This song comes from the deepest, darkest place. It's a minimal universe, ever expanding. The hymn Amazing Grace is about salvation and the song lifts several lines directly from it, but the song adds more depth to the meaning of the term.
"Amazing grace" here is the achievement of a transcendence from normal Earthy experience to something profoundly beautiful. In the first verse the girl achieves this by having the high of all highs (always thought it was "Swallowed up the land..."). The spike reference in the first verses obviously relates to heroin, but I think the subject of the song goes beyond that.
The second verse is much harder to interpret. It seems to be about someone who has been suffering from tinnitus for years; perhaps when the time comes when the incessant ringing finally stops is when the transcendence will take place. The "give it all away" line suggests that this may be attained by suicide.
The last verse quotes from the hymn and to me seems to describe the actual "Amazing grace" being experienced, whatever led to it. It seems to be a shareable experience ("Can you hear..."?), perhaps falling in love (some say that falling in love with someone is like returning "home" - I was lost but now I'm found). I always heard it as "Sometimes there's nothing left to say" which to me relates simply to the comfortable silence enjoyed by lovers.
This song comes from the deepest, darkest place. It's a minimal universe, ever expanding. The hymn Amazing Grace is about salvation and the song lifts several lines directly from it, but the song adds more depth to the meaning of the term.
"Amazing grace" here is the achievement of a transcendence from normal Earthy experience to something profoundly beautiful. In the first verse the girl achieves this by having the high of all highs (always thought it was "Swallowed up the land..."). The spike reference in the first verses obviously relates to heroin, but I think the subject of the song goes beyond that.
The second verse is much harder to interpret. It seems to be about someone who has been suffering from tinnitus for years; perhaps when the time comes when the incessant ringing finally stops is when the transcendence will take place. The "give it all away" line suggests that this may be attained by suicide.
The last verse quotes from the hymn and to me seems to describe the actual "Amazing grace" being experienced, whatever led to it. It seems to be a shareable experience ("Can you hear..."?), perhaps falling in love (some say that falling in love with someone is like returning "home" - I was lost but now I'm found). I always heard it as "Sometimes there's nothing left to say" which to me relates simply to the comfortable silence enjoyed by lovers.
Amazing song.