Going Blind

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a picture of someone clinging to a past that's already gone, a futile effort that ultimately affects no one else. The narrator observes this stubbornness, noting the futility of past triumphs like having 'fun in the burning sun' when the outcome was predetermined. This initial observation sets a tone of detached, almost weary, commentary on a self-destructive pattern. The central tension arises from the narrator's own reaction to this observed behavior. The repeated phrase 'You sure gotta funny way of hanging on' becomes a refrain that directly leads to the stark declaration, 'Cause I'm going blind.' This suggests that witnessing the other person's inability to let go is causing the narrator to lose their own sense of clarity or vision, implying a shared, albeit one-sided, deterioration. The lyrics employ a fascinating contrast between the external world and internal experience. While the other person is stuck in 'babylon of the always gone,' the narrator muses about 'midnight and hauntings' and 'nights on the fly,' hinting at a restless, perhaps more aware, internal state. The shift to 'dream of Birnam Wood' in the final verse introduces a surreal, literary allusion, suggesting a desire for escape or a different reality, further emphasizing the narrator's own disengagement from the present. Ultimately, the effectiveness of these lyrics lies in their subtle portrayal of vicarious exhaustion. The narrator isn't directly confronting the other person but is instead becoming overwhelmed by their inertia. The repeated hook and the final plea to 'Try going blind' suggest a desperate, almost ironic, invitation to embrace the same state of oblivion, as if shared blindness is the only way to cope with the other's refusal to see.