While I feel that there are several interpretations in this song, it feels like people see this as an echo of society. It is such a crescendo that I tend to agree.
This song hit me on its simplest level - a more literal interpretation, if you will...
Verse 1
The narrator is damaged with their own memories. Darkness is their "friend" because it accompanies them often. Their sleep is disturbed. They can't get rid of the images they are burdened with - probably from youth.
Verse 2
This person has grown up with their secrets. They find the world cold and lonely. Then they come upon a tavern with its beckoning neon lights.
Verse 3
In this busy but desolate place, people are mingling but never get to say what they should say. They are ignoring their problems and drinking (and other things) instead. People talking without speaking = people who can be read even though they do not talk (people sitting alone, slumped at the bar, for example). People hearing without listening = people who don't LISTEN. These people are preoccupied with their own hang ups and don't process what's being said all around them. No one dares disturb the unspoken pact not to tell their truths and disrupt the so-called comfort of their own and others' silence. No one dares ask, how can I help? They can't help themselves - how can they help others?
Verse 4
The man narrating sits among all these people, who share his pain, held within themselves. He is bitter and can also recognize that they are all in the same boat. They are ignoring their deepest pains - not letting anyone else in.
The more they do not speak of them, the more they get passed on and multiply - like a cancer.
This man wants to speak up.
He wants to console the others.
But he is stuck in his own silence and he can only cry instead.
His tears are not heard, "echoes in the wells of silence"
Verse 5
The people keep their worship over the drinks that helps (questionable) them feel better. The neon lights light up a promise of light and happiness. It's draw is loud, but the real source of healing are in the words that can be shared with the fellow men who suffer in the "poor" society. If only they'd share their voices! But their cries written on the walls (literally 'speaking' in silence) are not heard and are often erased before people can see them (they are 'graffiti' and are not 'proper'. But they're cries for help and to be seen.
While I feel that there are several interpretations in this song, it feels like people see this as an echo of society. It is such a crescendo that I tend to agree.
This song hit me on its simplest level - a more literal interpretation, if you will...
Verse 1 The narrator is damaged with their own memories. Darkness is their "friend" because it accompanies them often. Their sleep is disturbed. They can't get rid of the images they are burdened with - probably from youth.
Verse 2 This person has grown up with their secrets. They find the world cold and lonely. Then they come upon a tavern with its beckoning neon lights.
Verse 3 In this busy but desolate place, people are mingling but never get to say what they should say. They are ignoring their problems and drinking (and other things) instead. People talking without speaking = people who can be read even though they do not talk (people sitting alone, slumped at the bar, for example). People hearing without listening = people who don't LISTEN. These people are preoccupied with their own hang ups and don't process what's being said all around them. No one dares disturb the unspoken pact not to tell their truths and disrupt the so-called comfort of their own and others' silence. No one dares ask, how can I help? They can't help themselves - how can they help others?
Verse 4 The man narrating sits among all these people, who share his pain, held within themselves. He is bitter and can also recognize that they are all in the same boat. They are ignoring their deepest pains - not letting anyone else in. The more they do not speak of them, the more they get passed on and multiply - like a cancer. This man wants to speak up. He wants to console the others. But he is stuck in his own silence and he can only cry instead. His tears are not heard, "echoes in the wells of silence"
Verse 5 The people keep their worship over the drinks that helps (questionable) them feel better. The neon lights light up a promise of light and happiness. It's draw is loud, but the real source of healing are in the words that can be shared with the fellow men who suffer in the "poor" society. If only they'd share their voices! But their cries written on the walls (literally 'speaking' in silence) are not heard and are often erased before people can see them (they are 'graffiti' and are not 'proper'. But they're cries for help and to be seen.
That is me reading between the lines.