What does "Telescope" by Cavetown mean?

“Telescope” Lyrics Meaning

(The following blog post is a transcript created by Xalma of the below video.)

Today we're talking about “Telescope” by Cavetown; and this is an important song to talk about, because while there is a lot of songs out there about mental health; this song dives deeper into an aspect of it, the aspect of loneliness and isolation; not only is this song about such a deep topic, but it was also requested by you guys; so I really wanted to talk about it; especially because it's something that I feel like I can kind of relate to, and I think a lot of you might do to.

I wasn't necessarily a lonely child; I was extroverted and outgoing enough, that it was kind of easy for me to make friends; not usually with the “cool kids”, as I always kind of knew like that's not really where I want to be; and I also knew it probably won't work out, because I'm just not cool. Although I had friends, whenever I stepped outside of that community, I always felt like an outsider; I think there were parts of grad school that were particularly the hardest; because I had tested out of a ton of college, so I was like four years ahead educationally; and so I was hanging out with people that were way older than me; and I felt like every social situation that I was in, I was just not really supposed to be there, I felt like I was trespassing; everybody else here is 22 to 24 years old, and I'm just 19 years old; and I don't know what the heck I'm doing; so yes, I really identify with the song, especially the chorus.

Chorus

Sittin' in a telescope
Silently, with his fingers entwined
He puts his hand to the glass
"What's it like outside?"

So as I said, I get the sense of loneliness and isolation that is being talked about here; as I'm guessing probably a lot of you can as well; and because so many people feel that kind of loneliness, it's important to have songs like this; and it’s important to talk about them; and why it's important to listen to what people have to say.

Verse One

I'll figure out tonight what it is I need to do
Fabricate a lie and relay it back to you
In my head, it's only letters
Make it make sense to make it better
Mmm…

Part of me thought that this could be him having an excuse for shutting himself inside, and saying “I'm going to fabricate a lie about what I'm doing tonight, so I don't have to hang out with these people, because I just feel lonely enough anyway, and hanging out with other people would make me feel more lonely”; or it could be about refusing to get deeper into a relationship that just feels intimidating to be a part of.

I think that's the thing, when you feel lonely, it doesn't automatically feel like the fix to the problem is “oh, I just need to go and say hi to people”; because the inability to do that, or the fear of doing that is kind of the problem, right? And then that gets all tangled up in things like issues of self-worth; and it just continues to snowball, and get messier and messier; but I don't think a direct interpretation of that is the point that he's trying to get across, I think those last two lines “in my head it's only letters” mean it doesn't really matter what he’s saying; he is just trying to make it through; “make it make sense to make it better” is just him trying to force some sense of his own control reality into a situation; no matter how good or bad those actions are; so I think that is more the point here, which leads us nicely into verse two.

Verse Two

It's a perfect time to put my money in my mouth
Chew it up and spit it directly on the ground

There's this saying “you should put your money where your mouth is”; meaning you should commit yourself to whatever you're talking a big game about; and so he is saying it feels like a waste; because he probably don't feel confident in it;  he is just going to chew up the valuable resources and effort that he has; and just be apathetic and give up.

Make some plans I'll never get to
Shake some hands at the venue
Mmm…

Which is almost dismissive, right? It sounds like he could be singing about a concert; and it's almost as if though he shakes those hands, and moves on; like he is in a little bit of a daze; or “make some plans I'll never get to”, it’s just kind of this half commitment to actually doing things, and hanging out with people, or getting something done; and so there is this strong theme of apathy here. The chorus is the most impactful part I think,

Chorus

Sittin' in a telescope
Silently, with his fingers entwined

And that's this character, who I think represents Robbie himself, that is sitting in a telescope; telescopes are used to see things from far away; and typically they're used to look at like stars or planets, so really really big things that are far away and that seem small; and we look at them from down here, we're using this small telescope, and they look bigger than they would otherwise; so maybe a social life, maybe the will to care, maybe a relationship, maybe whatever it is that he wants, it feels like it's far away, and it's a big thing, but it feels so far away that it seems small; and so he's living in this telescope, watching, but never interacting.

He puts his hand to the glass
"What's it like outside?"
Mmm... ("What's it like outside?")
("What's it like outside?")

Not only is he using a telescope to look at big things from far away; but he is not even somebody like using the telescope, he's in the telescope; it feels like he is trapped inside it; its like this glass and metal prison that he’s in; he can't see the things directly around him, and all he can really do is daydream about those big beautiful things that are so far away.

Verse three is very unclear, so I'm going to leave it up partially to your interpretation; but I'll give a quick guess; he says,

Verse Three

Through the lens, it's dark, single-digit on the clock
Singing "Yessiree, I sure like-a you a lot"
All I need is to get her
She'll be happy if you let her
Mmm…

So it's at night, or early in the morning; and maybe one of those big faraway things that he wants is a relationship; or just to have a normal relationship with somebody; the song continues into another chorus, and then to the outro.

Outro

Ooh, "What's it like outside?"

Ending with that line is perfect; it’s this big question here; the big question of “what's it like outside with other people?”, and the question of “what's it like to be isolated from where we feel like we should be?”, and “what's it like to feel normal, and to feel connected to others?”

There are a lot of people that carry a heavier weight than most of us, with mental health issues, or the way that they were raised or something like that; and they have to overcome more, to be able to live what we would maybe call “a normal life”

I think this is a powerful song, guys; and you should go listen to it for sure, there's a link down below to the music video, and the lyric video; both are really cool; there's Robbie in a spacesuit, and Robbie doing a painting; it's very artistic, and very interesting.

So here is the (Audio) video,

And here is the official music video.