All I Know

Song Meaning

The narrator opens with a stark contrast between an idealized, tranquil existence in Papua and the harsh reality of being a "pigeon in a concrete cocoon." This immediate juxtaposition sets a tone of dissatisfaction and entrapment, amplified by the self-destructive imagery of a moth drawn to a fatal light. The repeated phrase "hello, excuse me?" and the dismissive "I'm not sorry that you don't understand" suggest a defiant, perhaps even alienated, stance against societal expectations or comprehension. The core of the song's tension lies in the narrator's attempt to ground themselves in a primal, almost cosmic understanding of existence, as articulated in the hook: "That my bones are made from dead dinosaurs and stars." This is juxtaposed with a visceral, earthy connection to nature, like "blood is red from dead dandelion's hearts" and skin as soft as "a spider's arse." These are presented as the only certainties, the fundamental truths the narrator clings to amidst confusion. The lyrics employ a fascinating blend of the grand and the grotesque to articulate this worldview. The idea of being composed of ancient cosmic matter ("dinosaurs and stars") is immediately undercut by the raw, almost vulgar, natural imagery of the spider's silk. This deliberate collision of the sublime and the base creates a unique, unsettling texture. The narrator also grapples with a sense of lost memory and identity, questioning "how we got here" and admitting, "we all alien." Ultimately, the song's power comes from its radical embrace of ignorance. The bridge hammers this home: "All I know is I don't know." This isn't a statement of defeat but a defiant assertion of a different kind of knowledge – one rooted in the fundamental, often uncomfortable, truths of existence rather than learned understanding. The repeated "sorry not sorry" reinforces this, suggesting a liberation found in accepting one's own unknowing and inherent strangeness.