Goodnight, to the city and the sea. To the strangers in the street, goodnight. To the ghost out in the halls, the paint peeling of the walls, goodnight. Sometimes I stand between the sidewalk and the sky, and just stare into the clouds as they pass by. You have to leave the ground to learn to fly.
Goodnight, to the TV and the clocks. To the rain that never stops, goodnight. To everyone I know! Shut my eyes and let 'em go, goodnight. Sometimes I stand between the sidewalk and the sky, and just stare into the clouds as they pass by. You have to leave the ground to learn to fly.
There is something beautiful dying everyday. And for the first time in my life I'm not afraid, 'cause there's nothing in this world that doesn't change.
Goodnight, to the person I have been. To the place that I am in, goodnight. Tomorrow, hello to the sun! Are you ready? Here I come. Goodnight.
Sometimes I stand between the sidewalk and the sky, and just stare into the clouds as they pass by. You have to leave the ground to learn to fly.
Analysis
This is song is a new beginning. Yes, it is a goodbye to some things, but it is a movement towards bigger and better things.
First, Zox says goodnight to many commonplace things. It almost sounds like a reference to the children's book Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. In the chorus, Zox talks about his daydreaming - he wants to fly. But first, he must leave the ground. Before he can accomplish extraordinary things, he must leave the commonplace behind.
Next, Zox says goodnight to all the people in his life. He lets them go; he moves on. He must leave them behind, too.
In the bridge, he talks about all of these changes. Yes, the things and people in his life were beautiful. He might miss them. But everything changes, like the clouds that he watches pass by. He must let go of good things to accept great things.
Lastly, Zox says goodnight to his past. All of the mistakes he has made and his circumstances don't matter anymore. He is ready for a new day, a brighter day.
This song is a letting go, and an accepting of new things.
Analysis
This song deals with the misconceptions that most people have about celebrity life. Nate Ruess delves into his personal dissatisfaction with fame, something that he thought would save him. The stars are a huge symbol in this song. He uses the term as a double entendre: one meaning being the literal stars in the sky, and the other being the stars of entertainment.
The intro to the song is a clip of Some Nights (one of fun.'s most popular songs) being played live, accompanied by wild cheering. This introduces the theme of the song well.
First, Nate addresses a friend who also romanticized fame. Together, they had planned to become famous, wishing on stars and relying on them to decide the future. Nate contrasts this starry-eyed expectation with the harsh reality of his now acquired fame: he misses his past. Specifically, his mom. He feels as if he doesn't have any true friends; people are either mere fans or fellow celebrities who don't really care. His friend who he had dreamed with seems to have abandoned him.
This friend is obsessed with fame. He says, "You're always holding on to stars." He says that though celebrities seem to have it all together, they don't - "I think they're better from afar." In reality, they are just as messed up as everyone else. They can't save Nate or his friend. Nate himself is now a star, and to him, that means nothing. He feels worse off than he was before his fame. This friend now expects Nate to help her, to save her, to be something that he's not. All of the dreams Nate had about his future never came true.
If you have listened to fun. extensively, you know that Nate Ruess does not often auto-tune his songs. In most of his corresponding original and acoustic versions, his voice sounds the same. Understanding this, the over-the-top editing of his voice in this song contributes to his commentary on modern entertainers. This is intentional. The progressive altering of his voice makes the point that artists often edit their voices just to please the crowd, sometimes even changing who they are for the sake of fame. By the end of Stars, the garbled singing can barely be understood. The words are meaningless; the sound is atrocious.
Altogether, this song shows that the belief that celebrities have better lives than "regular" people is a complete delusion. Nothing that Nate dreamed of satisfied his soul and saved him from all of the troubles of his youth.
I'm taking over my body - back in control, no more shotty. I bet a lot of me was lost, t's uncrossed and i's undotted. I fought it a lot, and it seems a lot like flesh is all I got. Not anymore. Flesh out the door, swat! I must've forgot - you can't trust me. I'm open a moment, and closed when you show it, and before you know it, I'm lost at sea. And now that I write and think about it and the story unfolds, you should take my life. You should take my soul.
You are surrounding all my surroundings; sounding down the mountain range of my left side brain. You are surrounding all my surroundings, twisting that kaleidoscope behind both of my eyes.
And I'll be holding on to you!
Remember the moment? You know exactly where you're going, 'cause the next moment, before you know it, time is slowing and it's frozen still, and your windowsill looks really nice, right? You think twice about your life. It probably happens at night, right? Fight it! Take the pain; ignite it! Tie a noose around your mind, loose enough to breathe fine, and tie it to a tree. Tell it, you belong to me! This ain't a noose, this is a leash, and I have news for you - you must obey me!
You are surrounding all my surroundings, sounding down the mountain range of my left side brain. You are surrounding all my surroundings, twisting that kaleidoscope behind both of my eyes.
Entertain my faith.
Lean with it, rock with it. When we gonna stop with it? Lyrics that mean nothing, we were gifted with thought. Is it time to move our feet to an introspective beat? It ain't the speakers that bump hearts, it's our hearts that make the beat.
And I'll be holding on to you.
Analysis
This song, though not explicitly, is about dependence on God to fight depression and suicide. It is the writer's fight to control his own mind and body. For the sake of this analysis, it is assumed that Tyler Joseph wrote this song.
This fight is shown in the very first line. ("Shotty" is short for shotgun, or riding shotgun in a car. It means he is not in control of the vehicle.) He says that while we was depressed and not in control of himself, he made mistakes - "a lot of me was lost, t's uncrossed and i's undotted."
He says that he tried to fight it, but "flesh" was all he got. The imagery in the music video supports this line. The shirtless bodies seeming to take control of Tyler in the video symbolize his flesh. "Flesh" is a biblical term that describes a person's sinful nature. For example, Ephesians 2:3 says, "Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." This imagery in the music video depicted how Tyler's sin and depression was taking control and consuming his life.
Tyler then describes the way that he vacillates in his relationship with the subject of the song - God. He is unreliable and untrustworthy. This mental conflict is symbolized in the music video by Tyler's jerky, shaky movements. He doesn't know which way to go. He recognizes that he cannot commit to God in his own strength. He needs God to take his life, to take his soul, because Tyler cannot give it up willingly.
In the chorus, Tyler states that God is all around him, in everything he does and everywhere he goes. He says He is "sounding down the mountain range of my left side brain." The left side of the brain is considered to be the logical, analytical half of the brain. Tyler understands God - he knows all about Him in his head, but the knowledge has not reached his heart. He believes in God, but has a hard time fully putting his trust in Him. However, he has seen God in his life everywhere. This confuses Tyler; he doesn't know what to think or believe - as if he is looking through a constantly twisted kaleidoscope.
However, through all of this, Tyler holds on to his faith in God. He relies on Him to keep him alive.
In the second verse, Tyler addresses a peer, a fellow suicidal person. He describes the feeling of depression and empathizes with his listener. Then he gives his listener some advice: don't give in. Take control of your mind; don't let it kill itself. Instead of being enslaved to your mind, enslave your mind! 2 Corinthians 10:5b says, "We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." This is symbolized in the music video by Tyler's "tug of war" with his flesh, using a noose. Finally the rope breaks, freeing him from suicide and his flesh.
The ballerina in music video represents death. She is beautiful and appealing. Even after the noose around Tyler's neck breaks, he still struggles with the desire for death.
In the bridge, Tyler pleads with God to accept his feeble yet genuine faith. As stated in the first verse, he knows that his faith is not strong. Still he begs God to "entertain his faith," to accept it no matter what state it is in.
Lastly, Tyler takes a stab at the thoughtless entertainment of our culture. Music should be used to provoke thought and discover things about ourselves and others. Music is a tool, not an entity. People should not be told to listen to certain types of music - it is people that make music and decide what to listen to. This song, Holding On To You, is an example of music that provokes thought, teaches others about the perspective of a suicidal person, and gives insight into how to overcome this depression.
P.S. The music video makes a reference to another one of Twenty One Pilots' songs, Guns for Hands.
