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Step out the front door like a ghost
Into the fog where no one notices
The contrast of white on white.
And in between the moon and you
The angels get a better view
Of the crumbling difference between wrong and right.
I walk in the air between the rain,
Through myself and back again.
Where? I don't know
Maria says she's dying.
Through the door, I hear her crying
Why? I don't know
Round here we always stand up straight
Round here something radiates
Maria came from Nashville with a suitcase in her hand
She said she'd like to meet a boy who looks like Elvis
She walks along the edge of where the ocean meets the land
Just like she's walking on a wire in the circus
She parks her car outside of my house, takes her clothes off,
Says she's close to understanding Jesus
She knows she's more that just a little misunderstood
She has trouble acting normal when she's nervous
Round here we're carving out our names
Round here we all look the same
Round here we talk just like lions
But we sacrifice like lambs
Round here she's slipping through my hands
Sleeping children got to run like the wind
Out of the lightning dream
Mama's little baby better get herself in
Out of the lightning
She says, "It's only in my head."
She says, "Shhh....I know it's only in my head."
But the girl on the car in the parking lot
Says: "Man, you should try to take a shot
Can't you see my walls are crumbling."
Then she looks up at the building
And says she's thinking of jumping.
She says she's tired of life;
She must be tired of something.
Round here she's always on my mind
Round here I got lots of time
Round here we're never sent to bed early
And nobody makes us wait
Round here we stay up very very late
Into the fog where no one notices
The contrast of white on white.
And in between the moon and you
The angels get a better view
Of the crumbling difference between wrong and right.
I walk in the air between the rain,
Through myself and back again.
Where? I don't know
Maria says she's dying.
Through the door, I hear her crying
Why? I don't know
Round here we always stand up straight
Round here something radiates
Maria came from Nashville with a suitcase in her hand
She said she'd like to meet a boy who looks like Elvis
She walks along the edge of where the ocean meets the land
Just like she's walking on a wire in the circus
She parks her car outside of my house, takes her clothes off,
Says she's close to understanding Jesus
She knows she's more that just a little misunderstood
She has trouble acting normal when she's nervous
Round here we're carving out our names
Round here we all look the same
Round here we talk just like lions
But we sacrifice like lambs
Round here she's slipping through my hands
Sleeping children got to run like the wind
Out of the lightning dream
Mama's little baby better get herself in
Out of the lightning
She says, "It's only in my head."
She says, "Shhh....I know it's only in my head."
But the girl on the car in the parking lot
Says: "Man, you should try to take a shot
Can't you see my walls are crumbling."
Then she looks up at the building
And says she's thinking of jumping.
She says she's tired of life;
She must be tired of something.
Round here she's always on my mind
Round here I got lots of time
Round here we're never sent to bed early
And nobody makes us wait
Round here we stay up very very late
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"Round here we talk just like lions, but we sacrifice like lambs"
This right here reminds me of how we'd always put off that we were better than we actually were, that we had all this stuff/beauty/money ect. when in reality we had nothing. We sacrifice our friends - "lambs" - for popularity.
"But the girl on the car in the parking lot
Says Man, you should try to take a shot
Can't you see my walls are crumbling."
This, for me, really hits home. Because we put up walls, it only worsens our hurt. We can't bury the ugly or shove it behind our walls, because then, it only gets worse. "Man, you should try to take a shot" is the equivalent of "why don't you break the rules and be your own person instead of conforming". Maria - the girl in the parking lot - is telling him that she's hurting because he's conforming and not being himself.
"Round here we're carving out our names
Round here we all look the same"
Some people are trying to escape, but in the end, we're all stuck under the same umbrella.
"Step out the front door like a ghost
Into the fog where no one notices
The contrast of white on white."
We're not different - and if you are, you're an invisible outcast who doesn't exist (much like I was).
This song reminds me of "Subdivisions" by Rush in the way that they both talk about the effects of conforming and how it hurts everyone. I love this song so much, and CC! :)
My interpretation: is different from Adam's or anyone elses I've come across.
He's a ghost haunting a graveyard, it's cold and damp. Rain drops pierce the fog and mist, a kind of miserable drizzle not a down pour. The full moon provides the only light.
We always stand up straight - tombstones
Round here we're carving out our names - tombstones
Round here we all look the same - tombstones
Round here we talk just like lions - obituaries
But we sacrifice like lambs - but despite or life, we die.
Round here she's slipping through my hands - Ashes to Ashes Dust to Dust
She is still alive, but is on the verge of crossing over. On the titerope between the ocean and the land. she has to make the decision, jump (fall into the ocean) or walk away. And the crumbleing difference between right and wrong are the reasons to commit suicide or no to. Adam can hear her crying through the door, (to the spiritual world) but he himself is in a kind of limbo and can't relate to her reasons.
Sleeping children better run like the wind
out of the lightning dream - She better snap out of this state of mind (wake up) to life.
* In all his songs, I believe (sleep and dreaming) are closly related to (water, or rain) and also (Death, limbo, oblivion). And the opposite of these are (Insomnia, the absence of water "the desert", being alive, the day time)*
"Round here she's always on my mind" - This seems to make me think that the roles are reversed and she is the one who is dead and he is the one visiting the graveyard.
"Round here hey man got lots of time" -
"Round here we're never sent to bed early" -
"And nobody makes us wait" -
"Round here we stay up very, very, very, very late" - All four of these describe the state of being in a kind of in between worlds, ghost like limbo hanging aroung a grave yard.
Anyway thats my personal interpretation. I really don't care if anyone disagrees with me.
"she parks her car outside of my house
takes her clothes off
says she's close to understanding Jesus
she knows she's just a little misunderstood
she has trouble acting normal when she's nervous"
My family member actually did strip down naked in the mental institution declaring that " this is how god made her". Also, knowing that they are misunderstood.
"She says It's only in my head
She says Shhh I know it's only in my head"
recognizing the mental illness....
"But the girl in car in the parking lot
says "Man you should try to take a shot
can't you see my walls are crumbling?"
Then she looks up at the building
and says she's thinking of jumping
She says she's tired of life
she must be tired of something"
Suicidal behavior....
Those are pretty straight forward. But I even think that some of the more ambiguous lyrics could be perceived to support the mental illness interpretation.
"like a ghost
into the fog where no one notices
the contrast of white on white."
If you've ever tried to talk to someone having an episode they are definitely in a fog. I would often say that after my family member's initial breakdown that it was like being with a ghost of them. The shell is there but the person I knew before is gone. Also, often the mentally ill will have delusional thoughts you can't follow i.e "no one notices the contrast of white on white"
"just like she's walking on a wire in the circus"
The instability like walking on a wire...
For me though, as a loved one coping with it all...
"Round here, she's slipping through my hands......round here she's always on my mind"
"Maria came from Nashville with a suitcase in her hand / I always kinda sorta wished I looked like Elvis"
... and says she's thinking of jumping
She says she's tired of life ...
... Round here hey man got lots of time ...
... Round here we're never sent to bed early
And nobody makes us wait
Round here we stay up very, very, very, very late ...
These lyrics always make me think that.