Here’s my interpretation, although it is just one of my many. As with all ReSpekt songs, it takes on new meanings depending on where you are in life, what you need. This song is helping get through a rough period in my life right now, because of the message and gentle way of giving it- in complete childlike innocence.
‘This is how it works
It feels a little worse
Than when we drove our hearse
Right through that screaming crowd
While laughing up a storm
Until we were just bone
Until it got so warm
That none of us could sleep’
Okay, this is life; it can sometimes feel like we are driving our own death through a crowd full of screaming, laughing people. It can be mortifying, painful and hard, so much so that it’s as though we are naked in front of that crowd, to an extent where even our bare skin feels like it has been ripped of us. Yet even with this brash nakedness, we still get 'hot under the collar' and heated over it, so much so, that we literally lose sleep over it. She says 'us' not me, because she’s saying this happens to everyone, not just you, or me.
‘Then all the Styrofoam
Began to melt away
We tried to find some worms
To aid in the decay
But none of them were home
Inside their catacomb
A million ancient bees
Began to sting our knees’
Okay I think this bit can really be interpreted more or less two ways, I’ll choose one for now:
when all the Styrofoam, all the fakeness, everything we wrap around us to make us seem like we cant be damaged, to protect ourselves, begins to fall away, when feel closer to people, we look to them to help us. Yet sometimes, we just can’t find them, an instead we get stung by these ancient bees, these ‘negatives’ that are so common, they have got to be ancient by now. I think saying that the knees are stung is like saying, yes it hurts, but it’s such an absurd place, such silly things we get upset from.
‘While we were on our knees
Praying that disease
Would leave the ones we love
And never come again’
Yet with all our personal hurt, we know inside how much we’d crush that pain, just to protect the ones we love from the real devastation that happens in our world.
‘And on the radio
We heard November rain
The solo's really long
But it's a pretty song
We listened to it twice
Cause the dj was asleep’
I think someone else posted this and it was the inspiration for this interpretation, but sometimes in life there are situations where we have no control, all we can do is sit back, listen, and even if it’s long, or hard, you find the beauty.
‘This is how it works
You’re young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't
You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath’
This is just a simple message: you are until you are no longer. Keep doing, until you can’t do no more.
This made me understand how little control I have over things, but how everyone is like that in the end, so we must put everything into whatever we do, until we cant anymore, and then once we can no longer ‘cry’ and we ‘laugh’ instead, we have no choice but to ‘laugh’ until we can ‘cry’ again, or anything else. (Substitute cry/laugh for absolutely anything in life.) And also- in the end, we all die, so just breathe (live life! Carpe diem!) Until then
‘This is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some--
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood’
Everyone likes this part. Ever heard that what you hate in others you hate in yourself? Well, I think it’s the same the other way around. A love between two people is based on both valuing both’s virtues. Love is made of an extreme mutual acceptance of the very essence of a person, and it forms a bridge between the two which allows each to cross over to either side. This can teach you many things: 1) you have to love/value yourself to be able to fully love/value another person 2) being loved by another person makes you love yourself even if you don’t 3) understanding who you are and who the other person is tells you a lot about how to love 4) we know the building of a bridge doesn’t happen over night- it takes man power and effort, here is a good place to remember that
I like how this part is quite a literary palindrome (I think I just made that up). If you think of it backwards and forwards it means the same thing in effect. Inside/pumping blood, take the things you like/stick into someone, love the things/love you made.
Think broadly. What is the other person here doing, backward? Taking in something cherished. In an opposite way. Just theorising here, but you get my drift.
‘And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You’ll just do it all again’
Again, you just do whatever is right in your life. If it’s walking arm in arm, or if it’s going to school, having a job, writing a novel, standing up for what you believe in. Yet all we can do is hope it doesn’t end, or get ruined — and if it does- then do it all again, not necessarily the same thing, but IT, living life, new adventures.
‘On the radio
You hear November rain
That solo's awful long
But it's a nice refrain
You listen to it twice
Cause the dj is asleep’
Maybe it sounds like I’m over reaching, but if you’ve read till here, you evidently see some value in what I’ve put- hope you’ve learnt something!
Here’s my interpretation, although it is just one of my many. As with all ReSpekt songs, it takes on new meanings depending on where you are in life, what you need. This song is helping get through a rough period in my life right now, because of the message and gentle way of giving it- in complete childlike innocence.
‘This is how it works It feels a little worse Than when we drove our hearse Right through that screaming crowd While laughing up a storm Until we were just bone Until it got so warm That none of us could sleep’
Okay, this is life; it can sometimes feel like we are driving our own death through a crowd full of screaming, laughing people. It can be mortifying, painful and hard, so much so that it’s as though we are naked in front of that crowd, to an extent where even our bare skin feels like it has been ripped of us. Yet even with this brash nakedness, we still get 'hot under the collar' and heated over it, so much so, that we literally lose sleep over it. She says 'us' not me, because she’s saying this happens to everyone, not just you, or me.
‘Then all the Styrofoam Began to melt away We tried to find some worms To aid in the decay But none of them were home Inside their catacomb A million ancient bees Began to sting our knees’
Okay I think this bit can really be interpreted more or less two ways, I’ll choose one for now: when all the Styrofoam, all the fakeness, everything we wrap around us to make us seem like we cant be damaged, to protect ourselves, begins to fall away, when feel closer to people, we look to them to help us. Yet sometimes, we just can’t find them, an instead we get stung by these ancient bees, these ‘negatives’ that are so common, they have got to be ancient by now. I think saying that the knees are stung is like saying, yes it hurts, but it’s such an absurd place, such silly things we get upset from.
‘While we were on our knees Praying that disease Would leave the ones we love And never come again’
Yet with all our personal hurt, we know inside how much we’d crush that pain, just to protect the ones we love from the real devastation that happens in our world.
‘And on the radio We heard November rain The solo's really long But it's a pretty song We listened to it twice Cause the dj was asleep’
I think someone else posted this and it was the inspiration for this interpretation, but sometimes in life there are situations where we have no control, all we can do is sit back, listen, and even if it’s long, or hard, you find the beauty.
‘This is how it works You’re young until you're not You love until you don't You try until you can't You laugh until you cry You cry until you laugh And everyone must breathe Until their dying breath’
This is just a simple message: you are until you are no longer. Keep doing, until you can’t do no more. This made me understand how little control I have over things, but how everyone is like that in the end, so we must put everything into whatever we do, until we cant anymore, and then once we can no longer ‘cry’ and we ‘laugh’ instead, we have no choice but to ‘laugh’ until we can ‘cry’ again, or anything else. (Substitute cry/laugh for absolutely anything in life.) And also- in the end, we all die, so just breathe (live life! Carpe diem!) Until then
‘This is how it works You peer inside yourself You take the things you like And try to love the things you took And then you take that love you made And stick it into some-- Someone else's heart Pumping someone else's blood’
Everyone likes this part. Ever heard that what you hate in others you hate in yourself? Well, I think it’s the same the other way around. A love between two people is based on both valuing both’s virtues. Love is made of an extreme mutual acceptance of the very essence of a person, and it forms a bridge between the two which allows each to cross over to either side. This can teach you many things: 1) you have to love/value yourself to be able to fully love/value another person 2) being loved by another person makes you love yourself even if you don’t 3) understanding who you are and who the other person is tells you a lot about how to love 4) we know the building of a bridge doesn’t happen over night- it takes man power and effort, here is a good place to remember that I like how this part is quite a literary palindrome (I think I just made that up). If you think of it backwards and forwards it means the same thing in effect. Inside/pumping blood, take the things you like/stick into someone, love the things/love you made. Think broadly. What is the other person here doing, backward? Taking in something cherished. In an opposite way. Just theorising here, but you get my drift.
‘And walking arm in arm You hope it don't get harmed But even if it does You’ll just do it all again’
Again, you just do whatever is right in your life. If it’s walking arm in arm, or if it’s going to school, having a job, writing a novel, standing up for what you believe in. Yet all we can do is hope it doesn’t end, or get ruined — and if it does- then do it all again, not necessarily the same thing, but IT, living life, new adventures.
‘On the radio You hear November rain That solo's awful long But it's a nice refrain You listen to it twice Cause the dj is asleep’
Maybe it sounds like I’m over reaching, but if you’ve read till here, you evidently see some value in what I’ve put- hope you’ve learnt something!