Sunken City
Escape the Crumbling World: Sunken City Chronicles
Lyrics
There's a hole in the barbed wire fence by the bench where we first met
There's an opening in the barbed wire fence near the bench where the speaker and someone else first met.
It's big enough to fit a person if you squeeze
The hole is large enough for a person to pass through with effort.
If you don't mind a couple scrapes you could escape, you could come with me
Despite potential scrapes, the speaker suggests escaping together through the hole.
But you've got to crawl through on your hands and knees
To pass through, one must crawl on hands and knees.
Last night lightning hit the shed, knocked the generators dead
Lightning damaged the shed and disabled the generators the previous night.
Stick close to the walls, keep out of sight
Advising to stay close to the walls and out of sight due to a possible threat.
We haven't got too long before the floodlights come back on;
The floodlights are a temporary threat, and there's limited time before they come back on.
We're going to make a break for it tonight
Planning to escape that night.
Once you're past, there's no path, just head straight for the coastline
Once past the barrier, there's no clear path, just a direction towards the coastline.
'Till the ground beneath your feet gives way
The ground may give way beneath, implying instability.
To cracked up concrete pulverized by the ocean's crashing tides
Describing the landscape of cracked concrete eroded by ocean tides.
I'd really like to take you there someday
Expressing a desire to share this place with the other person someday.
Back before your life began, this was interstate 110
Referencing a time before the listener's life began when this location was a highway (interstate 110).
Connecting city suburbs one by one
Describing the highway's original purpose of connecting city suburbs.
Until an earthquake from the depths dragged it down with all the rest
An earthquake submerged the highway along with other achievements.
Leaving all of our accomplishments undone
Reflecting on the abandonment of accomplishments due to natural disasters.
It's almost eighty miles long, a relic of a world long gone
Highlighting the immense length of the submerged highway as a relic.
It's a sign and it serves to remind
The highway serves as a sign, reminding that California is slowly eroding into the ocean.
That California is crumbling into the ocean
Expressing the gradual disintegration of California, piece by piece.
It's just doing it one piece at a time
Clarifying the ongoing decay of California in incremental stages.
There's no metropolis out there. just dirt and dusty air
Contrasting the desolate landscape outside with an optimistic view of a city within the person.
But I swear I see a city inside of you
Comparing the features of the person's face to elements of a city.
Your face is like a skyline. your hair, a thatch power lines
Further analogies between the person's appearance and city structures.
And your mouth is Mulholland Ave.
Symbolizing the person's mouth as Mulholland Ave, a road in Los Angeles.
And if somehow we survive when the trebuchets subside
If they survive challenges, the speaker promises to share forgotten hymns with the person.
I will teach you every hymn this world forgot
Envisioning singing songs about wars they may not remember, emphasizing the passage of time.
And we'll sing propaganda songs of wars we don't remember
Expressing a desire to be free from burdensome thoughts through divine intervention.
God free me from the burden of my thoughts
A plea for liberation from mental burdens.
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