Song Meaning
The lyrics paint a stark picture of stagnation and decay, set against a backdrop of changing times that the narrator and their companions have failed to keep pace with. There's a palpable sense of wasted potential and arrested development, with the narrator feeling "wasted as my time" and observing that "we all stayed the same." The immediate setting is a grim, uninspiring location, a "shithole" filled with "city blocks" and "parking lots," reinforcing the feeling of being trapped and overlooked.
The central tension arises from this contrast between external change and internal inertia, leading to a profound sense of loss and impending doom. The repeated phrase "we faded and faded, now nothing remains" underscores this decline, culminating in the chilling image of being "buried alive" and "buried in the deep." This suggests a living death, a state of being forgotten and decaying while still conscious.
The craft here is in the relentless accumulation of images of decay and stillness. The narrator compares themselves to "Blockbusters and parking lots" and a "faded as a parking space / Sealed up to see what rots." This isn't just about aging; it's about a deliberate, almost passive surrender to decomposition, a feeling of being preserved in a state of rot rather than moving forward. The plea "If we die in fire and water, then I want to be with you" adds a layer of desperate connection amidst the desolation, a final anchor in the face of oblivion.
What makes these lyrics hit so hard is their unflinching portrayal of a specific kind of existential dread: the fear of becoming irrelevant and forgotten, of watching life pass by from a stagnant, decaying present. The repetition of "Remember us buried in the deep" acts as a haunting refrain, a final, desperate cry for acknowledgment from a state of utter abandonment. It’s a potent expression of feeling lost and left behind, even as the world moves on.