The Loss Of Time In The Song Telescope, By Cage The Elephant

If we were to evaluate life as a science experiment, time would always remain an independent variable. No matter how breath-taking or devastating a life event is, time will continue to move forward. In the song “Telescope” by Cage the Elephant, the speaker tells the story of a man from another world that he or she sees through their telescope. This man remains in his home because he does not want to waste time with the unknowns of the world. The speaker uses this story to convey how attempting to control time will ultimately lead to the loss of time and one’s sanity. After the speaker watches the man aimlessly move “from room to room” (6), he expresses his frustrations from watching him. In the chorus of the song, the speaker says, “There’s nowhere left to turn/ Walls keep breaking” (13-14),
The speaker says that the man never leaves his home because he is “afraid of what the truth might bring” (19). He also mentions that the man “battens all the hatches down/ And wonders why he hears no sound” (23-24). The speaker changes to this point of view so the listener can understand the reasoning behind the man’s actions. These lines convey that the man believes that there are only terrible outcomes for leaving his comfort zone. Moreover, he is afraid those outcomes will waste his time; so, he does his best to shut them out. The man constantly prepares for the worst to happen, hence the idiom “batten all the hatches”. But, he still wonders why he hasn’t had any bad experiences. This would be because he doesn’t allow any outside influences in his presence. If the man is as prepared for the devastation as he appears to be, it makes no sense for him to wonder why nothing terrible has happened. In the end, he has been wasting his time remaining in his comfort zone and worrying about the worst possible outcomes when he could have been enjoying his time