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In that dream I'm as old as the mountains
Still as starlight reflected in fountains
Children grown on the edge of the ocean
Kept like jewelry kept with devotion
In that dream moving slow through the morning
You would come to me then, without answers
Lick my wounds and remove my demands for now
Eucalyptus and orange trees are bloomin'
In that dream there's no darkness a loomin'
In that dream moving slow through the morning
In that dream I could hardly contain it
All my life I will wait to attain it
There, there, there
I know someday the smoke will all burn off
All these voices I'll someday have turned off
I will see you someday when I've woken
I'll be so happy just to have spoken
I'll have so much to tell you about it
In that dream I could hardly contain it
All my life I will wait to attain it
There, there, there
Wide eyed walker, don't betray me
I will wake one day, don't delay me
Wide eyed leaver, always going
Still as starlight reflected in fountains
Children grown on the edge of the ocean
Kept like jewelry kept with devotion
In that dream moving slow through the morning
You would come to me then, without answers
Lick my wounds and remove my demands for now
Eucalyptus and orange trees are bloomin'
In that dream there's no darkness a loomin'
In that dream moving slow through the morning
In that dream I could hardly contain it
All my life I will wait to attain it
There, there, there
I know someday the smoke will all burn off
All these voices I'll someday have turned off
I will see you someday when I've woken
I'll be so happy just to have spoken
I'll have so much to tell you about it
In that dream I could hardly contain it
All my life I will wait to attain it
There, there, there
Wide eyed walker, don't betray me
I will wake one day, don't delay me
Wide eyed leaver, always going
Lyrics submitted by casiopt10
Track duration: 04:36
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Especially "The Fool" card from the Rider-Waite Tarot deck.
And Voltaire's "Candide."
Anyone else get that vibe?
"I know someday the smoke will all burn off
All these voices I'll someday have turned off
I will see you someday when I've woken
I'll be so happy just to have spoken
I'll have so much to tell you about it"
But I will tell you that this album was powerful enough to make Robin's wife/girlfriend come back to him (see Wikipedia). I bought it just for this song.
The song may have been written to a lover, but my own personal interpretation is it's written to a past self that used to dream with abandon.
Of course, this isn't necessarily the real meaning of the song, just something I came up with.
"In that dream I'm as old as the mountains"
Still as starlight reflected in fountains"
In the dreams that Dom (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mal (played by Marion Cotillard) have together in limbo, they both age 50 years and live on as if time is endless. They are blissfully ignorant of the truth that they are in a dream.
"Children grown on the edge of the ocean
Kept like jewelry kept with devotion
In that dream moving slow through the morning time"
In the real world, they have children they love very much. Throughout the film, there are scenes where the children are playing on the beach, or their home is actually the coast.
"You would come to me then without answers
Lick my wounds and remove my demands for now"
This is Dom's projection of Mal speaking. She would keep asking Dom to kill himself and join her, but he would never give a direct answer. Every time Dom sees Mal in a dream he would deny her requests and they would hold each other, kiss, and spend time together.
"Eucalyptus and orange trees are blooming
In that dream there's no darkness a' looming
In that dream moving slow through the morning time"
In that dream I could hardly contain it
All my life I will wait to attain it
There, there, there"
Eucalyptus grows in Australia and oranges grow in California. The dreams take place during a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles. Dom remembers he is on this flight and thus in a dream. Dom then realizes that he cannot believe the projection of Mal. He realizes that if he does stay in that dream (limbo) he will be lost when he wakes up. He will spend the rest of his life trying to "wake up" because he believes he is still in a dream.
"I know someday the smoke will all burn off
All these voices I'll someday have turned off"
I will see you someday when I've woken
I'll be so happy just to have spoken
I'll have so much to tell you about it"
This is the point when Dom starts to doubt the truth and starts believing the projection of Mal. He thinks he can ignore other people (like Ariadne) trying to tell him the truth. He believes he will wake up and he can finally be with Mal.
"In that dream I could hardly contain it
All my life I will wait to attain it
There, there, there"
Dom then realizes that he cannot believe the projection of Mal. He realizes that if he does stay in that dream (limbo) he will be lost when he wakes up. He will spend the rest of his life trying to "wake up" because he believes he is still in a dream.
"Wide-eyed walker, don't betray me"
The projection of Mal at one point tells Dom that he betrayed her, but she still wants him to stay with her in limbo.
"I will wake one day, don't delay me"
Dom says no and says that he will wake up from this dream.
"Wide-eyed leaver, always going"
The projection of Mal thinks Dom is confused. It is shown that Dom always
"Wide-eyed leaver, always going"
The projection of Mal thinks Dom is confused. Even though Dom leaves Mal for the last time, she thinks Dom will be back (thus "always going").
The song "Helplessness Blues" establishes the main dilemma of the album. The singer has led a dissolute life (he's the prodigal son in "The Plains / Bitter Dance") and now, faced with his own mortality, wants to make a change. He rejects the materialism of his former life ("Montezuma"). He idealizes some of the innocence or purity he had in the past ("Bedouin Dress") and connects this with Innisfree. Part of this is a relationship he had ("Battery Kinzie" and "Lorelai").
In "Someone You'd Admire" he pushes himself to find this new way of life, or to change his ways. He realizes that he can become someone to be admired, but if he fails then he will become embittered and not care anymore. The final stanza of "The Shrine" indicates that he fails at this point. He greedily hordes the apples. The last verse in the song indicates the he either literally or metaphorically attempts suicide.
In "Blue Spotted Tail" he discovers that he survived the suicide attempt. This still leaves him in an existential crisis as he ponders death and the absurdity of life.
Finally, in "Grown Ocean" he dreams of reaching his goal and returning to "Innisfree". Part of this dream is being reunited with Lorelai. In fact, she seems integral to his dreams for the future. He realizes that this reunion won't happen until he has finally "woken". The line "In that dream I could hardly contain it \ All my life I will wait to attain it" is very hopeful. He's decided not to give in to bitterness, but to continue searching for the truth.
However, he acknowledges that failure is still possible. He fears that Lorelai, the "wide-eyed walker" from "Battery Kinzie", will betray him. Perhaps she is the singer in "Sim Sala Bim" who considers betraying the person she loves "despite the reservations". Either way, he hopes to "awaken" before this can happen. However, she has left in the past, and he fears this will happen again.
Overall, this gives me the impression that Pecknold is saying that the search for truth is a lifelong struggle. He wants to live in such a way that he helps his fellow man, while not just being a cog in a machine. He seems to reject Tolstoyan "passive resistance" in "Helplessness Blues", but questions how force can be used to overcome evil. He struggles to find meaning in a life that will someday end in death, but, at the least, finds meaning in that struggle. Now, he just worries that he can struggle to the end.
"Eucalyptus and orange trees are bloomin,
In that dream there's no darkness A' loomin."
and "In that dream there's no darkness ILLUMINED"
fools.