*www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iuFJ5P9ung
Excellent song.
And a very nice interpretation of it :
"The cops close the fair," and a boy is forced to grow up much before he's ready to. But instead of staying there, crying his eyes out about what's already gone, he embarks on a quest to find something better. He searches night and day, but the roadmap of life that he grabbed was worn down, and convoluted, and ever-winding.
He travels everywhere, calling out, but nothing that answers him seems to be real. He stumbles upon little things that shine and sparkle, and even seem appetizing at first glance (like warm rats to a fat cat), but they always end up being laced with poison. It drives him to the brink, and he questions if he's ever found at least one thing able to be grabbed onto and cherished -- one imperfect, broken thing -- or if they're all just cruel reminders of his precious days of youth that were cut short by the unforgiving world.
In the end, he really can't ever be sure, and so he starts to feel as if his life's wasting away. But on the other hand, he knows in his soul that he's much too stubborn to settle, so he keeps watching the world through tired eyes until finally, another glimmer of hope comes along that shines brighter than the rest.
He asks himself again if he's found "it," and this time, what he feels takes his breath away. Still, he's so used to being disappointed and forsaken by life that he has a hard time accepting that this time, he may have just found something true. He wonders if life will finally show him something beautiful, or if being an adult is just one big pill he'll never be able to swallow.