Becoming A Jackal

In my opinion, judging from the sound of an Irish accent and the rest of the lyrics, "Staring at windows" should be "Staring OUT windows" and "You would offer me your unmade made" should definitely be "You would offer me your unmade BED".

This first four five lines sets the scene - a routine domesitic home, a place dominated by someone - possibly a parent.

"The most familiar room every implement was leading to you and your homely sense of disarray never once the same, always rearranged but things would never change"

Perhaps the writer is a dreamer, bored of domesitic and routine "But things would never change." In the next two sections the repetitive style is beating out familiar scenes in a dreamy, bored sequence. Bored of the place and with the bird, the Jackal representing free spirits those who are free or simply others who want to be young and free. Typical of most adolescent parent relationships. The writer is reminiscing on this feeling and emphasizes the cycle of his free to get out and leave the comfort of his home for fear of the unknown.

"And when I got older, when I grew bolder out onto the streets I flew Released from your shackles I danced with the jackals."

Before the writer concludes he iterates that he appreciates the support he was given, that he could use them to test out his ideas and experiments. Discuss his fears while they listened and he offered very little in return.

"So before you take this song as truth You should wonder what I'm taking from you How I benefit from you being here Lending me your ears while I'm selling you my fears..."

Although he is thankful the writer will continue in this direction, the life of a dreamer makes him happy. That is the writers choice, that is his dream in life and he glad to have escaped obscurity and routine.

"I was a dreamer (I'm selling you my fears) Staring out windows (I'm selling you my fears) Out onto the main street (I'm selling you my fears) Cos that's where the dream goes (I'm selling you) I was a dreamer Staring out windows Out onto the main street Cos that's where the dream goes."

maybe he's reflecting back on a past relationship, but you can relate to it in many ways

So before you take this song as truth You should wonder what I'm taking from you How I benefit from you being here Lending me your ears while I'm selling you my fears

Maybe that bit means that before whoever he's on about takes the song to mean he's glad to be free and out following his dreams, and thinks it's a negative way of looking at them, being a past relationship or whatever He's always thinking of them, and reflecting on his past The bit where it says they are lending him their ears means he's grateful they are taking the time to listen to his music, because whoever he is talking to inspired the song. but it's bittersweet because his 'fears' also come from them, as he wants to be free to do as he pleases 'out on the main street'... without them, just watching from a distance.

I've been puzzling over this one for a little bit, because it does seem to have some kind of unifying narrative/message that would make sense on another level, and I think I've finally come up with something that satisfies me, at least.

The way I'm hearing it, the "jackals" are essentially modern life. He's addressing someone who is sheltering him in some way, dealing with "the business," while he is the dreamer. I'm imagining someone who's buying the cat litter and doing the shopping and taking the car to the shop, while he's doing his musician thing. He knows this person is being sacrificed on some level, but he's wary of participating in life. He'd rather watch from the window. But then as he matures, he does some of that stuff that used to seem mundane (and therefore sinister), and maybe he thinks it's not so bad? Or at least he thinks he can cope. The fact that he's doing okay may hurt the other person who is used to sheltering him. He's trying to console him/her at the end by saying that they're still necessary, he still needs someone to bear the burden of his fears, even though he's mostly cool on his own.

At first I thought this was to a lover, but this song could almost be written to a parent. I also glean meaning from the fact that is the title track to the album. Given that the album is his first, a song about coming of age probably says the most about where he is in his life/career.

Yes I agree this could be to a parent or someone that cared for him.
The picture it paints is of someone who could either settle for the uneventful, domestic life at home or could go out there in the world and expose himself to worldly pain, excess, pleasures & risks from which he is being protected. He finds himself "in shackles" trapped in the domestic life, longing for the outside and leaves to experiment without regards of who he is leaving behind and returns when things get overbearing. He eventually makes the decision to leave permanently and learns the way of that outside tricky manipulative world and he becomes it. In this song he returns to make his peace but takes time to caution that he is part of that world and that his words could be manipulative as well. "Before you take this song as truth, you should wonder what I'm taking from you." He is "selling his fears" so he is using his emotion to gain that person's favor and without offering to change or return. He is asking to be accepted the way he is, even if he is hurtful.

So before you take this song as truth You should wonder what I'm taking from you How I benefit from you being here Lending me your ears while I'm selling you my fears

This is the only lyric that matters in this song's meaning, if you ask me. It's an admittance he's played and playing the person (someone he keeps going back to a sleeping with?) and the glimpses they're getting of his "deeper dreamer side" are likewise arranged. He was dancing amongst the jackals, figuring out how to play the game right whilst not making himself it's victim, and then he's become the jackal.

Or maybe I've been watching too much Dexter?

its about growing up.

I think the song refers to the first serious romantic relationship we all have. Even though the person we are with is wonderful we take them for granted because we haven't come of age to truly appreciate them. We want to see what its like to be with other people and play the field to use a cliche. For me the most significant line in the song is;

"Cos that's where the dream goes (I'm selling you)"

He wont go back to that past lover because he knows that person didn't see him at his best when he took them for granted in order to be with other people in spite of their closeness and that lovers kindness. Any of us in a meaningful relationship want the other person to see us at our absolute best. In his mind he is already compromised in that past lovers eyes.

I think it's simply about growing .. it's like everybody were born naive .. and his mother or someone who care about him wanted him to to stay naive.. so she held him in the familiar room - the house -> his room. but he was curious.. and that's where he dreamed to be with everybody.. he was looking outside all the time.. but they everybody outside jackals ..so his mom didn't want him to go.. but when he grew older, he released from her shackles and could "dance" with them.. so he became one of them.. "learned a new way to move"... so he became a jackal as the name of the song.. "becoming a jackal".. and so he lost his innocence .. like everybody did.. I really don't quite know right now what does this part means:

"So before you take this song as truth You should wonder what I'm taking from you How I benefit from you being here Lending me your ears while I'm selling you my fears "

but I guess it could be the audience like someone told here before.. or maybe: "So before you take this song as truth" - so before you take him as a jackal ("becoming a jackal") .. he is talking to his mom/lover/ someone who cares about him - lending me your ears.. "while I'm selling you my fears" - telling her how terrible is it to be a jackal.."How I benefit from you being here" - he is enjoying her being here - he wants her back .. he doesn't wanna be outside anymore.. it's like us when we're growing up - we wanna get younger again .. and when we were young we wanted to grow..