All We Have Is Now

I agree for the most part with Vertigo22’s interpretation of the lyrics, however, I think this song is primarily about braking up. People often brake up, because they don’t think their relationship has any future. So it is if to say you’ve seen into the future, and you know that your relationship will not last. I think the commentary to this song is just that its weird how so much of how we act or what we do in life is in anticipation of what will happen in the future, which is a pretty presumptuous way to live since, nobody knows what the future holds. Anyway, just a guess!

"the sci-fi shit is a bit of a stretch"?

A bit of a stretch? From an album whose title song is about fighting pink robots that are going to "eat me"? It's a smart sci-fi song, and why not, I say!

I see the sci-fi stuff as just a means for Wayne to talk about what he wants to - live in the moment. He presents a situation, "What if someone came from the future and said 'The world will end' ?"

Wayne is trying to say, look, nothing changes. Your whole life you've only had the present. Live in it. What the future brings doesn't change anything. Or at least it shouldn't change anything.

'massofclouds' and 'ripelivejam' seem to be on the right track. The narrative isn't as important as the impression made by the repetitive chorus: "We must live in the moment". The song uses a science fiction story as a platform to approach existential problems and universal concerns facing everybody. What can I say, The Flaming Lips love to do that kind of stuff.  
This song expands on the theme of mortality from "It's Summertime" and "Do You Realize??".  "It's Summertime" tells us to embrace the world around us and asks us to leave the past/inner turmoil behind. "Do You Realize??" confronts the listener with the inevitability of death looming in the future and tells us go with the natural rhythm of the world; to love the people in our lives while we can.   
Considering these other songs, "All We Have Is Now" acts as a summation.  Without the worries of the past and future, THAT is what we are left with. Perhaps we are supposed to empathize with this character who is told that they can't wait for a future to live out their aspirations. That would make sense. D.Y.R. tells the listener we can't live forever the same way that the 'stranger from the future' confronts himself. 
I'm not rejecting the other points of view. People are supposed to interject themselves into the music they listen to, however, several of the interpretation listed seem to be sparked by the dejected tone of the song. Ignoring the verses and focusing on the phrase, "We're not going to make it", makes it easy to believe the song is discussing a relationship reaching a dead-end.

Most people seem to be on the right track, though I never thought it was about a relationship until others brought it up. Originally, I imagined it was a man talking to the entire world; the song doesn't really say that. But I had this picture in my head of a crowd, standing around a man who appeared out of nowhere in a time machine, telling everyone, "how the end will come."

So when he says "you and me were never meant to be part of the future," he's not talking directly to past-him, or to his lover, or to anyone. He's saying that we shouldn't worry about the future, because its only a matter of time before all things end. Nothing lasts forever, so "all we have is now." It's quite an interesting philosophical statement, and it was put quite beautifully.

This song ties in really well to the song "Evil" in the Embryonic album. In this one, he's listening to himself from the future, talking about something bad that will happen. In "Evil" he wants to go back in time and tell someone (himself? his lover? the world in general?) about something bad that has happened. They both have slower, calmer moods to them; they're almost sister songs.

Oh, I love this song...."All we have is now" sums it up.

oh wow. i get goosebumps.

This song is so wonderful. Very self-explanitory. Don't take your time for granted

strangly powerfull for a Flaming Lips song..."you and me were never meant, to be part of the future"

freakin great work

I think it's fairly obvious what this song is about...it's very sci-fi. If I understand it correctly, his future self tells him that something terrible will happen because of him. He says 'you and me' because it's him. He's talking to the future version of himself. And so, he has to die. Hence...

"I noticed that he had a watch and hat That looked familiar He was me - from a dimension torn free Of the future"

It's him, from the near/far future...and the world is in ruins, or is about to be turned into ruins.

"We're not gonna make it" He explained how the end will come - You and me were never meant to be part of the future - "

'We're not gonna make it'...we're gonna die.

You and me were never meant to be part of the future'...maybe he's referring to how people say that everything in life happens for a reason. Their reason was, apparently, to die.

' All we have is now - All we've ever had was now All we have is now All we'll ever have is now - '

Pretty self explanatory if you read the rest of what I wrote. He'll never see the future, because he'll be dead. Strange, because his future self has seen the future, but HE won't.

Awesome song...one of the Flaming Lips' best...lyrically at least.