Alt-J - Hand-Made Lyrics

• Abi says:

  November 11, 2012 at 11:21 pm

  My intepretation of the song lyrics is that he is trying to escape from someone or something that is causing him too much pain.

  The first line suggests that someone’s actions is hurting him too many times, and the hurt is increasing in intensity i.e. stings dotted over the skin. So by scratching the skin you are relieving this pain. But as you have been hurt too many times, the pain is now much deeper i.e. scratching too much and is now bleeding.

  The second line states that legions of craftsmen have created his feelings, suggesting that he holds incredibly deep, well established feelings for the person referred to in the song.

  By running from a bear in the woods, I assume he is escaping from a type of fear that cannot be confronted, because to do so would cause further pain. So to hide in a chalet, is to seek refuge somewhere safe.

  To hold somebody tight is to show them love and saftey…almost in a maternal sense. This is the kind of support that he is seeking.

  To be absorbed in your thinking is to be under someone’s spell, trapped and brainwashed. Or possibly to feel that you are so at one with another person that you share their thoughts which they are oblivious to i.e. but you don’t know.

  Overall, I suspect the song is about being in an unhealthy relationship where one person has complete control over the other person’s emotions making it difficult for that person to escape or feel freedom of their own thoughts.

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