Tag: Conor Oberst

Although we knew what was coming on this week’s episode of The Walking Dead for the mid-season premiere for Season Eight, it was still sad to see Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs) die.  While watching it, though, you might have wondered about that song that played when they showed the flashback to Carl’s days after the bite from the walker.

In the montage, we see Carl playing with Judith. We see him writing letters to his loved ones as he prepared for his death. And we hear an upbeat sounding song.

We must talk on every telephone,
Get eaten off the web;
We must rip out all the epilogues
From the books that we have read;
And to the face of every criminal
Strapped firmly to a chair,
We must stare, we must stare, we must stare.

The song was “At the Bottom of Everything” by Bright Eyes.  The band features Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott (often helped by other musicians).

“At the Bottom of Everything” appeared on the 2005 album I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning.   In the recording before the tune begins, Oberst introduces the song with a story about a man and a woman on a plane right before the plane begins to go down.

The music video directed by Cat Solen includes the story. It stars Evan Rachel Wood and Terence Stamp.

What is the song about? There are various interpretations, but at its heart is an attempt really to get at “the bottom of everything.” In other words, it is about trying to discern some meaning from life when so much of what we do is pointless.

And into the caverns of tomorrow,
With just our flashlights and our love,
We must plunge, we must plunge, we must plunge;
And then we’ll get down there,
Way down to the very bottom of everything;
And then we’ll see it, we’ll see it, we’ll see it.

What does the song have to do with Carl in the episode entitled Honor? Maybe the producers chose the song because it gives a happy tune to Carl’s final days.

But maybe the lyrics also connected to what Carl was trying to say to his father Rick about searching for a more important end game than just surviving.  Like the man and the woman on the plane, in the face of death, Carl wanted something more besides blending into the choir and memorizing nine numbers while denying we have a soul.

What did you think of the Honor episode? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)