Song Analysis

Generator 2nd Floor by Freelance Whales

Lyrics:

And I could never tell as a kid 
What that window door went to
Only told to stay away
I almost had an accident at age 6
When I found the key in the attic
And now the smell of these wood frames
Is the only sense I've left
So as you pull me from the bed
Tell me I look stunning and cadaverous

And since you are my friend
I would ask that you lower me down slow
And tell the man in the black cloak
He doesn't need to trouble his good soul
With those latin conjugations
And if it's all the same to them
You should tell your gathering friends
Please not to purse their faces grim
On such a lovely Sunday

Don't fix my smile, life is long enough
We will put this flesh into the ground again

Analysis:

This song is about death and acceptance, told from the dead person's perspective (I will refer to that person as a male (he) to make things easier).

He first begins his song talking about his curiosity and inability to understand death as a child. He talks about death as a very abstract mystery that he was kept away from. He also cites his first close encounter with death as a child in lines 4-5.

The speaker then shifts to the time of his death by saying that almost all of his senses are now gone (6-7). In lines 8-9 we see that the speaker passed away while he was asleep in his bed, implying that the speaker is probably an elderly man who died of old age.

This would help explain why the man is so seemingly content and at peace with his death throughout the song, especially in the second stanza.

When he says, "lower me down slow" in line 11 he's talking about his body/casket being put into the ground.

He then goes on to say that the "man in the black cloak," meaning the preacher, doesn't need to worry about reciting formal Latin or versus from the bible (because the speaker doesn't need them). 

The speaker doesn't want the people at his funeral to be upset ("purse their faces grim") and ruin a beautiful day. He doesn't see this occasion as anything to be sad about.

The last two lines are repeated several times at the end of the song. In these lines the speaker is explaining that there is no need for them to stage and put make-up on his body for an open-casket ceremony because he had plenty of time to look and be alive during his life. He doesn't need any more time and is very much at peace with his situation.

I understand that the last line explains that he will soon be buried, but the "again" throws me off a little. Perhaps it makes sense if the speaker is of the belief that we all come from the Earth in this cyclical, united fashion with nature, that "we are all one" mentality. Otherwise, I'm not sure. Commenters?