The singer has broken up from a relationship that was very significant for him. In the first verse he describes working through a painful realization: that the promise of security the relationship offered to both parties was an illusion.
"Love is no big truth
Driven by our genes
We are simple selfish beings"
This seems fairly self-explanatory - he's reiterating that whatever he believed love to be is clearly falsified by their break up. I think he's trying to comfort himself, and guard himself from ever regarding it as having any deep spiritual meaning and getting so hurt in the future.
"A symphony that's you
Joyously awaking
The ignorant and sleeping"
To me, this is the singer still feeling love for his ex-partner and feeling the pain of jealousy towards the next person she starts a relationship with (the ignorant and sleeping). He equates the whole concept/ emotion/ experience of "love" with "you" (the ex-partner) because for him, all aspects of that special person represent what he understands love to mean (hence the "symphony of you" - not necessarily just certain qualities).
The instrumental interlude reflects time passing.
"Passion and its brother hate, they come and go
Could easily be made to stay for longer, though"
For me, the singer, rather than is making the observation that emotions are fleeting, is actually describing how he is flipping between the extremes of love and hate for his estranged love, and that he is in real danger of ruminating on them and becoming stuck or psychologically blocked from ever moving on.
"Many people play this game so willingly
Do I have to be like them, or be lonely? "
The singer is struggling to understand how lightly other people seem to enter into, and cope with the failure of relationships. The implication of the question he asks is extremely poignant: "Am I destined to be alone if I continue to be my authentic self?"
"Another view, of what there is to it. Getting me through it."
As in verse one, he's recognizing that he takes comfort in balancing the magical/romantic beliefs he held about the nature of love with purely biological ones. It hurts less if it means less.
The repetition of,
"I'll never need it again, again, again..."
is almost like a child-like mantra he is trying to force into his unconscious in order to protect himself in the future. It highlights the tragic truth that no matter how logically we can diminish the significance of love, we can't escape our biology.
@musicnmeaning I liked what you said. When love disappoints us, and it does inevitably, we can move on looking for another person, stick it out, or question the significance and value of love (as the writer does). And it seems very valid to question love. We come to love with the hope of finding something grand ("symphony") yet secure ("cushion") to be the crescendo of life, to be our end goal in life, to make us happy. But love falls short because "we are simple, selfish beings". (I think, how often, when we say, "I love you," do we really...
@musicnmeaning I liked what you said. When love disappoints us, and it does inevitably, we can move on looking for another person, stick it out, or question the significance and value of love (as the writer does). And it seems very valid to question love. We come to love with the hope of finding something grand ("symphony") yet secure ("cushion") to be the crescendo of life, to be our end goal in life, to make us happy. But love falls short because "we are simple, selfish beings". (I think, how often, when we say, "I love you," do we really mean, "I love how I get X from you"?) And from a cold, dissecting, scientific point of view, "love" is simply a conglomeration of molecules into hormones, tools of evolution to pass on one's DNA. The song leaves me with the question, "Can we really live with our beliefs about love?" A Disneyfied idealized vision of love can only be disappointing, while a clinical, biological vision of love is cynical, soul-sucking, and somehow hard to hold onto. My personal view is that love is an image meant to point us to a desire for something bigger that can actually fulfill our grandiose expectations and fantastic desires. (See Ephesians 5:32 for specifics.)
This amazing song speaks to me as follows:
The singer has broken up from a relationship that was very significant for him. In the first verse he describes working through a painful realization: that the promise of security the relationship offered to both parties was an illusion.
"Love is no big truth Driven by our genes We are simple selfish beings"
This seems fairly self-explanatory - he's reiterating that whatever he believed love to be is clearly falsified by their break up. I think he's trying to comfort himself, and guard himself from ever regarding it as having any deep spiritual meaning and getting so hurt in the future.
"A symphony that's you Joyously awaking The ignorant and sleeping"
To me, this is the singer still feeling love for his ex-partner and feeling the pain of jealousy towards the next person she starts a relationship with (the ignorant and sleeping). He equates the whole concept/ emotion/ experience of "love" with "you" (the ex-partner) because for him, all aspects of that special person represent what he understands love to mean (hence the "symphony of you" - not necessarily just certain qualities).
The instrumental interlude reflects time passing.
"Passion and its brother hate, they come and go Could easily be made to stay for longer, though"
For me, the singer, rather than is making the observation that emotions are fleeting, is actually describing how he is flipping between the extremes of love and hate for his estranged love, and that he is in real danger of ruminating on them and becoming stuck or psychologically blocked from ever moving on.
"Many people play this game so willingly Do I have to be like them, or be lonely? "
The singer is struggling to understand how lightly other people seem to enter into, and cope with the failure of relationships. The implication of the question he asks is extremely poignant: "Am I destined to be alone if I continue to be my authentic self?"
"Another view, of what there is to it. Getting me through it."
As in verse one, he's recognizing that he takes comfort in balancing the magical/romantic beliefs he held about the nature of love with purely biological ones. It hurts less if it means less.
The repetition of,
"I'll never need it again, again, again..."
is almost like a child-like mantra he is trying to force into his unconscious in order to protect himself in the future. It highlights the tragic truth that no matter how logically we can diminish the significance of love, we can't escape our biology.
@musicnmeaning I liked what you said. When love disappoints us, and it does inevitably, we can move on looking for another person, stick it out, or question the significance and value of love (as the writer does). And it seems very valid to question love. We come to love with the hope of finding something grand ("symphony") yet secure ("cushion") to be the crescendo of life, to be our end goal in life, to make us happy. But love falls short because "we are simple, selfish beings". (I think, how often, when we say, "I love you," do we really...
@musicnmeaning I liked what you said. When love disappoints us, and it does inevitably, we can move on looking for another person, stick it out, or question the significance and value of love (as the writer does). And it seems very valid to question love. We come to love with the hope of finding something grand ("symphony") yet secure ("cushion") to be the crescendo of life, to be our end goal in life, to make us happy. But love falls short because "we are simple, selfish beings". (I think, how often, when we say, "I love you," do we really mean, "I love how I get X from you"?) And from a cold, dissecting, scientific point of view, "love" is simply a conglomeration of molecules into hormones, tools of evolution to pass on one's DNA. The song leaves me with the question, "Can we really live with our beliefs about love?" A Disneyfied idealized vision of love can only be disappointing, while a clinical, biological vision of love is cynical, soul-sucking, and somehow hard to hold onto. My personal view is that love is an image meant to point us to a desire for something bigger that can actually fulfill our grandiose expectations and fantastic desires. (See Ephesians 5:32 for specifics.)