Interpreting the lyrics of “The Reeling” by Passion Pit.

 “The Reeling” by Passion is on first listen, a fast, up-beat whirlwind cascade of sound and melody. The singers voice is haunting but tends to draw you in rather than push you away and before you know it, you’re listening to this song on repeat because it’s doing what all good music does, it simply becomes as essential but as natural as breathing.

Despite this gush of emotion, I have never displayed more than a casual observation for the lyrics; while I understood most of them on an audio level, I usually found myself mumbling along when parts of the song became unidentifiable. However, the lyrics that always caught my attention (to say that I understood them) were, “Is the way my life got to be?” and the chorus of “look at me oh look at me is this the way i'll always be oh no, oh no now i pray that somebody will quickly come and kidnap me oh no, oh no everyday i lie awake and pray to god today's the day oh no, oh no here i am oh here i am oh when will someone understand? oh no, oh no.” Now to me, based on these the lyrics and the tempo, I always felt that this was a positive song that was reflecting on change, albeit change at the final possible moment before everything falls apart. To me, given that base of understanding, the title “The Reeling,” began to make more sense; you are reeling yourself away from the life you lived before, much like a fish is pulled away from the ocean. And in following with this train of thought, the ocean could be the murky world we all surround ourselves in our daily lives; as filled to life as it is, it can be barren, it can be dangerous and it can be hopeless. The “reeling” thus is the break from water to surface, or fogginess of the mind to clarity in understanding just how bad your life has become.

From reviewing the lyrics, this interpretation is also reaffirmed to me by the lines, “and all at once i feel this, oh how it clings to me it reels and calls me towards it, confounding destiny;” the word “confounding” is interesting here because confounding means to act against expectations, which in this sense makes sense because you are reeling yourself away from a destiny that did not end in your expectations.  “i pray that somebody will quickly come and kidnap me” indicates the swiftest way to change course; that someone will come and kidnap me from this life of mine which of course plays back to the title “The Reeling.” 

As for an analytical interpretation, the song lyrics themselves are comprised of alliteration, “pray to god today's the...” and end-rhyme: “me, harmony, be, obscenity, destiny, opportunity” and of course, metaphor in that “The Reeling” can stand for a number of meanings, notably for this song, a pulling towards a destiny that one is not willing to follow.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbCkoX5O7AQ