I just re-listened the song last night and got a very new insight on the spoken part.
So it definitely depends a lot on where and how you've been living and if I am right and there really is what I think beyond this song, then it is quite impressive that he got the idea even though he is living in...uh, civilized world?
The intro has a girl who doesn't really get what the important bits of life are and she holds on to the society standards - like, you don't just sit next to the other person on a plane. You are supposed to make them single-serving friends just like it was in the Fight Club movie, right? And you have to pretend to be interested in 3rd world countries because otherwise you would be judged, right?
And this man gets it and doesn't really want to talk to her because what can you explain to a person who is not open to anything new. But then the plane starts crashing and the idea starts coming to the girl "Is this the end already? But do I actually have anything to wrap up?" so she asks, where are we going and seeks help from outside as her life story is shrinking into one isolated point and she starts to realize that her days were just copies of some social "prescription" on how to do things right which is basically a new-age ideology (except that she thought she was free). And the man sees through it and decides to make a show for her (it's your bday party!) so that she doesn't die in a momentarily frustration because it is too late to change anything now and you should only get desperate over things that you still can change. (otherwise it is just self-pity). And then the plane splashes into the deep blue sea and that splash is the last and only thing that is left in the whole universe after the whole life of this ordinary girl because she didn't make a difference. But the last lines of the song give some role to those people as well: When you want to make a difference and want to put yourself out there (like, when you are starting a company or when you are an actor or a musician/singer, in this case) you always have these little monkeys telling you "what if I am not good enough (to be a singer)? what if people find out I am fake and that I too have doubts? what if I fail?" because it is risky. If you want to do some work on your own and you know it is not what society favours that much (yet), then people like the girl on the plane actually can give you peace of mind - You really are no one, just like them, and it's perfectly OK. If you fail to make a difference, you'll be just ordinary. It won't cost you your health etc. So you can carry on creating independently because what's the worst that can happen, really.
Background: See, I used to listen to Bright Eyes when I was living in Cologne and Berlin, Germany but since half a year ago I've been living alone in Brazilian countryside. It is basically like living in Alaska when it comes to social living: there is not even a coffeeshop where you could go each morning more for the sakes of building a ritual to forget the emptinness than for coffee. I am definitely biased by my experience but then again the song doesn't have to have just one meaning sharp.
I just re-listened the song last night and got a very new insight on the spoken part. So it definitely depends a lot on where and how you've been living and if I am right and there really is what I think beyond this song, then it is quite impressive that he got the idea even though he is living in...uh, civilized world?
The intro has a girl who doesn't really get what the important bits of life are and she holds on to the society standards - like, you don't just sit next to the other person on a plane. You are supposed to make them single-serving friends just like it was in the Fight Club movie, right? And you have to pretend to be interested in 3rd world countries because otherwise you would be judged, right? And this man gets it and doesn't really want to talk to her because what can you explain to a person who is not open to anything new. But then the plane starts crashing and the idea starts coming to the girl "Is this the end already? But do I actually have anything to wrap up?" so she asks, where are we going and seeks help from outside as her life story is shrinking into one isolated point and she starts to realize that her days were just copies of some social "prescription" on how to do things right which is basically a new-age ideology (except that she thought she was free). And the man sees through it and decides to make a show for her (it's your bday party!) so that she doesn't die in a momentarily frustration because it is too late to change anything now and you should only get desperate over things that you still can change. (otherwise it is just self-pity). And then the plane splashes into the deep blue sea and that splash is the last and only thing that is left in the whole universe after the whole life of this ordinary girl because she didn't make a difference. But the last lines of the song give some role to those people as well: When you want to make a difference and want to put yourself out there (like, when you are starting a company or when you are an actor or a musician/singer, in this case) you always have these little monkeys telling you "what if I am not good enough (to be a singer)? what if people find out I am fake and that I too have doubts? what if I fail?" because it is risky. If you want to do some work on your own and you know it is not what society favours that much (yet), then people like the girl on the plane actually can give you peace of mind - You really are no one, just like them, and it's perfectly OK. If you fail to make a difference, you'll be just ordinary. It won't cost you your health etc. So you can carry on creating independently because what's the worst that can happen, really.
Background: See, I used to listen to Bright Eyes when I was living in Cologne and Berlin, Germany but since half a year ago I've been living alone in Brazilian countryside. It is basically like living in Alaska when it comes to social living: there is not even a coffeeshop where you could go each morning more for the sakes of building a ritual to forget the emptinness than for coffee. I am definitely biased by my experience but then again the song doesn't have to have just one meaning sharp.