Lyric discussion by relentlesscactus 

At the San Francisco Deadwing concert, Wilson gave a long explanation, which was chilling and deeply affected me.

Wilson explained that it was a screenplay about a man who had lived his life after an event that did not go as it was supposed to. The event altered his life from its intended path and everything that happened from that juncture onward was wrong. The event haunted him for life. At the end of his life something miraculous occurred, and he was brought back to the event and given the opportunity to life his life as it should have played out.

My personal interpretation of the term "Deadwing" after hearing this was that after the event his life was crippled by a "dead wing", the incorrect path his life took and how it haunted him, a bird with a bad wing could not fly.

An error occured.