I'm pretty sure all of that business about the Lorraine Motel is regarding the assassination of MLK. He was shot as he was standing on the balcony off room 306. The motel is now the National Civil Rights Museum. The man preaching in a language that's completely new is MLK.
I get a strong sense of existential dread from this song. The whole idea of sitting in a "basement patio" (What is that, exactly? Probably just a dark, sad basement.) while girls walk by outside with roses in bloom. It implies to me that all of these things: the Higgs Boson, Miley Cyrus and celebrity culture, the deaths of our revolutionaries, the legends that we surround ourselves with, are weighing him down.
I think this is one of the "biggest" songs Nick has ever written. It's arguably the best song of 2013.
@jimah I absolutely agree! Existential dread is what I get. I wonder if Nick WANTS to believe in the soul, but the Higgs Boson... well, he wants to believe in some kind of meaning, but doesn't know if he can anymore amid all evidence seeming to point to the contrary. In 20,000 Days On Earth it looked like he'd given up on his very defining ramblings about God, which he said were most pervasive in his writing when he was on a lot of drugs, so I think he's coming to terms with a world where, looking, as a sober...
@jimah I absolutely agree! Existential dread is what I get. I wonder if Nick WANTS to believe in the soul, but the Higgs Boson... well, he wants to believe in some kind of meaning, but doesn't know if he can anymore amid all evidence seeming to point to the contrary. In 20,000 Days On Earth it looked like he'd given up on his very defining ramblings about God, which he said were most pervasive in his writing when he was on a lot of drugs, so I think he's coming to terms with a world where, looking, as a sober person, objectively, it seems like the self is really all there is. No soul, no plan, no big picture, rudderless, screws and nails falling out of planks, and the "Devil" is man-made.
Not necessarily my views, but his case is compelling. Or perhaps I just hear my own current existential crisis in his lyrics when he meant something else entirely.
It make me want to cry actually. I even felt sad for Miley Cyrus when I thought she drowned at the end. But Nick said he thinks she's probably just on a lilo.
I'm pretty sure all of that business about the Lorraine Motel is regarding the assassination of MLK. He was shot as he was standing on the balcony off room 306. The motel is now the National Civil Rights Museum. The man preaching in a language that's completely new is MLK.
I get a strong sense of existential dread from this song. The whole idea of sitting in a "basement patio" (What is that, exactly? Probably just a dark, sad basement.) while girls walk by outside with roses in bloom. It implies to me that all of these things: the Higgs Boson, Miley Cyrus and celebrity culture, the deaths of our revolutionaries, the legends that we surround ourselves with, are weighing him down.
I think this is one of the "biggest" songs Nick has ever written. It's arguably the best song of 2013.
@jimah I absolutely agree! Existential dread is what I get. I wonder if Nick WANTS to believe in the soul, but the Higgs Boson... well, he wants to believe in some kind of meaning, but doesn't know if he can anymore amid all evidence seeming to point to the contrary. In 20,000 Days On Earth it looked like he'd given up on his very defining ramblings about God, which he said were most pervasive in his writing when he was on a lot of drugs, so I think he's coming to terms with a world where, looking, as a sober...
@jimah I absolutely agree! Existential dread is what I get. I wonder if Nick WANTS to believe in the soul, but the Higgs Boson... well, he wants to believe in some kind of meaning, but doesn't know if he can anymore amid all evidence seeming to point to the contrary. In 20,000 Days On Earth it looked like he'd given up on his very defining ramblings about God, which he said were most pervasive in his writing when he was on a lot of drugs, so I think he's coming to terms with a world where, looking, as a sober person, objectively, it seems like the self is really all there is. No soul, no plan, no big picture, rudderless, screws and nails falling out of planks, and the "Devil" is man-made. Not necessarily my views, but his case is compelling. Or perhaps I just hear my own current existential crisis in his lyrics when he meant something else entirely. It make me want to cry actually. I even felt sad for Miley Cyrus when I thought she drowned at the end. But Nick said he thinks she's probably just on a lilo.