I first heard of this song from my friend. He told me how much he liked this song and how much he wanted to "cover" it with his band. I was kind of surprised since I never thought he’d like anything by the crows, in general, they weren’t his cup of tea. I also figured that this song must be a pretty upbeat and catchy song(somewhere along the lines of Mr. Jones) for him to like it so much.

Well, when I first heard it, I was to say the least surprised, definitely NOT what I had expected. Perfect Blue Buildings has got to be one of the more darker and depressing tunes on this record. It’s just so emotionally draining just to listen to it. In fact, it didn’t really interest me that much initially. But I was just so curious, what did my friend see in this song? I forced myself to listen closer, and what I found completely changed my view of this song. I listened carefully to the chorus and realized that just as depressing and devoid of life the verses seemed, this chorus was the complete opposite. "Asleep in perfect blue buildings, beside the green apple sea". Adam Duritz paints such a beautiful picture with these two simple lines, a dreamy state of mind that offers the safest and most peaceful place of refuge for the listener to enjoy. And well, at first, that’s all I really thought of this song. But the way I see it, there is a twist to the song which I think ultimately makes this song even more interesting.

After each verse, Mr. Duritz begs for someone to "help him stay awake, I’m falling….", he paints this beautiful picture in the chorus, but makes it clear from the start that he doesn’t want to go there. I think the whole song is about "escape". The "perfect blue buildings" he sings about is symbolic of false happiness, false security, that everybody yearns for and deceives themselves with, simply because it is easier to attain than the real thing. And in this song, these "buildings" serve as an object of avoidance.

The central figure in the song is a "victim" of this, a person who continually seeks refuge in these "perfect blue buildings", and realizes that little by little, it’s eating him up. Another more effective symbolism for all this is "solitude". Many people yearn to be alone when facing problems in life and are often left to themselves. They fool themselves by telling themselves that they don’t need anybody, I’m no exception to this at times, and so we make ourselves "at home" amidst out loneliness, and make it as "pretty" as possible. The central figure realizes that this is wrong, that he has to get out some way.

I think it’s summed up pretty well in the last verse: "I’ve got bones beneath my skin, and mister…there’s a skeleton in every man’s house. Beneath the dust and love and sweat that hangs on everybody, There’s a dead man trying to get out." The guy realizes that within him, there IS a man, a person worth showing to the world, worth living. Each person has his or her hidden strength, beauty and spirit, but for most people, that true self is just hidden inside out of fear. And for some unlucky people…that inner person, dies. Well, he realizes too that to live, he must "get out", he must "stay awake" and stop running away to that "false" shelter. But what’s stopping him? Simple….himself, his own fears and doubts are keeping him a prisoner within himself. Mr. Duritz ends this song with a painful and fading plea of "how am I gonna keep myself away…from me?". It’s a very realistic and honest question that I believe all of us should ask ourselves. It’s a question we should constantly ask ourselves so that we constantly stay awake.