Friday, August 12, 2011

A Deeper Look At "Kamikaze"

The song "Kamikaze" from Owl City's new album All Things Bright And Beautiful gives me a very distinct spiritual message every time I listen to it. This may possibly be the basic idea of it, and it might not be. Regardless, I thought I should write my take on the lyrics' meanings.

The princess in her flowerbed
Pulled the jungle underground
 
The "princess" might not be the elegant, polite royalty figure that comes to mind. The princess may in fact be a temptation or something that seems harmless that could turn against you.
This reminds me of Jadis, the "Queen" of Narnia. She acts charitable at first, but is actually evil. Her "pulling the jungle underground" suggests that she brought the chaos of the world down into the darkness, where evil resides, thus turning us into our own enemies and ultimately planting a curse on the Earth.
 
Where cherry bombs stain the blackbirds red
I think the "cherry bombs" could mean blood, as if to say that our bloodshed and disaster destroys and stains even the nature around us.

And explosions never make a sound 
The "explosions" may be the crimes and injustices in our wicked world. This may be saying that it's an everyday thing for people to die, which it is, and that something so dark should never be as nonchalant as it is today.

Oh, comet come down 
May be a plea to let God's glory and guidance come down on us

Kamikaze over me 
The rapture would be quite like a kamikaze attack. God destroying his own creation and people is very similar to a suicide mission, as it is what He put into existance.
And I call alive
My midnight melody
Adam's daydreams are often his escape from the real world, and in a time like this might seem like a great time to think of a better place. It would be understandable for him to escape there now.
Oh, comet come down

My captain on the snowy horse 
Is coming back to take me home
(He's coming back to take me home)
Basically, Adam's captain is God. He's taking him "home", which would really be heaven.

He'll find me fighting back a terrible force
'Cause I'm not afraid to die alone
Adam is fighting against the trappings and sins the world is plagued with. One might feel "alone" in the fight for glory, and this is Adam saying he's...Well, not afraid of that.
 
(Bring down the open road)
Show us the path to you (God)
Maybe I'll ride
 The ride may be following God's wishes into the unknown
(And fight back the undertow)  
Basically, "and fight against Satan"
To save my life  
Well... To save his life.
(Bring in the amber glow)
 The glow may be an imagery symbol pertaining to happiness or glory.
Maybe I'll fly
 May mean he has freedom
(And go where you wanna go)
Essentially, again, being free
With an eagle eye
With an eye with wisdom and power, what our enemy lacks (An eagle is often a symbol of these things)

I understand that much of this sounds very GOD GOD GOD GOD GOD, but you have to understand, Adam's a very committed and faithful Christian, and he's been becoming more and more open with his faith. It's practically impossible to deny that God is hinted in both "Hospital Flowers" and "Galaxies" as well. "Angels" seems pretty God-related too, obviously.

I also really like that at the end of the song, he's singing in such a calm and content manner while you can steal hear the backup vocals yelling. It's as if his voice itself is floating off to heaven as the anger of Earth stays anchored to its tainted soil.
Photo not mine

1 comment:

Dyanova said...

BEST INTERPRETATION EVER! -- you rock, Matrill!