Taken for a Ride

"Marvin walked into a helpless land and wondered lightly am I happy, is this happy Following the footsteps left by man he stepped to reprimand the mystic, who's sadistic took a step into the elevator who said guess i'll see you later, don't you worry fifteen flights that lasted nights and days that spent without a cent for creatures, with their beat shirts"

The 'helpless land' is Earth. He, like every other person, wonders about happiness in the context of 'Is this really all there is?' 'Following the footsteps left by man,' (doing what other people have been doing since the awn of time), he blames 'the mystic' (God) for not receiving the happiness he believes he deserves or was promised, thinking maybe it doesn't exist at all and it is just a false promise told by a sadistic power. I think the elevator symbolizes the passing of time in his life in which he doesn't o anything or accomplish anything, only ages; heading to his estinations (death) without actually going anywhere, so to speak. "I'll see you later," then, applies to the many that will come after hi whol will have the same mindset, who will also waste their life wondering why they aren't happy and believing they can do nothing about it. In the case of the "creatures with beat shirts," I believe the following definition of "beat would be the most helpful: Beat -- adj. of or belonging to a group of young persons, esp. of the 1950s, rebelling against conventional attitudes, dress, speech, etc., largely as an expression of social disillusionment.

"listening to painted whispered light on top forgotten hill"

This piece, I believe, is meant mostly to be descriptive of something beautiful so as to represent the simple everyday beauty that people take for granted rather than finding happiness in them.

"Next the stranded senate of the white brick house with flowers asked some questions for their story all feeling now he took his bow and left the stage of time with no answers to no questions lonely paperbacks that wanted just a taste of feeling to implode them before living tiptoed to the wooden sign that said now take your place in line for happy, this is lovely"

When he dies, he dies without ever having learned anything. The people he leaves behind are the 'stranded senate' looking to live vicariously through his memories in order to enhance their own life-stories. Waiting for him in the after-life, he meets the souls that have yet to be born, otherwise known as the 'lonely paperbacks.' They wait excitedly to begin living, wanting "just a taste of feeling" to know what living is like before they start it on their own. They are happy, and excited for the happiness they are promised when they begin their lives. "This is lovely."

"one secondary smile to go that extra mile to make me feel today to make it go away the chemistry is gone taken for a ride far away from you no longer left inside"

Overall, this song is about disillusionment with life. A faked joy keeps us going. We pretend to be happy, to know hapiness, in order to ignore the fact that we're not. The chemistry, the spark, in our love-affair with life is gone, and we feel tricked ('taken for a ride').

"The actor with his world renowned was thinking 'bout his last real day of silence, was it over or is it just we all think that our answer isn't real it's just a picture of a letter bumble mumble make the rounds no matter what you'll seem profound it's useless just to worry something normal happens somewhere far away in clouds so please just stop thinking this is happy"

I'm not sure about this verse. I think it has something to do with going through the motions in our lives without living; for example, talking without speaking or saying anything important.

"There's no secrets in the door just a moment doing chores"

In the end, there is no mystical secret to life and happiness, just living it.

"And there's something and there's something and there's something and there's something next to nothing and there's something and there's something but you're gone"

We get so close to finding a reason to be happy, we can almost touch it ('there's something!'), but, in the end, most of us don't see the joys of life before it's over and we're 'gone.'