You can make a plan
Carve it into stone
Like a feather falling
It is still unknown
Until the clock speaks up
Says it's time to go
You can choose the high
Or the lower road
You might clench your fist
You might fork your tongue
As you curse or praise
All the things you've done
And the faders move
And the music dies
As we pass over
On the arc of time

So you nurse your love like a wounded dove
In the covered cage of night
Every star is crossed by frenetic thoughts
That separate and then collide
And they twist like sheets until you fall asleep
Then they finally unwind
It's a black balloon
It's a dream you'll soon deny

I hear if you make friends
With Jesus Christ
You will get right up
From that chalk outline
And you'll get dolled up
And you'll dress in white
All to take your place
In his chorus line

And then in you'll come with those marching drums
In a saintly compromise
No more whisky slurs, no more blonde haired girls
For your whole eternal life
And you'll do the dance that was choreographed
At the very dawn of time
See, I told you son
The day would come

You will die, you die, you die, you die
You will die, you die, you die, you die
You will die, you die, you die, you die
You will die, you die, you die

To the deepest part of the human heart
The fear of death expands
Until we crack the code we have always known
But could never understand
On a circuit board we will soon be born

Again and again and again and again
And again and again and again and again
And again and again and again and again
And again and again and again and again



Lyrics submitted by elishacuthbertfan

Track duration: 03:54


Arc of Time song meanings
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81 Comments

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  • -1
    General Comment: I think that most of you are missing to whole point that Conor Oberst has tried to make again and again. The music he writes isn't for you enjoyment (although, I enjoy his music very much and I'm sure he's glad that people to enjoy it), it's for himself and the message that he wants people to hear.
    If you look at the title of this album, you can pretty much guess what it is about; how our world has become digital, such as digital ash in a digital urn. Even death doesn't mean what it used to. Now instead of actually taking the time to go to someones grave site to pay your respects, just simply go online to and send them digital flowers at their digital grave.
    This song specifically is about the internet. "and the music dies as we pass over on the arc of time" refers to the how we aren't actually feeling, just pretending to feel on the internet. we live in this fantasy land of the grand vastness and escape of the internet."No more whiskey slurs no more blonde hair girls for your whole eternal life", once again repeating my point that we lose our reality. and the whole last verse talks of how we have been able to create the new great lives on the internet and be whoever we want to be, and if things don't turn out how you'd like, doesn't matter, make a new page, start again. I could keep going, but I doubt that most of you have even gotten this far on my little essay, seeing as the internet has trained our brains to go on to the next subject as fast as possible, and if you have to read, it's just going to slow you down, so what's the point.
    Flag Camillutzon October 05, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:everyone criticized this song for being too "poppy". I don't see it at all. Sure it is upbeat, but he is talking about his opinions on death here, which is not really different from a lot of other songs by Bright Eyes. Also the instrumentation is some of the best I have heard from them.
    Flag supernukeon August 06, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:LOVE THE DRUMS
    Flag lainehon March 28, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song depresses me tremendously. i don't ever want conor to die.
    obviously, conor has a great fear of death. it is expressed throughout the whole song.

    this makes me sick and sad.

    pass over on the arc of time- death.

    also references to the fear everyone has of dying
    Flag jennijayneon March 17, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I've just listened to this song for the first time and only half-read the lyrics, but to me it seems like it is at least partly about the fact that, no matter how you choose to live your life, we all die in the end...
    Flag SunriseSunseton February 10, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:When I've considered the shape of time I've never thought of it as an arc. So he must be talking about not time as a whole, but a smaller segment, or an "arc of time." So basically then it's about individual lives and as people have said before, escaping things that aren't constant, like time, plans and the future. And your life is "the dream you'll soon deny," because that too is not a constant. As he says, it's just a black balloon that passes over the arc of time. And I think that people often think of death as a constant. Because when everything's changing and unsure death is something people can rely on as being steady and comforting. That's why he mentions Jesus (sardonically) because so many people take comfort in "seeing him" after death or whatever. But I think Conor's saying that death is just another adventure, and it's definitely not a constant.

    The whole point of this song is that we know nothing and we can never be certain, and we are fools to think otherwise. When he repeats "you will die" it's to make it seem certain, to try to trick you. But what Conor's really trying to say is don't let them trick you. I mean yeah, you'll die for sure, but as he later goes on to say "on a circuit board we will soon be born again." I remember in another song him saying something similar, "and return to that which gave birth to me." He's talking about the same thing I think. I know what I think he's talking about, but that's up to you to decide. And I really doubt Conor is atheist. He doesn't seem religious but I can almost assure you that he's spiritual.
    Flag suzy137on July 18, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:although oberst is an atheist ,as so am i, he is not saying he is against religion, he is however for people finding there personal truth whether it be religion or getting drunk on nyquil. he is saying that religion or god isnt what he believes in or wants for himself.
    Flag leavingon March 08, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i thought this song was about reincarnation and the absurdity of heaven. The fact that a place that is supposed to be the epitome of happiness doesnt contain "whiskey slurs" or "blonde haired girls" makes it seem like the idea of heaven is just boring. The only possibility besides being food for worms is just to be born "again and again and again."
    Flag peaceandharmonyon March 01, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is about life itself. You can plan whatever you want to plan, but in the end life is just gonna run its course, whatever that may be. I think the "again again again" lyrics at the end are alluding to the fact that life goes on. This same cycle is going to happen again, again and again.
    Flag angelle2on January 22, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:with all this talk about his meaning about the afterlife, it's definitely satirical. he said at a show, in reference to hell, that he doesn't believe in "all that stuff".
    Flag himynameisbiancaon November 18, 2007   Link

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