Hello Seattle

This song is a euphemism for hospitals. When people think of hospitals, they think of sickness and bad things. However, when one is faced with a horrible situation such as the death or sickness of a friend, they may try to cover the bad things up by simply thinking of good things. The attempt will fail, though, because the tragedy of a bad situation is not concealable, and will always show through because it will always be there. Adam, or whomever you want to say is the ‘narrator’ likes the city of Seattle. They associate the city with happiness and good memories. In all actuality, Seattle is a hospital. In the song, Adam talks about how he is a mountaineer, but “I fall asleep in hospital parking lots.” A mountaineer is supposed to be someone who is strong and not afraid of anything. Because the person falls asleep in hospital parking lots, they probably know someone in the hospital. It is obviously someone they love, because they don’t want to leave them in the hospital. They sleep in the parking lot so that they are still at the hospital, even outside of visiting hours, because they can’t leave this friend of theirs who is dying. They are only pretending to be a mountaineer. On the outside they act strong and brave, but on the inside they are worried more than anything about this person. In the next few verses, I am not sure what exactly Adam means. In the one starting with “I am the crescent moon,” he talks about being a pill. Pills are associated with sickness and hospitals, so there is probably a connection there. I think that the “moon shining down on your face” could be some kind of a light that the doctor is shining into the patient’s eyes. I’m not sure about that one though. Later, he gets into the verse about the lighthouse, and someone else already said something about the lighthouse that was brilliant, so I'm just going to repeat it. The lighthouse is a building that helps people. However, lighthouses are not red and blue. The lighthouse here is actually an ambulance with its red and blue lights. Others take heed from an ambulance, and, like a lighthouse, it helps people. The two have similar purposes, but the difference is that an ambulance is a symbol of panic and injury, while a lighthouse is a savior. The lighthouse covers up the pain that the ambulance brings, but nevertheless, the ambulance is still there. When he starts singing “Take me above your light…” the point of view has switched. Before, the narrator was the protector, or the one trying to help the patient. Now, the patient is speaking. The patient talks about the things he or she wants. All that the patient wants is to feel safe. They don’t even mind dying, I don’t think, as long as they have that first narrator there to protect them. “Sing me asleep tonight.” Here, they do not actually want to be sung to sleep. Sleeping is a metaphor for dying. Small children like to be sung to sleep because it calms them down and is peaceful. They can fall asleep because they have that sense of security from the singer being there. The patient does not mind dying, but all they want is to be with the person when it happens for that extra comfort. Once they have that friend there to ‘sing to them’, they can ‘fall asleep’ and feel safe. Ah, sorry this is so long.