This is definitely one of my favorite MM songs, although every time I try to declare one song my favorite, I end up finding another I like better.
I agree with what all of you guys have said (very insightful!), but there's a little detail I'd like to get your thoughts on.
During the second "I'm just a box in a cage." refrain, there's a specific change to the lyrics that caught my attention:
"I'm just a box in a cage.
An OPEN box in a cage.
I'm just a box, just a box in a cage.
I'm just..."
This is pretty interesting to me, because my interpretation is the same as some of yours: We get this one great chance at life, but we have to spend it trapped within a trap, implying a sense of futility that no matter how much we make of our one chance, we're still bound by the "cage". But this variation, "An open box in a cage" sort of feels like a more personal statement. I'm not terribly familiar with his personal life, except for the bits and pieces I've read in researching their music, but many of their songs - present one included - have this sort of frustrated sense of release to them, as if being able to write this music gives his thoughts and emotions an exposure to others (the open box), yet he's still trapped within in the limitations of the "cage", be it mortality, the Universe, what have you. There's definitely an underlying sense of futility and mortality in this song, which is why I think it connects so well with people.
Or I'm I just REALLY bored and looking into this too much?
This is definitely one of my favorite MM songs, although every time I try to declare one song my favorite, I end up finding another I like better.
I agree with what all of you guys have said (very insightful!), but there's a little detail I'd like to get your thoughts on.
During the second "I'm just a box in a cage." refrain, there's a specific change to the lyrics that caught my attention:
"I'm just a box in a cage. An OPEN box in a cage. I'm just a box, just a box in a cage. I'm just..."
This is pretty interesting to me, because my interpretation is the same as some of yours: We get this one great chance at life, but we have to spend it trapped within a trap, implying a sense of futility that no matter how much we make of our one chance, we're still bound by the "cage". But this variation, "An open box in a cage" sort of feels like a more personal statement. I'm not terribly familiar with his personal life, except for the bits and pieces I've read in researching their music, but many of their songs - present one included - have this sort of frustrated sense of release to them, as if being able to write this music gives his thoughts and emotions an exposure to others (the open box), yet he's still trapped within in the limitations of the "cage", be it mortality, the Universe, what have you. There's definitely an underlying sense of futility and mortality in this song, which is why I think it connects so well with people.
Or I'm I just REALLY bored and looking into this too much?