Does anyone have any idea what this song really means?

My personal interpretation: It's about a mental disorder (probably bipolar or depression) that destroys his life, where the "girl" symbolizes his life and the worm/wound inside him is the mental disorder

At the beginning everything seems beautiful, then he introduces the "worm" in the second verse and urges you not to try to understand it (dont try to get inside), and the girl becomes sick and he can't do anything about "so now i sit and watch the rain." In the last verse it takes control of him but he tries to manage it (now i try to get inside)

I'm probably completely off though. Help?

The title is insane. Take anything (things) and think beyond em....you could go on forever. I have my own interpretation of this song and it's far from the actual lyrics but still in sync with em in their own weird ways.

well you know those things you have? whats beyond them?


i got nothin'...

Does anyone have any idea what this song really means?

My personal interpretation: It's about a mental disorder (probably bipolar or depression) that destroys his life, where the "girl" symbolizes his life and the worm/wound inside him is the mental disorder

At the beginning everything seems beautiful, then he introduces the "worm" in the second verse and urges you not to try to understand it (dont try to get inside), and the girl becomes sick and he can't do anything about "so now i sit and watch the rain." In the last verse it takes control of him but he tries to manage it (now i try to get inside)

I'm probably completely off though. Help?

It's a good topic.

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?

Wow, great thinking there.

The beauty of this song is that it could mean almost anything. But now I'm leaning towards your view (the daydreaming one). Makes alot of sense

Thanks

what a fucking magnificent song. devin you fucking genious, never stop creating art.

truely a beautiful song

[Tracy]

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.

Hmm, thats interesting... Ugly must be code for something..

..but an awesome song none-the-less

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.

So much beauty on the outside of the ugliness

I never really put thought into the meaning,

I just always sing it to girls and tell them that they are the 'thing' beyond all things.

yes I am a simp

]
I just always sing it to girls and tell them that they are the 'thing' beyond all things.

Whoa I gotta try that!

]
I just always sing it to girls and tell them that they are the 'thing' beyond all things.

Whoa I gotta try that!

Try it out, girls love shit like that

]
I just always sing it to girls and tell them that they are the 'thing' beyond all things.

Whoa I gotta try that!

Try it out, girls love shit like that

suckers

i wouldnt be able to say it. its too cheesy to say that sorta stuff to me

I'd be tempted to try and explain the meaning, and say what Tracy said that Devin said... Something about ugly?
It worked on Lars and SJ, but I doubt if any girls would appreciate it