This is probably my favorite song of the year. I see this song as written in the circumstance of the singer's Dad having died, literally or no. Like as though his Dad had a heart attack (power's out in the heart of man), and now he's 6 feet under (ice has covered up... hands). Now that he's gone, the kids have free reign (swinging from power lines), and the singer is in the position of decision, of choice. He grew up "in some strange storm / nobody's cold, nobody's warm" and now he sees, in the context of his grief (don't have any dreams / plans; went out to pick a fight with anyone), that the light is where it's at.
The 3rd set of 4 lines is like the picture of the neighbors dancing to the cop's lights at the end of Laika, but for me here it reads like the night his Dad died, and the ambulance lights came shining through the windows (throwing shadows). The shadows of his past? But it's also where he locates the source of light as outside the house with the neighbors, then later as within (take it from your hearts).
So if the light is where it's at, and he didn't get it as a kid, then he needs to 'light a candle for the kids' now and not 'keep it hid' like his Dad did. Cause they're 'dying out in the snow (of Tunnels?). "Take it from your heart / put it in your hands" is the most immediate call for love I've seen maybe ever; it's breathtaking. "What's (his) plan?" To tell us to make up our minds and shine the f$%ing light, now. And not f&% it up like his Dad did, who he deserves to be angry with (you ain't fooling nobody with the lights out.)
I think the music explodes in spots that underline the greatest injustices of the song. People hiding the light from kids; kids dying out in the snow; and where it's personal, "you ain't fooling nobody with the lights out!" Which can then take on a kind of ironic double meaning. If he's saying this to the Dad of the past, in the past, then it's straight anger. If he's saying it to a dead man, then he's acknowledging that his dad has only died physically, and perhaps that this physical death can't fool the singer from the spiritual truth of his Dad's continuing life.
Such an excellent use of metaphor! This band should be enshrined! Such great stuff!
This is probably my favorite song of the year. I see this song as written in the circumstance of the singer's Dad having died, literally or no. Like as though his Dad had a heart attack (power's out in the heart of man), and now he's 6 feet under (ice has covered up... hands). Now that he's gone, the kids have free reign (swinging from power lines), and the singer is in the position of decision, of choice. He grew up "in some strange storm / nobody's cold, nobody's warm" and now he sees, in the context of his grief (don't have any dreams / plans; went out to pick a fight with anyone), that the light is where it's at.
The 3rd set of 4 lines is like the picture of the neighbors dancing to the cop's lights at the end of Laika, but for me here it reads like the night his Dad died, and the ambulance lights came shining through the windows (throwing shadows). The shadows of his past? But it's also where he locates the source of light as outside the house with the neighbors, then later as within (take it from your hearts).
So if the light is where it's at, and he didn't get it as a kid, then he needs to 'light a candle for the kids' now and not 'keep it hid' like his Dad did. Cause they're 'dying out in the snow (of Tunnels?). "Take it from your heart / put it in your hands" is the most immediate call for love I've seen maybe ever; it's breathtaking. "What's (his) plan?" To tell us to make up our minds and shine the f$%ing light, now. And not f&% it up like his Dad did, who he deserves to be angry with (you ain't fooling nobody with the lights out.)
I think the music explodes in spots that underline the greatest injustices of the song. People hiding the light from kids; kids dying out in the snow; and where it's personal, "you ain't fooling nobody with the lights out!" Which can then take on a kind of ironic double meaning. If he's saying this to the Dad of the past, in the past, then it's straight anger. If he's saying it to a dead man, then he's acknowledging that his dad has only died physically, and perhaps that this physical death can't fool the singer from the spiritual truth of his Dad's continuing life.
Such an excellent use of metaphor! This band should be enshrined! Such great stuff!