fan theory: sign of the times
this is my personal theory/analysis for Harry’s song.
I think SOTT is about depression, death and/or suicide. It’s a touchy subject but since I’ve dealt with thoughts very similar to these themes, Harry’s song just reminds me of that.
It starts with lonely piano notes which remind me of being alone. Pianos are considered ‘sad’ instruments so I guess it fits. “Just stop your crying” this is kind of obvious in what he’s trying to say, as in, if you were very sad you’d probably cry, so it’s like he’s telling you to stop cause he understands and such. “It’s a sign of the times,” this is tricky because it’s an open question, like, what are the times? What are the signs? I think the times are the times when you’re feeling down (and suicidal maybe). So, like the times of depression. It’s almost as if he’s talking to someone who’s suicidal, and won’t stop crying, which is sign of the depression. “Welcome to the final show, hope you’re wearing your best clothes,” this bit is like the funeral. The person has killed themselves. You wear your best clothes when you’re in the coffin. “You can’t bribe the door on your way to the sky” This is religious because if you think of Christianity, suicide is a sin, and they believe in heaven so if you killed yourself it’d be a sin so you’d go to hell. “You look pretty good down here, but you ain’t really good” as in, the person looks really good in their best clothes and they look peaceful and at rest from their illness. But they’re not really good; they’re dead.
“We never learn, we been here before” mental illness’ are like getting stuck in a rut. It’s really hard to get out of so you’ve repeated yourself quite a lot, you’ve been there before. “Why are we always stuck and running from a bullet?” the bullet could mean anything. It could be bullying, family issues, dysphoria, anything that causes you these sad feelings. The bullet will end your life, cause bullets are in guns and people can kill themselves with bullets. It’s like your life is in slow motion and someone has shot a bullet and you’re just waiting for it to hit or miss (so it’s like all the feelings that have built up and you can’t handle it anymore so you just kill yourself with the bullet).
“Just stop your crying, it’s the sign of the times” Harry repeats this to let the person know they’re not alone, like, if you were physically with someone you’d just repeat words like “it’s okay, it’s okay” etc. “we gotta get away from here” is repeated also, because he’s repeating the fact they need to get away from the illness. “It will be alright” Harry is reassuring the person. “They told me that the end is near” ‘they’, as in the person has told them that they believe the end is near. Ultimately, this means their end and their death.
“Just stop crying, have the time of your life” this is him telling the person to try to look away from the illness and have the time of their lives. If you’ve been living with depression for years, even the smallest thing, like going out to the beach or something simple like that could literally be the time of your life. He’s telling the person to do something simple that will make them have the time of their lives. “Breaking through the atmosphere, and things are pretty good from here” the atmosphere (the pervading tone or mood of a place, situation, or creative work) of mental illness has been broken and they’re free from it and it’s ‘pretty good’. “Remember everything will be alright, we can meet again somewhere, somewhere far away from here” it’s like Harry knows everything will be alright because he might relate etc. they can meet again somewhere, like, heaven, or in the afterlife, after the person has killed themselves or something. Maybe it means that the somewhere far away is somewhere new, like, somewhere far away from the sadness and they’ll meet and carry on.
(there’s repeating choruses and stuff so I’ll skip to the next paragraphs)
“We don’t talk enough, we should open up, before it’s all too much” this is Harry coming clean and saying that them and the person don’t talk enough and that they should open up to each other so they can help and free sad emotions, before it’s all too much and the bullet catches up to them. “Will we ever learn? We’ve been here before, it’s just what we know” He uses the word ‘we’ and ‘we’ve’ which is strange because it’s not just about the person anymore but also about Harry too which could suggest illness coming from Harry too or just the fact that it’s another way of saying the person isn’t alone.
The outro is a mess of lyrics. “Stop your crying baby, it’s a sign of the times, we got to get away” he repeats the “we got to get away” lots of times, followed by a similar amount of “we got to”s. So he’s really screaming the lyrics, they have to get away, and they got to, they got to, get away. He doesn’t want the person (or himself) to get caught up with the bullet from the sign of the times.
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prguitarman
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