"Runner" equals participant, a life, a soul.
"Dial Zero" in the olden days meant "talk with the (phone) operator".
In this case "dial zero" is to talk to God the big operator in the sky. That is to die or to be killed. This song appears to be expressing regret and disillusionment about how their life turned out. "We" expresses the fact that not just the narrator is going down this dark path but many of us are being broken in the same way. We thought we got it right, but in the end we hear echoes of long gone voices "mother" who tried to steer us towards truth but we wasted our time "night' and ended up in a very bad place "the dried up stream" and now all our dreams are gone and the things we held dear "jewels" have proven to be worthless to the owner.
"Runner" equals participant, a life, a soul. "Dial Zero" in the olden days meant "talk with the (phone) operator". In this case "dial zero" is to talk to God the big operator in the sky. That is to die or to be killed. This song appears to be expressing regret and disillusionment about how their life turned out. "We" expresses the fact that not just the narrator is going down this dark path but many of us are being broken in the same way. We thought we got it right, but in the end we hear echoes of long gone voices "mother" who tried to steer us towards truth but we wasted our time "night' and ended up in a very bad place "the dried up stream" and now all our dreams are gone and the things we held dear "jewels" have proven to be worthless to the owner.