In this song, the speaker appears to feel a mix of attraction for an unspecified person, and shame at the desire he or she feels.

The speaker regrets that they can’t return to a more innocent age – perhaps childhood, when friendship and even young love were “untainted” by sex.

This is encapsulated in the idea of “sin”, a Christian concept that may also have a non-religious value here: the “sin” is the corruption of pure love by adulthood and the passions and lust that come with it.

But of course, the idea that love becomes corrupt and leads to sin echoes the story of Adam and Eve, and how they lost their innocence by eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

In addition to the above, a strong queer undercurrent resonates in the song. Lizzie Mayland, the lyricist, explains (in a private exchange on Instagram) that the “sin” also points at the fact that queer love/desire only becomes “problematic” in society when one has reached puberty and/or adulthood.

Here again, the pattern is repeated: as a person grows into adulthood, they may feel pressured into hiding “fordbidden” desires, or into being ashamed of them.

Yet the feelings the speaker appears to feel are not just sexual, but also romantic, and perhaps they are tinged with a shade of desperation. They want their lover to “cleanse” their soul, to perform a ritual that can be evocative of a new baptism, but also has pagan, magical overtones: “Soak in the crystal stream”.

The ambiguity of this cleansing ritual is apparent in the repeated invitation to “Pray for me on your knees”, as this could also be an evocation of performing oral sex.

After all, it looks like the speaker is ready to embrace the “sin” of carnal love, as it will protect them and their lover from the hostility of a city that is represented as emotionally sterile and inhospitable.

The song therefore is not merely about longing for a lost, childhood innocence, but also about celebrating carnal love which, combined with genuine feelings, can soothe the existential pain caused by the passing of time, and the harsh realities of modern urban life.

Concerning this latter aspect, Lizzie Mayland adds:

“Also the contrast between life in a small-minded small town vs the more accepting (but often lonely) cityscape plays into the tension between queerness, innocence and adulthood – finding yourself in a place where you can be your true self, but losing touch with the formative place and people of your childhood creates longing for an impossible place which marries the two (the freedom of adulthood and the homeliness of childhood).”

Living as your true self, then, would be a way to conquer your own “impossible place” – quite literally your own utopia, as Lizzie Mayland concludes:

“Ultimately I feel the song reaches a point of triumph and defiance by embracing queerness and finding that ‘impossible place’ in our own self-acceptance.”

Vim a.k.a. The Lyrics Doctor