this song is gorgeous. i'm not sure if i follow the meaning but it's just put together very, very nicely....amazing ending as well! this song definitely seems to be the stand-out.

I can't decide if this song or "Neighborhood #4" is my favorite song on this album. But this one is certainly awesome. I think it's about people scaring kids by telling them stories about sleep. But I'm not really sure.

The lie is from people who say you will die if you don't sleep. He's urging us to rebel by giving up sleep. Hence both the sun and the moon are alright and you shouldn't hide from either by sleeping.

fucken brilliant song

I'm thinking wrat is right. "Scare your son, scare your daughter," by telling them that they will die if they don't get enough sleep.

I love the nostalgia that this band brings about. I'm seeing them December 10th with the Weakerthans and I'm so excited.

i saw them november 19th. brah, you're in for something special, i've never seen an audience so happy.

i saw them last night and it's the best performance i've seen in as long as i can remember. i was told their live show was what they were known for but man, you have no idea.

Letting fears and people's overcautious advice keep you from living...

Everyone pretty much sum up the song really well. Just wanted to say that the "lies" part is the voice of those who refuse to believe what he is saying. He's pretty much telling everyone to stay awake, that they'll be okay, you'll live, but everyone have been pounded with the idea of death if you don't sleep that they're saying liar, that's not true.

Overall, such a great song, such a great album.

I think this song is about how hard it is to live outside what is accepted for people to do. Rebelling against the heavy, layered bulk that is proposed to us, as aphorisms or truisms, as things to live by. La resistance.

Yes, you guys are right about the observation with the sun and the moon. It's the typical parent thing to tell their kids to get a good night's sleep, cuz they need it to live, and this is just one example of scaremongering that parents use to give their kids structure and evoke what they think is important.

I don't think this song is just about sleep or water or whatever other metaphors they use. At its core, this album is about childhood naiveness and how you viewed things back then. It's about how you grow up and look back on it all once you've been met with the real world. How have your controlling parents and your struggle with growing emotions shaped you?

This song in particular is a good example because it makes things very obvious with the simple song structure. This message makes thing particularily clear:

"People say that you'll die
faster than without water.
But we know it's just a lie,
scare your son, scare your daughter."

come on hide your lovers
underneath the covers.
sigh....

IMO it's about not wanting to die.

"Sleeping Is Giving In"

yea, i think that a lot of people had the idea that this song is about how not sleeping doesnt kill you, and i think that's a too literal view of this song, I mean, if you dont sleep, your body will pass out in exaustion, I think that the message is using a metaphor, and sleeping represents closing your eyes to the horror's of the system and our world, and that the people in power want you to just 'fall asleep' and blindly accept the world you live in, but this song is saying that we need to wake up and realize what's going on and take action.

The explicit meaning is definitely about parents convincing their children that they’ll die without sleep. I think the implicit meaning is what comes into question (as it usually does). I think that sleep represents a comforting view of his current circumstances that he falls into when reality is too harsh. “People say that your dreams are the only things that save ya.” He’s hiding from reality by sleeping, but knows that his dreams are just lies.

I think doughbro is right that sleep is a metaphor for just tuning out the problems of the world. The song is saying that it's tempting to give in and close your eyes so you don't have to feel the pain of the world around you, but even though that might be the easier thing to do it's not necessarily right. when it says "people say you'll die faster than without water But we know it's just a lie. Scare your son, scare your daughter" it means that we are encouraged by society not to question our world and that there are so many problems in it that if you opened your eyes to face them you would metaphorically die. When it talks about how people hide the light, the night, lovers, etc. underneath the covers it means that people depend on a false sense of security and comfort blinding them from reality so they can feel safe and happy. The point of the song is pretty much that it's fine if you want to just tune everything out. You'll probably be happier that way "Now here's the sun, it's alright. Now here's the moon, it's alright" But you just have to realize that that's not how things really are and there's a bigger picture that might not be as pleasant. "every time you close your eyes (Lies)"

man..bodacious song.. can't repeat it enough times.

Also, look at the title. If it was really about sleep the title would have something to do with sleep.

this song is about the tension between striving for a new world and existing in the current one. in this consumeristic Western world, our culture encourages us to sleep (see cowbrain's anaylsis of this) so that we aren't aware of the atrocities that are happening to support our ways of life. so, we must keep our eyes open-even if they are weary from seeing so much. it is our _responsibility_ as human beings to do so.

People say that your dreams
are the only things that save ya.
Come on baby in our dreams,
we can live our misbehavior.

yet-we must be able to envision-dream-of a better way to live. Action without vision only produces more destruction-only perpetuates the cultural violence present throughout our world. "in our dreams, we can live our misbehaviors"->we can imagine a new world which dominant culture has done a horredously good job of demonizing as "misbehaving."

the tension between our culture and change is presented again through the chorus. "everytime we close our eyes (lies, lies!)". here win's talking about the struggle of dreaming when everyone around you will brush you aside as an idealist. i hear the dominant culture's voice in the "lies, lies" telling me that it is fruitless to search for something better, telling me that i should just shut my eyes and give in, but that's giving in-and we must never give in.

this tension goes deeper though-because it is easy to simply dream of a better world and again get stuck in passivity and compliance. dreaming, too, becomes a form of giving in, and yet it is impossible to dream without sleep (unless you're daydreaming...), so simply by removing yourself from the world to find something better, you are necessarily removing yourself. the trick is to find the balance between acting and dreaming.

i think that Win is presenting several different manners in which we hide from the culture-underneath the covers. win is setting up another tension between stanzas 5-8 (which are presenting the listener with manner's in which we both hide from the culture-and the necessity of that hiding to rejuvinate yourself in the struggle) and the final call and responses:
Now here's the sun, it's alright! (Lies!)
Now here's the moon, it's alright! (Lies!)
Now here's the sun, it's alright! (Lies!)
Now here's the moon it's alright (Lies!)
whereas the stanzas that describe lovers, brothers, night and light hiding (or being hid) underneath the covers all function under the idea of fear, these final lines are the great realization that we don't have to be afraid to be who we are during the day, night, with our lovers, or with our family. again, dominant culture is there in the backgroud yelling that that freedom is all lies.

when we are free, our world lives wherever we are so long as we are willing to see the world for what it is.

while mostly agree with cowbrain's analysis, i wholeheartedly disagree with his/her statement that "The point of the song is pretty much that it's fine if you want to just tune everything out. You'll probably be happier that way "

i feel s/he missing the whole point of the cd (no offense cowbrain)-we cannot tune everything out. we must "Wake Up" because "the power's out in the heart of man." our generation has been lulled into submission. you have to "take it from your heart and put it in your hand" (it being shared feelings) and we musn't be afraid to live. We mustn't be afraid to see.

The song title is Rebellion (Lies). The rebellion is against this sleeping in. It is against "tuning everything out." It is a rebellion for feeling when our culture is increasingly telling us that we should "like the peace in the backseat" and remain "underneath the covers"-passive and uncaring (a numbness described in Wake Up and Power Out).

This song ties the rest of the cd together. A masterpiece.

I meant more that it's tempting to close your eyes and that that's the easier thing to do, not than that it's ok. So yeah, I disagree with my previous statement too.

i agree with the sleeping is giving in thing, as in, that means dont shy away from the world because its getting difficult, or lifes flames engulf you.... lol some of you took it way too literally

i agree with the sleeping is giving in thing, as in, that means dont shy away from the world because its getting difficult, or lifes flames engulf you.... lol some of you took it way too literally

jcrewnen, you said it very well. AMAZING SONG!

VIVA LA REVOLUCION.

yeah.

You know, we could hold comparisions between this song and "The Matrix". I'm seeing many similarities that are, well, so clear that it would be quite unnecessary to actually point them out...

But, with this song, I kinda get the feeling that's it's saying that it's okay to balance your sleep and awake. That one can still dream, but must also be realistic. And that it's not entirely just saying "wake up". I mean... "So here's the sun, that's alright. So here's the moon, that's alright."

I mean, we do need some sleep in order to survive...

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