1st stanza - "meanwhile back in the year one" speaks to the indeterminate nature of childhood. All options are available, you're a blank slate, etc., but you don't stand a chance of determining your own path because of society.
Refrain - "skating away". The illusion society has built of what life should be and our metal dependance on it is tenuous. We have a choice each day to do the right thing but do we?
2nd stanza - "you were bred". We are beings of lofty possibilities and high potential, containing the soul of God. The individual almost always conforms to the "group think" of society. One day you'll come to realize you could have been so much more if you had just fought harder.
3rd stanza - "push off from the shore" is an allusion to death. Before you go, make your peace. "For those who choose to stay..." is a comical reference to trying to do everything you should have done over the course of your life on the last day.
4th stanza - "As you cross the circle line..." this whol sextion is about judgement after death. All through life we run from the fate we create. The splinters in the eye, is a referebce to the bible verse about judging others, "Before you talk about the splinter in your neighbor's eye, get the log out of your own". When you meet God for judgement, it will be too damn real and in the present tense. We discount our own actions through out life, seeing the impact of other but neglecting our own... "everyone's on the stage".
There's also a section of the lyrics missing,the last stanza:
"Spanning back down the years and the days of my youth,
Draw the lace and black curtains and shut out the whole truth.
Spin me down the long ages,
Let them sing the song".
This is a lament about not realizing the truth soon enough. The lacy veil of society's expectations distort man's true purpose and nature. If we are to become God-like in heaven, we must first learn to be human. To be God-like and have no empanthy for the plight of another is to be another Satan.
Good luck on your day y'all.
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