I admit that this may be on the more biased side of meanings, just due to the circumstances. In 2018 I received a double lung transplant, and had complications that left me in the hospital for over 6 months, the majority of it being unable to see well, walk, eat, drink, speak or even lift my arms. As one can imagine, I needed a lot of rehab to walk normally again, and every day I listened to a playlist where this song was probably the most prominent. I wasn't able to listen to this song for like 2 years after because it was tied to a time of like struggle, turmoil, etc. So here goes....
The first two stanza I view of like implied melancholy towards a time in his youth where he has an idyllic nostalgia. The very words and amateurish poetry/singing of children is reaffirmed in his memory as a spiritual experience. From death, to the joy of marriage, this youthful nostalgia encompassed it all, but was it just that?
Did the choices he made, that he looked back on with such idealism and love, actually precipitate this very real environment that he lives in as an adult, that we all know is filled not with just those joyful youthful aspirations (referenced later) but also suffering, hard choices, and things that cannot be anticipated, like a machine operating not only outside their control but they are not even a true operator in how it pans out.
He can feel this, and blames his own actions. Whether the "starfall" he experienced was a single event, the continuous act of fighting destiny and the machinations of fate (the stars), or just hedonistic self-indulgence is what caused this hardship in his life, it is not specified.
Regardless, the colors of life have become dull and grey, he is a passive actor, yet is dragging his friends and loved ones into the dirt with him. But this is not the end, and transfers the song into one of rebirth and learning. The dull landscape and fading light of his current life are counterbalanced by his drive to return to "the hollow". In the sense that he is going there "again" it is a return to a youthful/hopeful mindset to counteract the (perhaps self-inflicted) trauma of his past.
So it ends on a somewhat high note, of him accepting how things are, but they are not that way forever. He wishes to go back to his somewhat naive, idyllic, and hopeful past where he wasn't hardened by the decisions of adult life and the trials that they bring.
I think the evaluation of what "heart" means in this context is probably a personal one. Was it him regaining his "heart" in a somewhat literal poetic sense (i.e. romantically). The references to a woman could bear that out on a literal level, however it could be simply a poetic device. The woman could be his muse, his love for music, his love for a literal woman, his passions in general, his world view, etc.
Coal is softer than diamond, which has been hardened by pressure and time- much like he laments in this song. However, as with the "woman" poetic device, his "heart" could also be passion for life, zeal for his craft, etc. which makes this a much broader and more applicable song than someone learning to love again, rather he is learning to love himself and restore validity and passion to what he once valued in life.
I admit that this may be on the more biased side of meanings, just due to the circumstances. In 2018 I received a double lung transplant, and had complications that left me in the hospital for over 6 months, the majority of it being unable to see well, walk, eat, drink, speak or even lift my arms. As one can imagine, I needed a lot of rehab to walk normally again, and every day I listened to a playlist where this song was probably the most prominent. I wasn't able to listen to this song for like 2 years after because it was tied to a time of like struggle, turmoil, etc. So here goes....
The first two stanza I view of like implied melancholy towards a time in his youth where he has an idyllic nostalgia. The very words and amateurish poetry/singing of children is reaffirmed in his memory as a spiritual experience. From death, to the joy of marriage, this youthful nostalgia encompassed it all, but was it just that?
Did the choices he made, that he looked back on with such idealism and love, actually precipitate this very real environment that he lives in as an adult, that we all know is filled not with just those joyful youthful aspirations (referenced later) but also suffering, hard choices, and things that cannot be anticipated, like a machine operating not only outside their control but they are not even a true operator in how it pans out.
He can feel this, and blames his own actions. Whether the "starfall" he experienced was a single event, the continuous act of fighting destiny and the machinations of fate (the stars), or just hedonistic self-indulgence is what caused this hardship in his life, it is not specified.
Regardless, the colors of life have become dull and grey, he is a passive actor, yet is dragging his friends and loved ones into the dirt with him. But this is not the end, and transfers the song into one of rebirth and learning. The dull landscape and fading light of his current life are counterbalanced by his drive to return to "the hollow". In the sense that he is going there "again" it is a return to a youthful/hopeful mindset to counteract the (perhaps self-inflicted) trauma of his past.
So it ends on a somewhat high note, of him accepting how things are, but they are not that way forever. He wishes to go back to his somewhat naive, idyllic, and hopeful past where he wasn't hardened by the decisions of adult life and the trials that they bring.
I think the evaluation of what "heart" means in this context is probably a personal one. Was it him regaining his "heart" in a somewhat literal poetic sense (i.e. romantically). The references to a woman could bear that out on a literal level, however it could be simply a poetic device. The woman could be his muse, his love for music, his love for a literal woman, his passions in general, his world view, etc.
Coal is softer than diamond, which has been hardened by pressure and time- much like he laments in this song. However, as with the "woman" poetic device, his "heart" could also be passion for life, zeal for his craft, etc. which makes this a much broader and more applicable song than someone learning to love again, rather he is learning to love himself and restore validity and passion to what he once valued in life.
[Edit: clarity]