The lyrics begin and end with quotes from the Lewis Carroll books: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" which are read by a girl who we are lead to assume is "Alice" - this gives the song quite a surreal beginning and end - which we will achieve by having a solitary Alice in a forest saying the words.
"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.
Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't."
"And contrari wise, what it is wouldn't be.
And what it wouldn't be it would.
You see?"
The first verse of the song heavily relates to the story of Alice in Wonderland - wonderland being the "world where there is no such thing as time." The creatures could relate to any number of the people Alice meets (the caterpillar, the white rabbit, the Cheshire Cat.) Whereas we might not be able to include many animals we will certainly be referencing time with clocks.
"I invite you to a world where there is no such thing as time.
And every creature lends themselves to change your state of mind."
Of course it is common knowledge Alice drank the "drink me" bottle and the "eat me" cake however these last two lines could also hold a darker meaning if you want to look at it in that angle. The wine and the pill could be referring to alcohol and drugs and 'limbo' could be her form of refuge from the substance abuse - of course this is if you look at it from a darker angle. We will be including drink me bottles and even a syringe filled with glitter to connote these lines."And the girl that chased the rabbit, drank the wine, and took the pill.
Has locked herself in limbo to see how it truly feels."
If you continue to view the song from a darker angle then the first bridge also fits with this theme of substance abuse with the hidden warning that although people say you will be safe escaping to this imaginary world through drugs/alcohol then that is actually a lie "or so they say."
"To stand outside your virtue
No one can ever hurt you
Or so they say."
The chorus presents a darker side of the Alice in Wonderland stories through the language used "crawls," "shadows," and could represent that she is a part of everyone by being a "shadow." The other chorus' finished with the line "She's unlocked the meaning for you." and it is unexplained what the 'meaning' is - which we will portray in our video by suggesting the key unlocks the chest but not actually exploring what is inside the chest.
She crawls into the window
Through shapes and shadows.
Alice (Alice)
And even though she's dreaming, she knows/
And even though she's dreaming she's unlocked the meaning for you."
In my opinion, the second verse relates more to the second book "Through the Looking Glass" than the original "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" especially since it refers to the "looking glass" and that she has "returned." It also gives the feeling that returning to Wonderland is not an especially good thing and this a sense we will try to give off in the video as the Alice in our video will be trying to leave wonderland.
"Sometimes the curiosity can kill the soul but leave the pain
And every ounce of innocence is left inside the brain
And through the looking glass we see she's painfully returned
But now off with her head I fear is everyone's concern."
The second bridge also refers to "Through the Looking Glass" in my opinion as in the book the main theme is circled around the idea of chess (the first books theme was a deck of cards which we will also feature in our video) with the characters all being chess pieces and Alice herself as a pawn - hence why we are planning on having Alice playing chess against herself in our video. The line "come out and play" has quite a sinister tone to it - keeping with the dark theme.
"You see there's no real ending
It's only the beginning
Come out and play."
I really, really like the middle eight of this song - I think it perfectly sums up the Alice in Wonderland series. How Alice's freedom and innocence, and trying and be herself, ends up bringing down the evil and freeing wonderland from destruction (as referenced in the game Alice: Madness Returns.) To further emphasise these important lines we will have the words written on paper/card and have members of our band hold them.
"This kingdom,
Good riddance,
Good freedom
And innocence
Has brought this whole thing down."
The final part of the song left to analyse is just before the final line and is a sort of background build up sung by a girl who is assumed to be Alice. In my opinion, the lyrics bring together both themes from the two books mentioned throughout this post as it refers to the colours red and white - which can symbolise the playing cards/the red Queen's servants and they are also knights which can refer to knights on a chess board especially since they are "marching into the fight." The "drink me, shrink me," is clearly referring to the drink me bottle that shrunk Alice to allow her to go through the door and the "fill me to sink me" could be a reference to when Alice cries and fills the room with her tears.
"Red knights, white knights, marching into the fightDrink me, shrink me, fill me to sink me.
Red knights, white knights, marching into the fight
Drink me, shrink me, fill me to sink me."
I really like the lyrics to the song as I think they capture the essence of Alice in Wonderland really well and can be taken at face value or can be interpreted but there is no right or wrong answer as to what you do with the lyrics. The song has a good, strong beat and the use of the repetitive piano melody is highly effective. Hopefully our music video will capture the song and the entire theme of Alice in Wonderland!
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