The song is about life. I take it one of two ways:
Told from the perspective of a baby being born - "tonight began with anything, shaft of light, a warm breath and a scream." The child is coming into the world with nothing but those three things. The child will go through life and may accumulate material possessions but ultimately life will end the same way it began.
Alternatively, perhaps a warm breath and a scream are the bookends of life - a warm breath: the first breath you take when you're born. A scream: the sound you make when you die.
Either way, it's a call to make the most out of your life while you're here. As Eddie would later say in another song, "I know I was born and I know I'll die, the in between is mine." So, he's basically reminding the listener that life is what you make of it. The only things that are guaranteed are your first and last breath.
The song is about life. I take it one of two ways:
Told from the perspective of a baby being born - "tonight began with anything, shaft of light, a warm breath and a scream." The child is coming into the world with nothing but those three things. The child will go through life and may accumulate material possessions but ultimately life will end the same way it began.
Alternatively, perhaps a warm breath and a scream are the bookends of life - a warm breath: the first breath you take when you're born. A scream: the sound you make when you die.
Either way, it's a call to make the most out of your life while you're here. As Eddie would later say in another song, "I know I was born and I know I'll die, the in between is mine." So, he's basically reminding the listener that life is what you make of it. The only things that are guaranteed are your first and last breath.
[Edit: added context]