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| quote: | One day, yes, one day less to live
I want you to be my sedative
Sometimes when I drive my car
I feel trapped like a bee inside a jar |
This is a start filled with desperation and pessimism from the narrator, first person. The “you” is yet unknown at this point. Only assumptions can be made about this person. The loved one would be a safe guess, for now. The next two lines talk about the narrator feeling trapped when she’s driving. This of course could be a symbol for another type of trap. Symbolism tends to play an important part in this type of songs.
| quote: | Grains of sand is all we are
Crawling on our manic star
One tiny person
In one shiny car
Spinning on our manic star |
Beautiful lines here. The pessimistic and yet realistic tone continues. We’re grains of sand; we’re almost insignificant in such a big coutry, world, galaxy. But the car gets another mention here. Unfortunately, I can’t find a symbol for that at this point.
| quote: | Time doesn't stop for anyone
It doesn't matter what you've done
I want to lose myself in you
Are you afraid of dying too? |
This could be taken as a monologue in front of that “you.” It's not important whether it is or not. Here again, the importance of that person to the narrator is noted. The last line, “Are you afraid of drying too?” is helpful because it lets the reader/listener know that she, the narrator, is afraid of dying. Very sad state to be in.
| quote: | Grains of sand is all we are
Crawling on our manic star
One tiny person
In one shiny car
Calling from our manic star |
What’s this manic star? Could it be this shiny car we all drive in? Or does it stand for something else for meaningful?
| quote: | Let's love like there is no tomorrow
Shelter each other from the pain and sorrow |
Here the tone changes a bit, and only temporarily. There is hope of erasing that “pain and sorrow” that often keeps people sheltered within them. The importance of being together, couples out there might know, helps in hard moments in one’s life. Having someone by your side can be beneficial is those hard and depressing moments. Love.
| quote: | Grains of sand is all we are
Crawling on our manic star
One tiny person
In one shiny car |
The car again! I’m guessing this has something to do with traffic.
| quote: | Don't know how I got this scar
Crawling on our manic star
I'm all right, at least so far
Hanging on our manic star |
Okay, there’s no going around the car now. It has to be dealt with. Let's keep it for the end though. The narrator doesn’t know how she got her car. Meaning is confusion. So this feeling can be added to the rest to reach a satisfactory interpretation at the end. It looks unlikely though.
| quote: | Spinning on our manic star
Calling from our manic star |
Crawling, hanging, spinning and calling from our manic stars. We all have a manic star. The crawling happens in moments of pessimism mixed with depression when we don’t seem to find our way on the streets of life. We crawl because we are afraid of walking. The fear keeps us down.
When we hang from this manic star is because of those hard moments which make us feel as if we’re going to fall into nothingness, a big fear to some. I mean, falling and now knowing where you’re going to land, when, if ever, you’re going to land, how you’re going to land. It’s scary even thinking about it. This is all metaphorical BTW.
Spinning on a manic star could stand for those moments of total confusion, moments when the “you” is more necessary than ever. The airs are capable of moving us, the grains of sand, and make us go mental. We’re light and can easily be moved, by water or air. For some grains, it seems as if this spinning is caused by a hurricane that keeps moving them about and the desperation surges when they don’t know when it’s all going to end.
As for the calling from our manic star, maybe the calling of the “you,” is an act of desperation because the grains of sand become stronger and bigger when they join together. True for couples too. And love, the strong bond between couples, is what brings them together making them feel as if they could take on any storm. Going back in this song, that special one helps by sheltering you from that pain and sorrow. Corny but true.
Oh, the car, what is it? I’m not going to lie, I’m clueless here. My best guess is the following: If Rhys wrote the song, during his stay in Los Angeles, I’m guessing he wrote this song inspired while driving during a traffic jam in those busy hours in the freeway. He made various observations about other people driving who showed acts of desperation at being stuck, as if they had no exit. He saw confusion in the face of others. He, as the smart man that he is, went further with the observations by making those drivers grains of sand. Those moments in traffic jams can be really interesting. Going further with this, the narrator in this song feels trapped like “a bee inside a jar” when driving.
There's no decent conclusion out of this. I'm trapped as well. Okay, the narrator yearns to have that "you." But what exactly is this "you"? Is it a person or something else? In any case, the narrator needs the "you," she feels like dying, she feels minute in such a big theatre, time is running out, I'm looking at Wicked Neo's comment, which makes more sense, and then it all ends and her desperation and sadness continue.
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That clears most of it. Such a fantastic song, especially when I know the true meaning of it. 
