MGMT: Of Moons Birds and Monsters Meaning

Of Moons Birds and Monsters Lyrics

Why'd you cut holes in the face of the moon base?
Don't you know about the temperature change
In the cold black shadow?
Are you mad at your walls
Or hoping that an unknown force can repair things for you?
Pardon all the time that you've...

1. anonymous

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   May 30th 2012 !⃝

   Okay so first there is three parts to this song:
   part 1: the moon (face of the moon base)
   part 2: the birds (Even a bird)
   part 3: the monsters (To catch a monster)
   
   In the first part they are talking to the human race as if it were a person. They are basically talking about the current points of view on human existence and purpose: since and religion. So first "why'd you cut holes in the face of the moon base" talking about expanding into space. :"don't you know about the temperature change in the cold black shadow?" the cold black shadow is space, the temperature change is that the universe will come to an end, and running from earth won't solve the underlying problem. "Are you mad at your walls" this is kind of a taunt at civilization asking if they are doing all this running because they know they are truly confined even WITH science. so that's what they have to say about science. Now with religion. "Or hoping that an unknown force can repair things for you?" so now we are talking about a second coming, apocalypse, whatever. Kind of a taunt at religion that it is silly to believe an imaginary being can solve all the world's problems. "Pardon all the time that you've thrown into your pale grey garden?" just because it's ancient doesn't make it true, the garden is an analogy to the following the religion has grown over time. "If the ship will never come you've got to move along" So to sum it up they are saying neither is the answer, so start looking for a new one.
   
   Okay so this part i call the bird. I don't really have a line for line understanding of this part but it continues with the same idea, now confronting the issue science and religion attempt to deal with: the end. We also get into some psychedelic references in here :D. So "Even a bird would want a taste of dirt from abyssal dark" this is saying there is something natural inside of us that yearns for the answers. The abyssal dark is suggesting that the answers are really deep inside of us all. "The prick of a feather could make a kingdom burn and the bloodshed start" They are saying that this thing in us is so subtle yet so powerful it can change everything in society. The bloodshed start is referring to your self. The sense of a body, and all physical boundaries beginning to dissipate. "The falling apart/Made me a shadow in the shape of wonder" Now talking about this destruction of ego (the sense of a self) and how transforms "me" into nothing: "shadow" (anymore). "The waves of black" So now we are nothing anymore, all is one, one is all, existence. "If she's going under I can hold my breath till the sky comes back/Or drown like a rat" now reflecting back to the physical existence: it is going to end, so what are we going to do? Hold onto the sense of self and hope for rebirth of the universe ("sky comes back"), or drown into existence, become one with everything (some call this heaven, nirvana). Edging on a buddhist theory here with the decision between rebirth and nirvana, this is decided by enlightenment, which could be thought of as the ability to be unafraid of un-divided existence.
   Okay so now the monster part. The monster is a metaphor for an explanation (science, religion, or anything people come up with). "To catch a monster/We make a movie" Here we are talking about the human tendency to spread whatever ideas they have (the "movie" is representing the spreading of ideas). "Set the tempo" now there is a basis, so after a while people tend to make some rules to follow (setting the tempo). "And cut and cut its brains out" now showing how over time the idea this "monster" was based off of (originally a good idea) has had its roots torn out, and all that is left is the rules and the stories (stuff like the bible). "It will inspire on the burning pyre" This is saying the hope of such a "monster" is that it will bring people peace at death. "Half the distance/Half the motion" This is saying these monsters don't do the job, they do only half the job. "Communication" at this point they actually are taunting the idea of communication (or at least the form it is in currently). "It's easy as the ocean" this is great. here they are referring back to the ocean analogy of existence. They are saying that people do not need to repeat this process. The ocean is the answer.
   
   
   So that is what this song is about. 3 analogies. the moon, which stands for wonder, the bird, which represents instinct, and the monster, which represents explanation.
   
   Take LSD.

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