The room with a view is the character attempting to look out over his own life. He’s gone somewhat towards dementia, lacking some remembrances. The girl in the photograph was probably a loved one, someone who he knows knew him and his trials, but he no longer remembers exactly who; she is probably laughing at a happy moment, but he’s misinterpreted it as a mockery that confuses him. If so it’s a powerful imagery of he confusion that comes at the end of life.
He’s lost, in the dark, not understanding things. He sees things that aren’t there, and they represent ghosts of human contact, contact which he no longer has. He has no expectations about the future, and with his remembrances of the past fading, all he has is the present moment; the voices, perhaps not real ones, just emphasis his loneliness. He can’t find them. Maybe they don’t exist.
The leaves might be memories, blowing away. “Climb the walls” strikes me as a weak lyric for a song so evocative and I think it is too active a sentiment for this character, and jars with the overall tone of meloncholia, but it’s Wilson and what do I know. “You did not know me at all” is probably a little of Wilson himself leaking through – I don’t think he believes most of his fans really get him or his music. If so, it’s a rare glimpse; I get the idea that many of his characters are people who are unlike himself and he’s basically roleplaying when he sings. Maybe not this time.
He fell through a hole in the floor – dropping out of sight, losing interactions with fans, who cried out for more (weird echo, probably unintentional? of 21st Century Schitzoid Man here - Wilson knows a lot of progressive music) as they watched him fall, but whether it was more of his material or more of his decline isn’t clear. At any rate, his loss of relevance and contact with others isn’t remarkable, even to him; it’s just another day and it doesn’t matter anymore.
Hit heaven far too high – I wish I had a glimmer on this lyric. Wilson is no fan or organized religion so while it’s death imagery, it’s not clear to me how it should be taken. My best guess is that the character lived too pure, too detached from others, never really got into the rough and tumble of reality, and died in a state of purity he now vaguely regrets – lived too little, overshot the requirements of heaven by a lot, and is sorry for it. (That’s not how heaven works, but Wilson’s not likely to hew to conventional Christian theology.) No idea on this one though.
Really evocative. Maybe Wilson reflecting on a future self that’s in mental decay (he does seem fascinated with mental dissolution, look at Russia on Ice and Voyage 34) but evocative is what Wilson does best.
The room with a view is the character attempting to look out over his own life. He’s gone somewhat towards dementia, lacking some remembrances. The girl in the photograph was probably a loved one, someone who he knows knew him and his trials, but he no longer remembers exactly who; she is probably laughing at a happy moment, but he’s misinterpreted it as a mockery that confuses him. If so it’s a powerful imagery of he confusion that comes at the end of life.
He’s lost, in the dark, not understanding things. He sees things that aren’t there, and they represent ghosts of human contact, contact which he no longer has. He has no expectations about the future, and with his remembrances of the past fading, all he has is the present moment; the voices, perhaps not real ones, just emphasis his loneliness. He can’t find them. Maybe they don’t exist.
The leaves might be memories, blowing away. “Climb the walls” strikes me as a weak lyric for a song so evocative and I think it is too active a sentiment for this character, and jars with the overall tone of meloncholia, but it’s Wilson and what do I know. “You did not know me at all” is probably a little of Wilson himself leaking through – I don’t think he believes most of his fans really get him or his music. If so, it’s a rare glimpse; I get the idea that many of his characters are people who are unlike himself and he’s basically roleplaying when he sings. Maybe not this time.
He fell through a hole in the floor – dropping out of sight, losing interactions with fans, who cried out for more (weird echo, probably unintentional? of 21st Century Schitzoid Man here - Wilson knows a lot of progressive music) as they watched him fall, but whether it was more of his material or more of his decline isn’t clear. At any rate, his loss of relevance and contact with others isn’t remarkable, even to him; it’s just another day and it doesn’t matter anymore.
Hit heaven far too high – I wish I had a glimmer on this lyric. Wilson is no fan or organized religion so while it’s death imagery, it’s not clear to me how it should be taken. My best guess is that the character lived too pure, too detached from others, never really got into the rough and tumble of reality, and died in a state of purity he now vaguely regrets – lived too little, overshot the requirements of heaven by a lot, and is sorry for it. (That’s not how heaven works, but Wilson’s not likely to hew to conventional Christian theology.) No idea on this one though.
Really evocative. Maybe Wilson reflecting on a future self that’s in mental decay (he does seem fascinated with mental dissolution, look at Russia on Ice and Voyage 34) but evocative is what Wilson does best.