Camera One

I always saw this song as being not about celebrities acting,but how so many of us in the "real world" havetry to to be something or someone we're not,as a means of coping with being unable to accept the actual role life has handed us - but when the day comes when we finally have to be what we truly are("you're playing you now"),we're not successful at it. Imagining yourself as something/someone better can provide the confidence to face life sometimes(albeit temporary),but sooner or later you have to play yourself,and that sense of confidence dissipates. The "take a bow" part is ironic because in this case playing onesself is their worst performance.

It's about what lies behind the facade of fame and success. So many people buy into the myth that those things will lead to happiness. "Sightseers see What they want. They're selling star-maps To the sun"

This song is about what happens when these actors and trophy wives are "off camera".

okay, i'm not really taking my time to read other people's comment, so forgive me if someone already said this, but i think this song is about a guy who gets all caught up in the glamour of hollywood, and when he realizes what he was doing, and that everyone is lying to him, he commits suicide.

This song is an allegory.

Each individual is a celebrity in his own mind, and lives and makes decisions based on what he thinks will please others or advance his celebrity status.

This song is about being genuine and true to who we are, and not letting what we percieve as "success" make us someone we're not. It is about pursuing happiness for its own sake, and the gnawing regret we suffer when we don't.

I first heard this song at an important and very difficult time of my life and in that context; it took on great meaning to me. Songs as abstract as this one have, of course, many meanings. Here’s my analysis.

First, the important part of the song is the chorus, not the verse. The chorus contains two critical elements. First, the repeating line “the odds of faith in the face of doubt.” This, of course, is the fundamental question that faces any sentient being. We all have both faith and doubt; faith in our ability to get through our problems, in a promising future, in love, in whatever. In all of us, this faith struggles with doubt, and it’s never entirely clear which will win.

The second repeating line is “camera one closes in…you’re playing you now.” To me, this line has a feeling of inevitability. The camera closes in whether you want it to or not, whether you’re ready for it or not. You must play the part, dance the dance (like Siva Nataraj if you will). We’re all the stars of our own lives (hence, all the sandy haired sons (and daughters) of Hollywood, at least potentially), and trapped in our own lives.

The lyrics track two individuals (the individual in the first and third and verses are the same), both of whom are examples of lost faith. Their reaction is resignation and despair. The person in verses one and three suicides but doesn’t leave a mess. The person in verse two sits and does nothing.

That leaves the guy sitting in his lawn chair by his streets. What’s he doing and who is he to do it? He’s watching people see what they will. I don’t know but I’ve got a feeling he’s God in a Morgan Freeman kind of way. If I was a Christian, I might make something out of the fact that the word “sun” appears in this verse…but I’m not so I won’t.

So my analysis leaves a paradox. The lyrics sound depressing as anything but the song never made me feel depressed, quite the opposite in fact. Why? Well, I think the bright, upbeat melody and tempo carry the mood of the piece. The grim stories serve as cautionary tales of the price of loss of faith. The melody and tempo encourage us, reminding us that loss of faith is a possibility not an inevitability. We’ll be alright. We don’t have to be sandy haired sons of Hollywood or trophy wives.

yea i agree, this is a great song, i wish it would've gotten more play. Josh joplin is a great songwriter.

This is probably the most brilliant song I've ever heard & that's saying something. It's about how everyone's kind of the star of their own movie -- but you don't need to be on the silver screen to be important or relevant. Heck, some people that are on the silver screens aren't even important or relevant & feel that way so that's why they do things like hang themselves on the shower rod. If you're satisfied with yourself, that's all that matters, and you can "take a bow."

"selling star-maps to the sun"... seems to mean that society gives life advice to and perhaps forces opinions each person, though each person already knows how to live his or her life. The sun already knows stars, it doesnt need a map

I don't get the feeling that the son of Hollywood was successful. I think he was either a child star or the son of celebrities that didn't go anywhere. Either way, the song is about people who get pigeion-holed into playing the role that is expected of them insteading of "playing you." The same goes for the prom queen who now wonders if she could have been something more if she hadn't just played the part of a beautiful barbie doll everyone expected her to be.

While I think elpierogigrande's interpretation is awesome, I think it is also literal. The failure who's childhood was based on expectations of being a star now makes his living on those Hollywood memories, making them pathetically inescapable.

Also, the character in the last verse also killed himself. "He never seemed depressed" be he still hung his clothes on the shower rod without getting undressed.

I like the use of the phrase "take a bow." It can represent death, as they chose, or it can mean the end of the role they were playing. They could simply take a curtain call on the role that was expected of them and leave the stage to play themselves.

this guy has really sweet lyrics and writes about really cool stuff like this one how so many people nowadays just act to fit in not really caring about what they really believe as true