GUYS! i was listening to get free by lana del ray the other day on my bike ride and just randomly it just hit me this song is about seasons 1-5 sam.
let me tell you my analysis:
Finally... I'm crossing the threshold
From the ordinary world to the reveal of my heart
(okay obviously, this is talking about his leave for college. the “ordinary world” referencing his life with his dad and brother and how that was his ordinary but now he gets to follow his heart and break free from the way things ‘should’ be.)
Undoubtedly... That will for certain
Take the dead out of the sea and the darkness from the arts
(to me this is sam knowing that his leave will uproot his family and cause major issues. i think these lyrics double as showing for sam: a stir and deep change taking place within himself as he feels normal for once. which takes the “darkness” out of him. as for his family relationship: taking the dead out of the sea would reference himself, he’s taking himself out of the situation and changing the sea would cause ripples and waves. leaving dean and john in disarray.)
This is my commitment, my modern manifesto
I'm doing it for all of us who never got the chance
(sams commitment to leaving, his fights with john about his departure, hes truly set in stone about this change. the second part is such a sam thing to say, “all of us” referencing anyone who feels different/out of place, he’s saying he’s taking back his life for himself and showing everyone like him that they can too.)
For... and for... (shut up, shut up)
And all my birds of paradise (shut up, shut up)
Who never got to fly at night (shut up, shut up)
'Cause they were caught up in the dance
(again sams feeling trapped his whole childhood, he feels sympathetic for anyone who felt the same. he couldn’t “fly” because he was stifled by his family and hunting, the dance he was caught up in was quite literally just his family dynamic.)
Sometimes it feels like I've got a war in my mind
I want to get off, but I keep riding the ride
I never really noticed that I had to decide
To play someone's game, or live my own life
(to me this is pushing on farther, he’s reunited with dean and they’re looking for john: SO CLEAR! the war in his mind is the loyalty to his brother but he knows he doesn’t share deans desires in life. so he’s tearing himself apart by wanting to be there for dean, but simultaneously wanting some release and to escape. he keeps “riding the ride” as in he can’t escape hunting, hunting is a revolving door for him, like the boys say many times through out the series you’re never really out of the life. now we’re getting further along the line, they find out about the apocalypse, the game is gods plan for him and how he will be lucifer’s vessel. he just desperately wants to live his own life and be free from all of this.)
And now I do, I wanna move
Out of the black (out of the black)
Into the blue (into the blue)
(“out of the black into the blue” is him making that shift between trusting dean and trusting himself, obviously trusting himself leads him down the path with ruby which will be touched on later.)
Finally... Gone is the burden of the Crowley way of being
That comes from energies combined
(he’s finally done with the intense life that came from his family’s energy and beliefs, dean is in hell and he’s lost by himself.)
Like my part was I, was not discerning
And you, as we found out, were not in your right mind
(sam feels as though he was naive in his role to starting the apocalypse, he feels it was his part to play and wishes he hadn’t played it. the second line referencing both dean the day sam killed lilith and deans revival and finding him with ruby. dean acted rashly but ultimately was just trying to protect sam both times. sam sees his protectiveness as “not being in his right mind” because he doesn’t understand what dean is protecting, he doesn’t believe he deserves protecting.)
There's no more chasing rainbows and hoping for an end to them
Their arches are illusions, solid at first glance
But then you try to touch them (touch, touch)
There's nothing to hold on to (hold, hold)
(this part of the song literally sparked this whole thing: THIS! THIS IS DEAN. dean, for sam, is the illusion of stability. but when sam reaches out, dean isn’t there for him. he ends up going down demon blood path because he’s reaching for his brother to save him but dean isn’t there. deans presence and protectiveness doesn’t expand to sam’s specific emotional needs. dean can’t be there for sam the way sam needs him to. “there’s nothing to hold onto” to me specifically is sam saying, he wants dean to be able to save him, he wants to love his brother but it just doesn’t end up the way it should. he feels abandoned by dean despite deans best efforts.)
The colors used to lure you in (shut up, shut up)
And put you in a trance (ah, ah, ah, yeah)
(“the colors” being sam, this is sams commentary on dean, he’s saying dean used to be there for him because he was lured by the illusion of a perfectly sweet little brother, of a kid who needs protection. deans belief because of this illusion is that he has to protect sam no matter the cost. this belief effectively putting dean “in a trance” where dean makes decisions that he shouldn’t just because of this certain way of acting he’s used to.)
Sometimes it feels like I've got a war in my mind
I want to get off, but I keep riding the ride
I never really noticed that I had to decide
To play someone's game, or live my own life
(the war in his mind is now more emotional turmoil than the previous conflict over escaping hunting. it’s the feelings from the impending apocalypse leering over sam, he just wants it to end but he and dean are stuck playing the game.)
And now I do, I wanna move
Out of the black (out of the black)
Into the blue (into the blue)
Out of the black (out of the black)
Into the blue (into the blue)
Out of the black (out of the black)
Into the blue (into the blue)
(now after all his evolution, i think this is referencing that he wants to move out of this era of his life. he knows he can’t go back to being normal, he longs for the simpler times, he just wants his old life with dean back. even though that was the very thing he tried to escape, he came full circle because of all the bad that happened.)
