Myth

These are the ACTUAL lyrics as transcribed from the album's e-booklet:

Drifting in and out You see what road you’re on It came rolling down your cheek You say just what you mean And in between it’s never as it seems

Help me to name it Help me to name it

If you built yourself a myth You’d know just what to give What comes after this Momentary bliss, the consequence Of what you do to me

Help me to name it Help me to name it

Found yourself in a new direction Arrows falling from the sun Canyon calling Would they come to greet you Let you know you’re not the only one

Can’t keep hanging on to what is dead and gone If you build yourself a myth You’d know just what to give Materialize Or let the ashes fly

Help me to name it Help me to name it

I don't know what it means. But I wanted to share what it means to me

I lost the love of my life, my soulmate, 5 months ago. He died suddenly and unexpectedly during the night sleeping beside me. He was 26 and we've been together since the start of highschool

To me, this song explains a lot of what I am feeling. I am the type to put on a smiley face for everyone, and deal with my grief in my own privacy, in the home we shared

"Drifting in and out You see the road you're on"

This is what it feels like. I drift in and out of reality, I know it's denial but it's comfortable there. It's easier to think he is just away on business and he'll be home soon. But I drift in and out of that and often I realize the lonely road I am on and future I face

"Help me to name it" I don't know what label to put on myself. I wasn't married, even though we were together for 12 years. I'm not technically a widow. I don't want to be anyway. But I don't know what to name it..

"If you built yourself a myth You’d know just what to give What comes after this Momentary bliss, the consequence Of what you do to me"

This brings me to the loneliness part. I've thought about moving on, meeting someone else, so that I don't have to be lonely anymore, a companion and someone to love me. Then I worry about the guilt, regret. Would it feel like I was cheating on my fiance? So if I build myself a myth, what comes after the momentary bliss? The consequence of what it would do to me?

"Found yourself in a new direction" "Can't keep hanging on To what is dead and gone If you built yourself a myth You'd know just what to give Materialize Or let the ashes fly"

I suppose I can't keep hanging on to what is dead and gone. I have his ashes in our house and have agonized about what I should do. I don't know whether to keep him home with me forever, or let his ashes fly.

Anyway, that's just what the song means to me Mila x

(verbatim from the song booklet)

drifting in and out you see the road you're on It came rolling down the cheek you say just what you mean and in between it's never as it seems

help me to name it, help me to name it

if you built yourself a myth you'd know just what to give what comes after this momentary bliss the consequence of what you do to me

help me to name it help me to name it

found yourself in a new direction arrows falling from the sun canyons calling would they come to greet you let you know you're not the only one

can't keep hanging on to what is dead and gone

if you built yourself a myth you'd know just what to give materialize or let the ashes fly

help me to name it help me to name it

Always makes me feel happy sad... I feel good.

"Found yourself in a new direction"

• That time in your twenties when you're out of school and, hence, in a new direction in your life, the road to adulthood.

"Arrows falling from the sun"

• You find out the "real world" can be a scary place and you can be attacked from all sides. (More responsibilities, lifestyle changes, loss of direction)

"Canyon calling, would they come to greet you?"

• This new direction seems overwhelming, the golden years are slipping away, and time is running out. The canyon is calling and you want to run away to the hills, thinking it would solve your problems. Will they?

"Let you know you're not the only one"

• After running away, you realize everyone else is going through the same thing. You're not alone and everything is going to be alright.

In terms of interpretation, here is my general feeling on the song.

The song seems to point at the beginning or ending of a new relationship, it's not necessarily one that was romantic, it would also be applicable to changing life situations.

The opening verse --- This is a description of travel, road, drifting. Often in our lives we "awaken" to the direction we're heading, we don't have a clear sense of where/when it began. When we finally reach a destination, it often seems to never be what we though it was.

The chorus ---- I really have the impression this is a comment on the stories we used to have explain how we got here, why we're here, what we're doing. Myths are developed in order to give a sense meaning to our lives but the frightening part is that we no longer perceive myths as a type of truth...Instead, our current mindset is that myths are essentially made up realities, something we can just "assign" ourselves. The frightening part is to wonder what it means, beng able to assign such stories to ourselves, can we easily just wipe away our pasts with something we made up?

(A more literal translation, is simply that being in a new relationship, you have to construct a myth for how you got there. This way you'll exactly "what to give" --- What to provide for each other in the relationship)

The final verses --- This again returns to the idea that the song is not about "one" intimate relationship but the course that a person's life is taking. I imagine that being on the road and traveling for a band puts her in the position of seeing all kinds of beautiful things. She imagines that the canyons letting her know, "you're not the only who is confused about where you're going" The irony is of course, canyon's don't move, there is no direction for canyon's to go. So perhaps, on some level the ending:

"No use hanging on, to what is dead and gone"

When we're hanging on to things, looking for direction, waiting for myths to give us instruction...We simply stop moving, we don't progress, evolve or change...We cannot transform or in the case of the album title. We cannot "Bloom"....

Whoever wrote this song is aware of the fact that we are not alone in this universe.

It's a great song by quite an impressive band. The best line is "Can't keep hanging on to all that's dead and gone." Amen

Man I love this song and it came at the right moment in my life.

So much of life is built on myths. We build our lives based on what we are told is "Truth". In reality they are merely truths with a small 't'. But as people we need myths. We need myths to define our existence, to define why we chose to turn right instead of left, or to understand why we are who we are. People ultimately come to embrace myths in order to survive.

Now for me personally, I need to see the truth to my own myths. At this moment, I am questioning the notion of choosing my career path of pursuing a Ph.D. I've come to find that maybe this path I chose for myself is all a myth. All the glorious anecdotes describing "living the life of the mind" is just nothing more than a myth. Why? Many of my friends who only graduated with a BAs are living fruitful lives that are not consumed with stress, with insecurities, fears for future employment, politics that rival the Roman Empire, and anything else that comes the academy. Unlike me, they don't feel guilty on the weekends for sleeping in, but instead are able to spend time for themselves and their family -- which I have put off to follow this myth. Thus, the song has helped me to see the road I'm on: It is the one that slides down my cheek as I write.

Btw, I love the lyric, "help me to name it." The only way we are able to make sense of the myth is through the people we trust, love, and/or respect. These people are able to help us to name the "myth," to name the choices we made so that we may be able to see it more clearer or let it fade away into the ether it spawned from.

Hell of a song. Thanks Beach House!

Drifting in and out You see the road you're on It came rolling down your cheek You say just what you mean And in between it's never as it seems [[ Happy/Painful meandering direction of their relationship, but all based on his truth yet reality is not the same. (deception of his myth breaks through) ]]

Help me to name it Help me to name it [[ The myth is his concept of their relationship, but she wants to help him to find what their love really is ]]

If you built yourself a myth You'd know just what to give What comes after this momentary bliss The consequence of what you do to me

[[ His relationship is an exaggerated idealism, his mythical interpretation of their love is briefly beautiful, but it is untenable, he hurts her because she can't fulfill that dream, and that hurting has consequence ... ]]

Found yourself in a new direction Arrows falling from the sun Canyon calling would they come to greet you Let you know you're not the only one

[[ ... she finds herself drifting away the metaphoric cupid's arrow is now landing far away would they embrace her where she is heading for ]]

Can't keep hanging on To what is dead and gone If you built yourself a myth You'd know just what to give Materialize Or let the ashes fly

[[ This is her last desperate message to him before it all crumbles: he can't hold on to something which never existed, he must manifest his real love for her or let it all go ]]