Zigzagging Toward the Light
Zigzagging Toward Illumination: Conor Oberst's Bounder's Journey
Lyrics
I'm blessed with a heart that doesn't stop
I possess a heart that keeps beating continuously.
My minds a weathervane it spins around just like a top
My mind is unpredictable and changes direction frequently, similar to a spinning top.
Knows what the winds of fortune bring
It understands or anticipates the outcomes brought by changes in circumstances or luck.
In the season of the witch
Refers to a time of uncertainty, potentially suggesting a difficult or challenging period.
Home is a perjury, a parlor trick, an urban myth
Describes the concept of home as deceitful, a deceptive illusion, or a falsehood.
Oh how the circumstances change
Expresses the variability of situations and conditions.
This world of smoke and steel
Describes the world as filled with industrial elements and compromise.
Of compromise and meter-maids
Mentions compromises and trivial authority figures (like meter-maids) in this world.
I'm going to leave here before too long
Expresses the intention to depart from this place relatively soon.
Zigzagging toward the light
Describes a journey towards enlightenment or a better future.
I'm off to sing my bounder's song
Refers to departing to express oneself freely and unrestrained.
True love it hides like city stars
True love is elusive and difficult to perceive or understand, similar to stars in a city.
Nothing to gaze upon or contemplate
It's challenging to observe or contemplate the proximity or distance of true love.
How near or far
Love arrives unexpectedly without prior notice.
If it comes, it comes quite unannounced
It's a brief moment, influenced by external factors like light (sun or moon) or emergencies (like an ambulance).
A momentary glance
Lit up by sun or moon
Indicates the transience of meaningful moments lit up by various sources.
Or bonfire or ambulance
Shows the contrast between natural, celebratory, and emergency lighting.
How the circumstances change
Reiterates the unpredictability of circumstances.
Feels unmistakable with no idea from where it came
Emphasizes the unmistakable change without prior expectation.
But you will know it when it's gone
Recognition of change only happens after it has passed.
Zigzagging through the night
Describes a journey during the night, possibly feeling emotionally drained or exhausted.
Half-dead you sing your bounder's song
Even while feeling depleted, expressing oneself freely and without inhibitions.
Half-dead you sing, half-dead you sing
Repetition emphasizing the state of feeling drained while expressing oneself.
Sing for the bounder whose word is never kept
Singing for someone unreliable who doesn't keep promises.
A bindle of flowers to state his mind
Symbolic gesture indicating feelings or thoughts, blooming when remembered.
And bloom when he forgets
It's true that shadows tell the time
Describes being in a long line or queue that seems endless.
On sunny afternoons, on crowded sidewalks, passersby
Metaphorically, the queue forms a figure eight, suggesting a cycle with no clear end.
I'm in a queue that stretches out
Far as the eye can see
Expresses the act of traveling across vast distances, possibly metaphorical.
It forms a figure eight and goes on for eternity
Discovery of a place to let go and unwind.
Oh how the circumstances change
I fly by interstate across a purple mountain range
Traveling rapidly, possibly hinting at a transformative experience.
I find a place to come undone
Finding a place to relax or release emotions.
Zigzagging toward you now
Approaching someone while expressing oneself freely and uninhibitedly.
I sing out loud my bounder's song
Singing openly and without reservation.
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