Everything Explained

For some reason I've received a number of visitors to my blog looking for the meaning of this song. Being a gracious host I will now explain it. This is what the song means, the Gospel of Trapeze Artistry according to Shawn.

First, let's talk about Trapeze Swingers. This is a dangerous job; it's not suited for everyone; if everyone gave it a try we'd have many more dead and injured people on our hands. Second, this song isn't a story so much as a mood. You can traverse it from point A to point B without reaching the destination. Thirdly, it's a song about Trapeze Swingers, not clowns or bankers. There's a place for clowns and bankers in life, but that place is NOT high above a crowd with no nets to catch them when they fall. Remember that.

Please, remember meHappily
From the get go we're told something has ended. We'll be reminded frequently. The story teller's real desire is to be remembered in some positive manner.

By the rosebush laughingWith bruises on my chinThe time whenWe counted every black car passingYour house beneath the hillAnd up untilSomeone caught us in the kitchenWith maps, a mountain range,A piggy bankA vision too removed to mention
Here's some examples of the good times, one can be happy for these can't they? The speaker seems to think so. The second half is the more interesting part. To the casual observer (one who catches them in the kitchen) it's all vague, like a map, mountain rangers, a piggy bank and visions that the observer couldn't understand even if they could see more than the maps and piggy banks.

Please, remember me
Fondly
Don't forget.

I heard from someone you're still pretty
Ouch, but he probably knew that already. More to the point, it's been long enough since they've seen each other that their physical appearances could have changed.

And then
They went on to say
That the pearly gates
Had some eloquent graffiti
Like 'We'll meet again'
And 'Fuck the man'
And 'Tell my mother not to worry'
This bit is harder to decode. I'm not sure the person actually said these things. Here's my suspicion, they said, "she's still pretty," and then the poor fellow is lost in his own thoughts. And these are the words he heard. We'll Meet Again. A Trapeze Swinger finds it hard to give up the heights. Fuck the man. And all the things he says are impossible. Tell my mother not not to worry. Even in your lowest of times you can't help but worry about mom.

And angels with their gray
Handshakes
Were always done in such a hurry
I'm not sure what the importance of the color gray is here, but I can imagine that if you get to touch an angel, that moment of contact will always feel way too short.

Please, remember me
At Halloween
There's really no better time of year.

Making fools of all the neighbors
Our faces painted white
See they're still having some good times. They can still make each other laugh. But the problem is, as we'll see later, they've given up their Trapeze Swinger outfits and are running around dressed as clowns, or ghosts of their former selves.

By midnight
We'd forgotten one another
And when the morning came
I was ashamed
And here it is, the beginning of the end.

Only now it seems so silly
Hindsight is 20/20: of course he shouldn't have forgotten her at halloween.

That season left the world
And then returned
And now you're lit up by the city
Things change and remain the same, but mostly they changed. Even so, it's true, she's still beautiful.

Please, remember me
Mistakenly
He wasn't perfect. Let's not make that mistake.

Disclaimer (I know, a little late): Now that I'm sitting here trying to figure out what's exactly meant I can understand why people searched the Internet to figure it out. I don't feel comfortable with the next couple parts but it's the best I could do. We'll see if I was really up to the challenge.

In the window of the tallest tower call
Then pass us by
But much too high
To see the empty road at happy hour
Leave and resonate
Just like the gates
Around the holy kingdom
With words like 'Lost and Found' and 'Don't Look Down'
And 'Someone Save Temptation'
Sometimes there are problems with too much height. You get way up there and you can't see things you use to be able to see, some of the missing things are simple, like happy hour, others are complex, like the gates that guard the holy kingdom. Then you realize you're not actually that high, but you would have known that long ago if you hadn't put so much stock in the words you found "up" there: "Lost and Found" and "Don't Look Down."

Please, remember me
As in the dream
This comes off as desperation. Just remember the good parts, not all the time, but every once in awhile.

We had as rug-burned babies
Among the fallen trees
And fast asleep
Aside the lions and the ladies
That called you what you like
And even might
Give a gift for your behavior
A fleeting chance to see
A trapeze
Swing as high as any savior
Here he tries to convince her that it was really worth it. It was worth flying. And in a perfect dreamy world perhaps they could have lived aside the lions and the ladies and the heights would have been a savior. But it's a dream, he's already admitted that, and she won't be taken in by it

Please, remember me
My misery
This is different. What does he want? Pity? It's tainting the goodness of all his other memories. Maybe this is where desperation leads. His thinking of the impossible good leads him to misery. Maybe.

And how it lost me all I wanted
It seems to be something else. Had he been happier back then, not because of her, but life, then perhaps things would have been different. Perhaps his misery and sadness drove her away? This is speculation as it does not sound like a trapeze swinger.

Those dogs that love the rain
And chasing trains
The colored birds above there running
In circles round the well
It's hard to make heads or tails of this since the previous line left me scratching my head. These are dangerous activities, much like trapeze swinging. Perhaps there is a certain sadness to the danger a trapeze swinger requires?

And where it spells
On the wall behind St. Peter's
So bright with cinder gray
And spray paint
'Who the hell can see forever?'
And no matter what it is, how good it could have been, or how bad it could have been, or how good it is, or how bad it is, it's still a gamble. We're all trapeze swingers to some small degree, because the answer to the question is "No one."

Please, remember me
Seldomly
He Knows he's been asking too much. Remembering isn't always a walk in the park.

In the car behind the carnival
My hand between your knees
You turn from me
And said 'The trapeze act was wonderful
But never meant to last'
The clown that passed
Saw me just come up with anger
When it filled with circus dogs
The parking lot
Had an element of danger
Here we are, back in real life. The end of it. The final act. He offers her a physical--if not loving at this point--touch, and she can't bare to look at him. All she knows is the the heights were wonderful, but they weren't meant to last. And all of the sudden they were both alone and vulnerable to the world, so much so that the parking lot filled with clowns and ordinary people feels dangerous--no high-wires required.


Please, remember me
Finally
Seriously, he's done trying. Things are what they are.

And all my uphill clawing
My dear
He did try pretty hard, but the hill was too steep, or his claws weren't strong enough or sharp enough.

But if i make
The pearly gates
Do my best to make a drawing
Of God and Lucifer
A boy and girl
An angel kissin on a sinner
A monkey and a man
A marching band
All around the frightened trapeze swingers
I don't know what this means. I'll leave it to my readers to tell me what it means. Please leave a comment.