I always thought that the "smell" that was "sweeter then" was referring to how things are so intense and novel when you're young. The intensity lessens as you get older and think what you do through more.

I've asked about that song in the past and Devin's only reply is "It's ugly, really ugly." Would never expand on that.

This song has helped me in the past, and I understand what he's referencing here.

I must admit, the lyrics have always been a bit much for me. I mean that in terms of how depressing it all is. The part about laying roses in her hair and all that, it's a happy thought, but strangely enough, it's still depressing. Depressingly happy, can that make sense?

I think it's about trying to come to terms with the ugly inside (the worm as the oldest wound a.k.a. the freudian subconscious which forms our being).
There are conscious mundane things we are aware of and then there are subconscious things we are not aware of but drive us, those things make us who we really are (and are truly beyond those mundane things, that is, we cannot grasp them through means of mundane things). Dealing with them, trying to understand them helps us not to be so unpleasantly surprised by some of our own actions. It's not about righting the wrong, it's about accepting the wrong as the kernel of our being. Therefore the last line: These things inside are all just things. Can't do shit about them, there they are in your face. The more you run away, the more they are right infront of you. The more you try to change them, the more they change you into something you like even less.

It's amazing how Devin had probably never even heard of the works of Jacques Lacan, but still he produces exemplary material for some of Lacan's concepts. If he'd read Lacan, he'd dig him I'm sure.

Nice post Goat (do/did you study philosophy/psychology BTW ?)

Damn, "Lacan" still sounds the same as "evil" in my mind... I was (as well as 99% of my highschool mates) definitely to immature/dumb (chose the one that suits you best^^) to be teached about philosophy... And the teacher was not that great either... (and she always caught me drawing... damn...)

Cultural studies. My anthropology teacher and her assistant had a thing for Freud and Lacan and I got into it. Plus lacanian school is very strong here in Slovenia (Slavoj Žižek, Mladen Dolar, Miran Božovič, Rado Riha - all international figures).
I attended a course Structuralism and Psychoanalysis held by Mladen Dolar. In an interview I once had with him he said they (people mentioned above) read all that was to be read and beyond and after a while it became obvious that Lacan was the one who went the furthest as far as human psychology goes. He developed concepts that allow us to understand things that are left floating freely with other authors or they deliberately ignore them in order for their work to hold water. Lacan is a tough nut to crack, full of paradox and unpleasant truths, plus he's absolutely user UNfriendly. Reading earlier works of Slavoj Žižek (only in Slovene, sorry ) helps heaps. If you are interested, Jacques-Alain Miller is the author who explains Lacan with unbelievable ease and clarity. These folks are dedicated beyond belief.
Oh, and highschool is definitely too early for Lacan, unless you're psycho. Like Žižek, I read some stuff he wrote when he was 17 about heideggerian philosophy and I was just "fuck, man". He gets stuff immediately, it's like perfect pitch in music, you hear a sound and you know the pitch. He reads a book and knows the concepts, the flaws, the big picture, the inner paradoxes, the ideological constructs ... crazy, I love him. He's a compulsory writer, he writes one book a year, sometimes two.

By the way, did you see The Pervert's Guide to Cinema with Žižek? Amazing documentary!

I always thought the song was just about looking happily back at some memories. Like Things (that happened) Beyond Things (that you still have).

something like that...

yeah.

I always thought the song was just about looking happily back at some memories. Like Things (that happened) Beyond Things (that you still have).

something like that...

yeah.

Ooh, I like that idea. I dont know if thats it, but I like it a lot. It fits too.

"... Cept it was, sweeter then".

Yeah, I think with a song thats as open lyrically as this, it's impossible to know what the song is really about unless the man himself says it, which doesn't sound likely.

I think the songs meaning is that its really happy but also really sad at the same time and its like omg

When I listen to this song I imagine that Devin is remembering his childhood in the same way that I remember mine. At the age of thirteen I was stuck in a terrible Catholic school in middle England. During double french class I would spend hours staring out the windows, imagining a better life.

This is what I understand "a world that wasn't small" to mean: daydreams of a happier place. I would construct a romantic place for myself, and more often than not I would set my girl there, "under trees and earth".
Basically the verse refers to a utopian delusion - a perfect place for the dreamer, a place where fear doesn't exist and love is everything. This kind of mental escapism is a powerful traumatic block. It is also damaging.
"As the sun sets in my eyes, I know" Devin knows it is just a daydream, and that he must return to reality. But he does so reluctantly.

"I remember this smell from my dreams except it was sweeter then."
This is the problem. Romantic delusions lead to disillusion when you finally achieve something close to them. Things aren't the way they ought to be, things aren't as beautiful. You aren't sure of yourself. The setting is not a beautiful, warm mountainside.
I think that what Devin considers to be the "worm" or "the oldest wound" is subconscious regret for something he never had. The way he expresses this in the song was heartbreaking for me: thinking, perhaps wrongly, that I knew exactly what he meant.
"Don't try to get inside, these things inside are just things" sums up the song with a simple realisation of the illness, and a warning to those who might attempt to fix it. After all, it is a mental illness.

It could also relate to my continued dalliance with cannabis, which has popped me neatly out of the shell school put me in. I feel both hate and love for the world, and that is something a doctor told me was a result of my "drug use". I disagree. I think that my drug use opened my eyes, exposing far deeper problems created by a broken educational system. If I hadn't woken up to the world around me, I would probably be a robot by now. I mention weed because Devy is or was known to toke it up regularly, and I know he feels a lot of pain. Or, he did.

If I met Devin I might ask him about all this. I might not; after all, he's helped me enough by simply recording such deep music. I don't know.
So many words, which one do you say?

It took me a year but now I understand this song. I've been there too.

Too bad schenobi hasn't posted anything else. He/she seems like a really smart person.

The title is insane. Take anything (things) and think beyond em....you could go on forever.

You mean "Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things Beyond Things"?

Teehee.

I like to think the song is about getting lost in your own dream world to escape the darkness of your real life, made more horrifying when you wake up from it (symbolized by the awesome scream at the end).

I also heard from another person that the song is about bisexuality or something.

Bisexuality?