This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
We're bound to wait all night
She's bound to run amok
Invested enough in it anyhow
To each his own
The Garden's sorting out
She curls her lips on the bow
I don't know if I'm dead or not
To anyone
Come on and get the minimum
Before you open up your eyes
This army has so many heads
To analyze
Come on and get your overdose
Collect it at the borderline
And they want to get up in your head
'Cause they know and so do I
The high road is hard to find
A detour to your new life
Tell all of your friends goodbye
The dawn to end all nights
That's all we hoped it was
A break from the warfare in your house
To each his own
A soldier is bailing out
He curled his lips on the barrel
And I don't know if the dead can talk
To anyone
Come on and get the minimum
Before you open up your eyes
This army has so many hands
Are you one of us?
Come on and get your overdose
Collect it at the borderline
And they want to get up in your head
'Cause they know and so do I
The high road is hard to find
A detour to your new life
Tell all of your friends goodbye
It's too late to change your mind
You let loss be your guide
It's too late to change your mind
You let loss be your guide
It's too late to change your mind (it's too late to change your mind)
You let loss be your guide
It's too late to change your mind (it's too late to change your mind)
You let loss be your guide
She's bound to run amok
Invested enough in it anyhow
To each his own
The Garden's sorting out
She curls her lips on the bow
I don't know if I'm dead or not
To anyone
Come on and get the minimum
Before you open up your eyes
This army has so many heads
To analyze
Come on and get your overdose
Collect it at the borderline
And they want to get up in your head
'Cause they know and so do I
The high road is hard to find
A detour to your new life
Tell all of your friends goodbye
The dawn to end all nights
That's all we hoped it was
A break from the warfare in your house
To each his own
A soldier is bailing out
He curled his lips on the barrel
And I don't know if the dead can talk
To anyone
Come on and get the minimum
Before you open up your eyes
This army has so many hands
Are you one of us?
Come on and get your overdose
Collect it at the borderline
And they want to get up in your head
'Cause they know and so do I
The high road is hard to find
A detour to your new life
Tell all of your friends goodbye
It's too late to change your mind
You let loss be your guide
It's too late to change your mind
You let loss be your guide
It's too late to change your mind (it's too late to change your mind)
You let loss be your guide
It's too late to change your mind (it's too late to change your mind)
You let loss be your guide
Lyrics submitted by Konversekid, edited by lisa7055, tyrant001, bovee41, greenember, angelkisses696, Kens522, Whodini24, sigma10269, forpAv
The High Road Lyrics as written by James Russell Mercer Brian Joseph Burton
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
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It's too late to change your mind - let loss be your guide.
You live your life. Things happen. Unfair things, your toys get taken. Painful things, accidents. Lustful things. Confusing things. People lost. People ending their lives on purpose. Brief beauty. Disappearing into the mist, then emerging, and on down the road you go. Life is non stop. There's no trying to turn around and change what has happened. You keep walking. Learn from loss and keep going. Finding the high road is hard. But you learn through loss. It becomes your guide. What worked? What didn't. And down the road you go.
Don't understand why anyone would downrate this comment. Beautifully said.
@suomynona This is probably the best/most-eloquent way I've ever seen a song interpreted. LOL, you should do your own blog; great stuff!<br />
@suomynona Had to register after reading! Searched a sentence on google and came to this song , didnt knew it before. Read lyrics ... then read what you wrote. WOW amazing the way you describe it!!!
@suomynona i have a different intepretation. Based on the dao te ching and the general idea that broken bells song often are about enlightenment.<br /> <br /> "Its too late to change your mind - you let loss be your guide"<br /> <br /> Since we cling to things we open up the possibility to lose them. <br /> <br /> You like your coffe cup? It may break<br /> You like your pc? It may break<br /> You found the love of your life? She will eventuall die some day.<br /> <br /> So by clinging to things you let loss be your guide. Because everything you have you will lose someday.<br /> <br /> And things you have some things that you realy love or things that you dont wanna give up, its already to late. As long as you stick to them you let loss be your guide.
For a long time I was wondering what the lyrics of this song meant, the lyrics are so spread out in terms of subject matter that it's hard to tell exactly what they mean, until just now when I listened to it. Here's what I'm thinking: I'm thinking the band says exactly what they mean within the song, when there's the repeated line of "It's too late to change your mind/you let loss be your guide," and all throughout the song there are references of everyone within the song trying to escape from pain. There's a lot of references to suicide and yeah, a bit of drug use in there, and someone mentioned that drug use could be a metaphor for something else, and I think it is, I think it's a metaphor for escapism in general, which only comes about because people want to get away from all the pain and the hurt within their own lives, only to find that in escaping, either they are hurt just as badly if not moreso, and/or they hurt others by escaping, both of which fit within the song. That's just my educated guess, it's a hard song to get through and it's definitely not straightforward, but it's a great one and I can't get enough of it.
I think you hit it right on the head.
I agree; this song is definitely about suicide (for me). Even the chorus "Come on and get your overdose / Collect it at the borderline"... the overdose being escape/oblivion and the borderline being that between life and death. <br /> "A detour to your new life / Tell all of your friends goodbye / The dawn to end all nights / That's all we hoped it was"
I think, from watching the music video, the song is about coping with the apparent meaningless in life. The band members are wandering through the night with flashlights, like how people wander through life without being able to see (understand) things clearly. People distract themselves from the foreboding thought of pointlessness in many ways, which are represented throughout the video. Taking advantage of others (the stealing of the toy car), tragedy (the car wreck), entertainment (the kids watching the fire on the screen, which seems to be a subtle reference to the fact that fires are sometimes called "outdoor TVs" because of their tendency to hold our gaze), sex (the dancer), and, perhaps, religion (the white horse, a common symbol in various spiritual groups throughout history) are all seen as possible ways to fulfill us. The drug references in the lyrics also fit this pattern. All of these paths to fulfillment have a binding effect, that is, it's easy for us to get stuck in them ("It's too late to change your mind"). I have more thoughts, but I feel I've typed too much already. I have no idea what the woman who has dropped her things means, though...
youtube.com/watch
What a great post. Thanks a lot!<br /> <br /> Can't make much sense about the woman either (her scene is particularly short), but given that she's frantically going through her stuff, maybe she didn't drop her purse, but emptied it because she's desperately searching for something she's missing? That might go with the theme of "loss" that goes with the next verse (and the entire song in general). Brian tries to console her, but she pushes him away. In the next shot, she's on her cell, maybe calling for help.<br /> <br /> Btw, that scene is followed by a very brief shot of a colorful sunset - the only bright moment in the entire video (at the same time the music switches to an upbeat major key), and the two reflecting on everything that happened so far; somewhat of a "moment of realization"?
Perhaps. Very interesting!<br /> <br /> I love songs where you have to dig to find out the meaning.
A great post Potatoflesh! This is one of the most astute observations I have ever read. I tend to agree with you about the 'coping with meaninglessness' notion. <br /> <br /> A few people have said they thought it was specifically about chemical drugs (maybe--who knows for sure except the actual lyricist), but obviously anything can be a drug if it deadens our minds or captivates our consciousness, blocking our pursuit of some bigger picture or great meaning--whether this can actually be found is subjective.<br /> <br /> Now that I'm seeing what this song may mean (or what thoughts your comments have evoked), I am loving it even better than before. This concept is something that I've been thinking about a lot for the past couple of years. <br /> <br /> Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs comes to mind. Perhaps you're familiar with it. The very top portion, above all of our more basic needs, is Self-Actualization or fulfillment. It is a relatively abstract need for happiness, peace, and satisfaction. <br /> <br /> There are many things that this world finds pleasure in, however these so often reveal themselves to be trivial and void of any real purpose. Even those things that society has traditionally promoted as meaningful (i.e. establish yourself in a career, raise a family) can fail to fill one up. This just shows that whatever this "self-actualization" may be, it is unique to each individual.<br /> <br /> As for me I see this struggle in myself and in many around me. Especially here in the U.S., the land of distraction, so many just want to sit back and be entertained. But once we come down from this high, we see that we're really no better off than we were before. These days I fight hard against the lure of the easy things, constantly trying to educate myself about many subjects. I keep building upon who I already am instead of letting someone or something else show me what they've done. I often say that everyday is a fight against myself; sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. In my opinion, life should not be easy; if it is, it's probably very dull.<br /> <br /> Those are my two cents anyhow. Sorry to bombard you with all of that. I'm just excited to find others who can relate to me on these kinds of things. Your thoughts? <br /> <br />
Maslow's Hierarchy of needs fits well here. The song is about people who just can't make it to the next level.
I agree with this wholeheartedly.<br /> <br /> Did you also notice how they pass two soldiers walking back the other way? As though our two protagonists are still searching, still seeking an answer and a reason for and here are two soldiers, who have seen all this before, they've gone the distance and now their coming back?
awesome to hear your view! thanks<br /> <br /> about the lady who is scrambeling on the ground...<br /> <br /> independence. <br /> have you ever noticed how not many people want help?<br /> truly. <br /> he tried to help her when he saw her on the ground lookin like she was distressed and obviously in need. <br /> she rejected his gesture. <br /> and do you think someone who doesn't accept help gives help?<br /> i think this is another piece in the video of things/issues twisting the world.<br />
@Potatoflesh <br /> <br /> The purse falling down.<br /> Means when everything is falling apart like in life sometimes and there is fuck all you can do about it.
Dear all,
know it's a bit late to reply to this subject, but we all need to take our time.
Obviously, everyone here is stuck in reality and seems to have no other possible interpretation than the literality of the words.
Some efforts were made, though, by very clever ancd courageous people.
Anyway, the "soldier" should not be seen as a "man involved in a conflict" or "fighting for his nation under a flag" ...
The "soldier" in this song is a human being.
Everyone is struggling, yeah fighting, for life.
Furthermore, the One who's trying to find the High Road is a Soldier.
That One is surrounded by an army.
The Army will try to help the soldier to fight, but may also lead him to death, as it is the basic rule once you have accepted the game.
What is the game?
You may find the high road, and the high road may be a road to happiness.
Or not.
It's a song about enlightenment, defintely.
Thanks so much for that enlightenment obee59. I absolutely am stuck in my own reality, which I see is in another galaxy than that within which you dwell. Sometimes words are best interpreted entirely literally, as in "You are a pompous twit".
.
good job
Thanks
This song is about fixed spirituality, life, death, and convenient distractions that divert physical actuality from proper spiritual autonomy. Spiritual autonomy is the subjective discernment that considers decency [pathos, ethos, and logos] in a moral life context. In short, the “High Road” is found independently from convenient distraction, duty, and blind emotional overloads that divert good intentions to the extent of harmful existences, as followers in mass (symbolic) armies.<br /> <br /> The overdose at the borderlines represents fear and loss guiding any collective (status) mass into overdoses of preemptive actions that have no personal meaning other than obedience to directives, outside of the autonomy necessary of life’s “High Road.” The minimum is the extent of knowledge it takes to justify following directives and living easily enough to get by as a unit.<br /> <br /> The “garden” is life’s origin (Eden). The simple fact that we neither plan life, nor do we control it, is universal (“… they know and so do I…”). This only leaves only room to ponder birth, life, and death as humans (“to each his own”). The divergent sects from Eden (Great African Rift Valley) have conveniently inserted their own interpretations of these fixed unknown(s); which historically loop back to support any convenient, collective existence absent of “The High Road’s” pursuit. If we do not make up our own minds instead of being consumed by said collective diversions, it will be “too late to change our minds,” after the Grand Finalé (death) which is implied by the wreck at the beginning.<br /> <br /> Insert your own interpretation here regarding the suicide of the soldier, avoiding his “duty” as part of the collective and bailing out (not wanting to kill anyone else). The last dead entity to speak clearly with a live, witnessed, written Record (“I don’t know if the dead can talk, to anyone”) was Jesus to Paul.<br /> <br /> The dawn to end all nights is each soul’s life after death. Sleep can be associated with being non-conscious and resurrected daily except upon death of the body. The final “dawn” is the light associated with the soul’s eternal journey if the “High Road” was observed in life. “Say goodbye to all your friends,” they are still alive, and once you’re dead it’s too late to change your mind. If you had found the “High Road” in life, you had already told “all of your friends goodbye,” via the “detour” out of the masses.<br /> <br /> These are very complex social/philosophical issues that a genius has managed to get into an excellent, relatively short, song. Bravo! <br />
Line 6: She curls her lips on a bottle.
Line 6: She curls her lips on a bottle.<br /> <br /> You can hear it in the version: youtube.com/watch
Line 6: She curls her lips on a bottle.<br /> <br /> You can hear it in this version: <br /> youtube.com/watch
@SpieDemon it's funnier if you consider it to "it's too late to change you mind. You let laws be your guide."
This song is about fixed spirituality, life, death, and convenient distractions that divert physical actuality from proper spiritual autonomy. Spiritual autonomy is the subjective discernment that considers decency [pathos, ethos, and logos] in a moral life context. In short, the “High Road” is found independently from convenient distraction, duty, and blind emotional overloads that divert good intentions to the extent of harmful existences, as followers in mass (symbolic) armies.
The overdose at the borderlines represents fear and loss guiding any collective (status) mass into overdoses of preemptive actions that have no personal meaning other than obedience to directives, outside of the autonomy necessary of life’s “High Road.” The minimum is the extent of knowledge it takes to justify following directives and living easily enough to get by as a unit.
The “garden” is life’s origin (Eden). The simple fact that we neither plan life, nor do we control it, is universal (“… they know and so do I…”). This only leaves room to ponder birth, life, and death as humans (“to each his own”). The divergent sects (religions) from Eden (Great African Rift Valley) have conveniently inserted their own interpretations of these fixed unknown(s); which historically loop back to support any convenient, collective existence absent of “The High Road’s” pursuit. If we do not make up our own minds instead of being consumed by said collective diversions, it will be “too late to change our minds,” after the Grand Finalé (death) which is implied by the wreck at the beginning.
Insert your own interpretation here regarding the suicide of the soldier, avoiding his “duty” as part of the collective and bailing out (not wanting to kill anyone else). The last dead entity to speak clearly with a live, witnessed, written Record (“I don’t know if the dead can talk, to anyone”) was Jesus to Paul.
The dawn to end all nights is each soul’s life after death. Sleep can be associated with being non-conscious and resurrected daily except upon death of the body. The final “dawn” is the light associated with the soul’s eternal journey if the “High Road” was observed in life. “Say goodbye to all your friends,” they are still alive, and once you’re dead it’s too late to change your mind. If you had found the “High Road” in life, you had already told “all of your friends goodbye,” via the “detour” out of the masses.
These are very complex social/philosophical issues that a genius has managed to get into an excellent, relatively short, song. Bravo!
Its about our deepest motivations. Its about our decisions. Its about how the choices we make effect our life not to mention other lives. Its about how motivations for power, property, prestige, and pleasure leave you empty only wanting more. And a solution to all the chaos we create might be to curl your lips on the barrel, not a wise choice. All things created of this world leave you empty b/c we all die and you can't take any of it with you. Its the search for something more than material, emotional, intellectual, but for something eternal, heavenly, infinite, transcendent which is impossible for humans to create but can only be a gift from God. It's about how we as human beings are finite and with a seemingly infinite desire for something more. How do we fulfill our infinite desires, find the "High Road"? By seeking God who is infinite and eternal.
best explanation i heard, and that makes sense to me, is that the song is about the conflict, and isloation, associated with decisions, forks in the road of life, the challenge presented in decision making to "find the high road" - to live life true to the best of your potential, the "right" path, or, conversely do you "sell out" take what's there to be taken now, settle for what you can get, or are told you can have? are you motivated to make life's choices on the basis of what could be? or does the sense of what you might lose, or have already lost, guide you?
I personally think this song is about the drug trade and the drug war, but I'm a huge believer that all songs are up for interpretation and everyone's view is valid.
(Some of the lyrics on this page are wrong, so in my interpretation some of the lyrics are different from what is on this page because I'm using what I believe are the lyrics).
Most people who think that this song is about drugs probably think that "the high road" is a reference to drugs, mainly because it says "high" in it; I believe that "the high road" in this song is used as the same way that this phrase is usually interpreted: taking the better way out of a bad situation.
That being said, let me start from the beginning of the song and work my way through:
"We're bound to wait all night She's bound to run amok Invested enough in it anyhow, To each his own..."
I think that this is talking about maybe a group of friends waiting with a girl who is waiting for a dealer to give her drugs for the first time. They feel like they're "bound to wait all night" and "she's bound to run amok" because she might be nervous about getting caught, but she's already risked enough and is "invested enough in it anyhow".
"The Garden needs sorting out She curls her lips on the bow And I don't know if I'm dead or not To anyone..."
The garden might be his or her life: it needs sorting out, it needs to be cleaned up and needs some TLC. She doesn't know if she's dead to society and she probably feels isolated.
"Come on and get the minimum Before you open up your eyes, This army has so many heads To analyze... Come on and get your overdose Collect it at the borderline And they want to get up in your head..."
This is the voice of the drug trade wanting you to "come on and get the minimum" that you need just to try drugs and get hooked, and try drugs "before you open up your eyes" that drugs are not the way out of your problems. The Army represents the police/those who fight against drugs, and the "so many heads to analyze" refers to the drug tests that cops use to convict people of felonies involving drugs and the many people that they try to convict. The drug traders "want to get up in your head" so that you'll get hooked on drugs and keep coming back for more, which means more money for them.
"Cause they know and so do I The high road is hard to find A detour to your new life Tell all of your friends goodbye"
The drug traders ("they") "know...the high road is hard to find" and that drugs are a "detour" or easy way to fix your problems, rather than struggling to reach the high road. But while you're using these hard drugs, you'll likely lose your friends and leave everything behind you.
"The dawn to end all nights That's all we hoped it was A break form the warfare in your house... A soldier is bailing out He curled his lips on the barrel And I don't know if the dead can talk To anyone..."
"The dawn" refers to drugs and "all nights" represents all troubles and pains in life. So you hoped that "the dawn to end all nights" would "end the warfare in your house" (that drugs would end your problems that you're facing "in your house" or family or life in general). The soldier bailing out may be someone who has lost everything and tried very hard to escape drugs but can't, and so he "curls his lips on the barrel" and takes his life.
"It's too late to change your mind You let loss be your guide..."
It's too late to escape from drugs or change your mind, because you let all of your problems push you to doing drugs as a means of escape, but now you're hooked and can't go back.
A well thought-out interpretation. Thank you.
This is my favorite interpretation I've read so far.
this song is beautifully sad
I think the meaning is a little broader than drugs, or soldiers, or home. Those are all correct, however, in my opinion. I think it is about our society, en masse; our need to conform and the ones who break away. There is the common theme of "... to each his own" after describing general events that can be shared among so many people.
The Garden needs sorting out. She curls her lips on the bow, And I don't know if I'm dead or not, To anyone... To me this suggests a life that needs some sorting out; it feels numb and empty. (A Fight Club kind of feeling)
Come on and get the minimum, Before you open up your eyes. This army has so many heads, To analyze...
Ah, our cultural habit of waiting until one feels they have enough, until they are comfortable, to pay attention to the things around them. There is so much going on in the world right now, and nothing is what is seems. To analyze one head you must analyze them all.
Come on and get your overdose. Collect it at the borderline, And they want to get up in your head...
I'm curious about this line. Is is about our tendency to medicate? "...collect it at the borderline..." could certainly refer to the physical borders, as we are strongly discouraged from buying pharmaceuticals from other countries. "And they want to get up in your head..." If it is prescribed by a doctor's office, there is a paper trail a mile long. They know all about your head.
Cause they know and so do I. The high road is hard to find. A detour to your new life. Tell all of your friends goodbye.
Conformity is easier. Doing the right thing isn't always as easy as going to college and finding a job. As you grow up, you find you have to remove people from your life. Sometimes it's in your children's best interest, sometimes yours. Sometimes the friend's.
The dawn to end all nights, That's all we hoped it was. A break from the warfare in your house, To each his own...
Making a life-altering choice to end fighting at home, perhaps? Much in the way some couples think a baby will settle marital conflict. Each home has their own conflict, and their own resolutions, and their own bad choices.
A soldier is bailing out. He curled his lips on the barrel. And I don't know if the dead can talk, To anyone...
I don't really have anything to ad to this. Maybe the soldier is metaphorical - we all soldier through every day.
This army has so many hands, Are you one of us?
Do you conform? Are you part of society?
It's too late to change your mind, You let loss be your guide.
Any loss. What you don't have now. What your neighbor has and you don't. What you think you should've achieved at this point in life but haven't. What you didn't have as a child. When the voids in you life take precedence over the positives, consumption takes priority over people. And a society built on conforming to numbness and consumption will blindly consume itself.
I think you're close to the meaning here, and I'm glad someone is looking past the metaphors to find what they mean. Saying this is a song about drugs doesn't do it justice.<br /> <br /> A few things to add. I think the Garden in the second stanza is the Garden of Eden. The formerly perfect Garden is imperfect and now needs sorting out; it needs to be fixed. I think this theme of a messed-up world carries throughout the song, making the entire song (and a number of others in this album) about the ways we cope with an imperfect world. In this song, people escape by conforming. Basically what Potatoflesh said earlier.<br /> <br /> Then there's this stanza<br /> <br /> <br /> Come on and get your overdose.<br /> Collect it at the borderline,<br /> And they want to get up in your head...<br /> <br /> I'm not sure the overdose is traditional drugs. I think it's a metaphor, and could be a number of things. The one that first comes to mind is entertainment. You go to the border(line) between fantasy and reality to numb yourself in entertainment. Then everyone tries to get in your head. Media producers try to get in there so you watch their stuff, advertisers try to get into your head while you're numbed to sell you products, etc.
HBP, I think you've hit it the closest of all the folks who've posted. The stoners hear a pro-weed song and some others are getting WAY too deep.<br /> <br /> Totally agree with the lady and the garden. Her life is boring and sucks, out she goes, Cobain-style.<br /> <br /> Good insight on what the "minimum" is.<br /> <br /> As to the overdose and borderline, I was thinking the American culture's proclivity for excess and the assimilation of other cultures into ours. When they cross the boarder, the barrage of fast food and entertainment hits them.<br /> <br /> I think the dawn and the soldier go together. The dawn is him joining the military. Many soldiers join as an escape from the crap in their regular lives. Once in the military, he still finds no peace, and ends it all with his rifle.<br /> <br /> And the end with the loss... the two people in the song have let the downside of life make a decision for them that there is no coming back from... suicide.