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You were born inside of a raindrop
I watched you falling
To your death
And the sun
Well it could not save you
From falling down to, now the streets are wet
Body of water, toxic and timeless
Atlantic ocean, new york skyline
I always get lost
When I leave the village
So couldnt come meet you in brooklyn last night
But I sing glory from my lowest
And I will say peace
To the people like me
While the world waits for an explosion
That instant of light that wipes the slate clean
So don't be fooled
So don't be lied to
Love was always cruel
Don't act strange
Don't be a stranger
It happened to me now it's happening to you
But if you take that train under water then we could talk it through
Well if I could tame all of my desires
Wait out the weather
That howls in my brain
Because it seems
That it's always changing
The wind's indecision, a sorrowful breeze
I was a postcard
I was a record
I was a camera
Until I went blind
Now I'm riding all over this island
Looking for something to open my eyes
But we still sing glory
From a highrise
And I will say thanks if you're pouring my drinks
While the world waits for an explosion
That moment in time when we are set free
Well don't stay mad
Just let some time pass
And in the morning you'll wake feeling new
And if I don't come back
I mean if I get sidetracked
Its only cause I wanted to
Keeping up with the moon on an all-night avenue
I watched you falling
To your death
And the sun
Well it could not save you
From falling down to, now the streets are wet
Body of water, toxic and timeless
Atlantic ocean, new york skyline
I always get lost
When I leave the village
So couldnt come meet you in brooklyn last night
But I sing glory from my lowest
And I will say peace
To the people like me
While the world waits for an explosion
That instant of light that wipes the slate clean
So don't be fooled
So don't be lied to
Love was always cruel
Don't act strange
Don't be a stranger
It happened to me now it's happening to you
But if you take that train under water then we could talk it through
Well if I could tame all of my desires
Wait out the weather
That howls in my brain
Because it seems
That it's always changing
The wind's indecision, a sorrowful breeze
I was a postcard
I was a record
I was a camera
Until I went blind
Now I'm riding all over this island
Looking for something to open my eyes
But we still sing glory
From a highrise
And I will say thanks if you're pouring my drinks
While the world waits for an explosion
That moment in time when we are set free
Well don't stay mad
Just let some time pass
And in the morning you'll wake feeling new
And if I don't come back
I mean if I get sidetracked
Its only cause I wanted to
Keeping up with the moon on an all-night avenue
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You were born inside of a raindrop
I watched you falling
To your death
Generally, as humans we are Raindrops. Our ego is a raindrop, and we are all falling to our death.
Body of water, toxic and timeless
When conor talks about bodies of water or oceans, to me it feels like he is speaking of the afterlife, "Nothingness" "Everything", and/or being at one with the universe.
While the world waits for an explosion
That instant of light that wipes the slate clean
So don't be fooled
So don't be lied to
Love was always cruel
The world, our world, is simply waiting to die. We fool ourselves into believing in some crazy ideology that will give us eternal happiness, but in the end we are nothing, everything, and / or at one with the universe. The universe, being love, but love is cruel in that it always ends, but there is potential for it to start up again.
Don't act strange
Don't be a stranger
It happened to me now it's happening to you
But if you take that train under water then we could talk it through
"Strange" maybe referring to organized religion, filling your head with fanciful thoughts. Conor has already had death happen to him, possibly through Ego Death. Taking the train under water is possibly referencing how when we get high and start talking philosophy, we will often be able to intuitively feel and understand how these abstract mechanisms work. It's as if we are experiencing the afterlife (being within the ocean) while still in our vessel / body (the train) but losing our ego, at least for the time that we are thinking about it, or as long as we are in that altered high state of mind.
Well if I could tame all of my desires
Wait out the weather
That howls in my brain
Because it seems
That it's always changing
The wind's indecision, a sorrowful breeze
This is fairly obvious, all of the weather being his emotions jumping all over the place.
I was a postcard
I was a record
I was a camera
Until I went blind
Now I'm riding all over this island
Looking for something to open my eyes
Now this part... this is where I go a little insane...
I have two explanations for this.
Conor was a postcard, a record, a camera, as we all are. We have a sense of self, an ego. What this means, to me, is that Conor lost all of that. He went blind, thereby losing his ego and sense of self by becoming enlightened, thereby either making him a philosophical zombie, or more of just simply enlightened. He is traveling the earth in order to feel at home here again, in order to find one thing to lock him down into reality rather than just travelling the cosmos in his head.
In general, the song is about how our ego is just an illusion, it's fleeting, and it actually hinders us in many ways. There is the possibility that in the future, none of us will even exist on a conscious level, and therefore life has no meaning, except the meaning that we create right now, every day. There is no point in fighting it, so it just makes sense to make the best of it.
You were born inside of a raindrop
I watched you falling
To your death
And the sun
Well it could not save you
From falling down to, now the streets are wet
I think he is talking about a girl that he is having kind of a casual fling or a friends with benefits situation. She is a person who messes up a lot or does things that he can't save her or she can't or won't let herself be saved from the "Born inside of a rain drop and I watched you falling to your death" at this point she is set in her ways and even the best of people (the sun) can't help her, so now the streets are wet (either tears or consequences)
Body of water, toxic and timeless- (he sees love as sometimes toxic but also time less because he has had these sort of toxic relationships before)
Atlantic ocean, new york skyline- he feels in a way that love and pain go hand and hand like the Atlantic and the New York skyline.
I always get lost
When I leave the village
So couldnt come meet you in brooklyn last night - His better judgement tell him to keep her at arms length and stay in his comfort zone which is probably why he tries to keep it casual. He doesn't want to feels lost and though he kind of likes her be won't meet her half way "meet you in Brooklyn"
maybe he told her not to fall for him, that this was just a fling and she fell for him anyways and he is struggling with the fact that he likes her but doesn't want to do this, run the risk of getting hurt if it turns out bad.
But I sing glory from my lowest
And I will say peace
To the people like me
While the world waits for an explosion
That instant of light that wipes the slate clean- so it leaves him feeling despondent, and numb "his lowest" so he goes out all night and spends time with people just like him that are all hoping or wanting clean slates, he feels at peace in bars or being out because he doesn't have to face his feelings.
So don't be fooled
So don't be lied to
Love was always cruel
Don't act strange
Don't be a stranger
It happened to me now it's happening to you
But if you take that train under water then we could talk it through- She has this unrealistic view of love/relationships and how they work "don't be fooled" maybe she is naive and believes love is like the movies. maybe she believed they would just fall in love but it's not that simple and she is starting to come to terms or the conclusion he has already come to, that "love was always cruel" but now she is being distant and "acting strange" because it wasn't what she thought. He wants to help her and work things out but wants it on his terms for her to "take that train under water " and come to his side or way of thinking.
Well if I could tame all of my desires
Wait out the weather
That howls in my brain
Because it seems
That it's always changing
The wind's indecision, a sorrowful breeze -At times he feel he really loves her, at times he feels like it's just sex, his "Desire". he wants to "wait out" the lust and see if it's love, loneliness or worth him investing in and it makes him sad that he can't just give her an answer.
I was a postcard
I was a record
I was a camera
Until I went blind
Now I'm riding all over this island
Looking for something to open my eyes- again he is used to keeping people far way the "postcard" going round people instead of letting them in the "record" and watching people through the glass, to see the situation or focus clearly and the "camera " but now he is blind and can't make sense of it so he goes for rides to clear his head, or try to think and open his eyes about what he should do.
But we still sing glory
From a highrise
And I will say thanks if you're pouring my drinks
While the world waits for an explosion
That moment in time when we are set free - he goes to parties or just out and tries to maintain that he is a good person with good intentions but he wishes he could just be free of the expectation to be more then what they are. he wants it to be uncomplicated and to just let it be.
Well don't stay mad
Just let some time pass
And in the morning you'll wake feeling new
And if I don't come back
I mean if I get sidetracked
Its only cause I wanted to
Keeping up with the moon on an all-night avenue- he knows that she is upset with him, he hopes that in time she won't see it the way she does. he wants her to understand that it's too hard for him and something he can't do right now. He is trying to figure out if maybe it isn't just better for her if he leaves, it he doesn't want her to think it's her "it's only cause I wanted to" and again he goes out all night to try to get his head straight.
Maybe I'm just reading too much into it, but this is the story that plays out in my head when I hear this song. emotions are never easy or uncomplicated so it would stand to reason that the lyrics wouldn't wrap up nicely. But that is what I love about Connor and bright eyes the lyrics are so raw and sang to the point you really feel it and relate. I know this was really long.
I've been saying "Goddamn, makes me cry" to anybody wholl listen...
anybody?
And then continues to expand by mentioning the “Atlantic Ocean/New York Sky Line,” like what he got out of this one little thing seemed to expand over time, it could have been a number of things; I would assume a personal problem that just got into a bigger and bigger dilemma. And couldn’t be blocked out any more because it just takes up so much space and obstructs what’s in front of him, it’s almost become a part of the speaker. It’s become such a problem it’s rubbing off on other people.
The train underwater could be a metaphor for going/doing something in order to fix a wrong, yet the way to come about the solution is seemingly impossible. If he could just get to that one step everything could be solved and all those “raindrops” would be cleared. And if only these toxic thoughts could be contained and rationalized in a sense then all the wrongs would be solved and all his feelings of guilt and loss of self would be put back into order, making him whole again.
My best guess at the “I was a postcard, I was a record
I was a camera until I went blind
Now I’m riding all over this island
Looking for something to open my eyes”
Means that he thought he was all of these things, going through the motions of personal changes and inner feelings, until he looks all over the “island” - himself l trying to find himself.
a quick google search tells me this song was on a couple bootlegs before 2005:
2003 - Austin City Limits Festival
2003.04.10 - KCRW Radio Show:
2003.7.16 - Sokol Underground, Omaha, Nebraska
2004.2.28 - Live at Lupo's at the Strand, Providence, RI
2004.11.15 - Munchen
that probably explains it