Owl City: Umbrella Beach Meaning

Song Released: 2010

Umbrella Beach Lyrics

Stems and gears, oh how the daisies bloom
When chandeliers light up the engine room
Can you feel the drops as it starts to rain
There's an underwater Ferris wheel where I found the missing link to this island chain

Home will always be here,...

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   #1 top rated interpretation:
   Americansuiteheart

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   Feb 23rd 2010 !⃝

   I think song is about being able to grow up and start life on your own away from home.
   
   
   "Home will always be here unseen, outta sight
   Where I disappear and hide
   I think dreamy things as I'm waving goodbye
   So I'll spread out my wings and fly"
   
   These lyrics explain that the person in the song(I guess we'll just say it's Adam Young) is talking about how he "disappears" or is leaving.
   
   Also in these lyrics you can see that he still keeps apart of home in him.
   
   "Home is a boxcar and it's so far out of reach
   Hidden under umbrella beach"
   
   Umbrella beach is just a metaphor for his thoughts. He keeps his home in mind no matter how far it is because it will always remain under "umbrella beach" or just the back of his mind.
2. anonymous

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   Apr 27th 2017 !⃝

   This song makes me think about the intro of a video game.
   
   The "stems and gears" and "engine room" references feel like a post-apocalyptic/abandoned/fantastic place/base underwater where the protagonist lives/goes often. A place where nature (stems/daisies) has become to take over the human element (gears/engines) again, creating an original blend of the two.
   
   The fact that "home is a boxcar" in my opinion gives more evidence to this idea while the "underwater ferris wheel" makes me think that the story of this ideal game could be about this teen who has to explore a submerged city/place that was inhabited before the flood, maybe trying to find out what happened or "the missing link" that connects the place to the rest of the world/other places where everybody else has moved to.
   
   The whole atmosphere/setting of the track makes me think about the Kingdom Hearts series, too.
3. anonymous

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   Aug 22nd 2012 !⃝

   I don't know why but for some reason, no one seems to hear the blatant alien (or possibly just a hidden alternate race) references in many of his songs!
   "There's an underwater Ferris Wheel (unidentified submersible object) where I found the 'missing link' to this island chain." To me this very clearly sets tone and explains who inhabitants his home sweet home, the "box car" (under water base) hidden under Umbrella Beach. He explains how they have to ability to grow plants and create electricity in this submerged city. "Stems and gears, oh how the daisies bloom when chandeliers light up the engine room."
   Now I take the, "I'll spread out my wings and fly" line as a reference to the only place where humans can "fly" with out any sort of craft, the water, where we are not grounded and must propel ourselves as if we were flying. I think when he talks about it being "so far out of reach, hidden under Umbrella Beach" he is possibly saying that it is very difficult to get there by swimming but because he has experience finding it he will spread his wings and fly (swim) to his beloved hidden home.
   
   I know it may sound strange but we live in a much stranger place than most of us have been led to believe. Listen with an open mind and then if you chose to dismiss the possibility, at least it wasn't only because it was unorthodox, scary and in conflict with your core ideas, it will be because you gave it a chance and disagreed. A much more admirable trait. :)
4. anonymous

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   Mar 1st 2011 !⃝

   Looks like Adam grew up on a very-littered beach, and imagined a an alternate history for a lot of the junk he found.
   
   I remember coming across the ruins of a cement arbor when I was about 10 and imagining it to be the base of a midievel castle. Alas, I live in suburban Massachusetts, and there aren't too many midievel castles around my house.
   
   That plot of land has since been razed and there's a pretty ugly subdivision on it, but I can recall it in my memory and it seems more real than a lot of places I have subsequently lived.
   
   Still, (shades of Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know") these places permeate our dreams. While we are children, while our woulds are so small compared to what they will be as adults, they are our totality.
   

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