I think the song could be written to show modern day society and it’s flaws.
Starting with the first line, “I dig ’til my shovel tells a secret,
Swear to the Earth that I will keep it,
Brush off the dirt
And let my change of heart occur.”
Assuming this secret is more literal, this person is told a secret, but they try to brush it off in attempt to change their way of heart, much like many people in society need.
Then moving on to the chorus, “Fault lines tremble underneath my glass house.
But I put it out of my mind
Long enough to call it courage
To live without a lifeline.
I bend the definition
Of faith to exonerate my blind eye.
"'til the sirens sound, I’m safe."”
Maybe instead of fault lines being the actual lines of fault below the earth’s surface, it’s more figurative for people’s faults in life and how they could cause society (the glass house) to collapse, but this person chooses to move past it. Then moving to the part about faith, maybe it’s not necessarily lacking religious beliefs, but other sort of beliefs and they stop believing to give rest to not only their eyes, but their mind, too.
Then moving on to the second verse, “Meanwhile, my family’s taking shelter.
The sparks send the fire down the wire,
A countdown begins,
Until the dynamite gives in.
The echo, as wide as the equator,
Travels through a world of built up anger-
Too late to pull itself together now.”
The dynamite could be figuratively used as society’s anger and distress and how it will eventually turn into chaos. The world is so full of anger and sadness and it’s gotten to the point of no return to when it was all still held together.
Then the bridge, “There was an earthquake.
There was an avalanche of change.
We were so afraid,
We cried ourselves a hurricane.
There were floods,
Tidal waves over us,
So we folded our hands and prayed.
Like a domino,
These wildfires grow and grow
Until a brand new world takes shape.”
In this part of the song, Ryan describes this list of natural disasters surrounding this person. I like to believe it’s all a metaphor for how eventually (if not already) society will fall apart unless we do something about it. That’s when this person decides to pray or place their belief somewhere and everything starts to resolve. Society is burnt down and starts to regrow into something better than it was before.
I think the song could be written to show modern day society and it’s flaws.
Starting with the first line, “I dig ’til my shovel tells a secret, Swear to the Earth that I will keep it, Brush off the dirt And let my change of heart occur.” Assuming this secret is more literal, this person is told a secret, but they try to brush it off in attempt to change their way of heart, much like many people in society need.
Then moving on to the chorus, “Fault lines tremble underneath my glass house. But I put it out of my mind Long enough to call it courage To live without a lifeline. I bend the definition Of faith to exonerate my blind eye. "'til the sirens sound, I’m safe."” Maybe instead of fault lines being the actual lines of fault below the earth’s surface, it’s more figurative for people’s faults in life and how they could cause society (the glass house) to collapse, but this person chooses to move past it. Then moving to the part about faith, maybe it’s not necessarily lacking religious beliefs, but other sort of beliefs and they stop believing to give rest to not only their eyes, but their mind, too.
Then moving on to the second verse, “Meanwhile, my family’s taking shelter. The sparks send the fire down the wire, A countdown begins, Until the dynamite gives in.
The echo, as wide as the equator, Travels through a world of built up anger- Too late to pull itself together now.” The dynamite could be figuratively used as society’s anger and distress and how it will eventually turn into chaos. The world is so full of anger and sadness and it’s gotten to the point of no return to when it was all still held together.
Then the bridge, “There was an earthquake. There was an avalanche of change. We were so afraid, We cried ourselves a hurricane. There were floods, Tidal waves over us, So we folded our hands and prayed. Like a domino, These wildfires grow and grow Until a brand new world takes shape.” In this part of the song, Ryan describes this list of natural disasters surrounding this person. I like to believe it’s all a metaphor for how eventually (if not already) society will fall apart unless we do something about it. That’s when this person decides to pray or place their belief somewhere and everything starts to resolve. Society is burnt down and starts to regrow into something better than it was before.