great, a love that was far too strong.
I'm very uncertain if this is what the lyrics are supposed to portray, especially since I've never seen the early PT songs to be much about love, but right now it just feels right to me.