What does Cave In mean?

Owl City: Cave In Meaning

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Album cover for Cave In album cover

Cave In Lyrics

Please take a long hard look through your textbook

'Cause I'm history

When I strap my helmet on I'll be long gone

'Cause I've been dying to leave



Yeah, I'll ride the range and hide

All my loose change in my bedroom

'Cause...

  1. anonymous
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    Dec 18th 2017 !⃝

    I feel like it’s about issues that are pushed down deep and if you enter the deep cavern to go looking for them your head will cave in or in other words have a mental break down

  2. anonymous
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    Nov 11th 2016 !⃝

    "If the bombs go off, the sun will still be shining
    Because we've heard it said that every mushroom cloud has a silver lining
    (Though I'm always undermining too deep to know)"

    "He's saying that if the family has a serious issue, the bombs going off, he'll be okay because every bad situation has a silver lining of sorts. his would be running away; but he's saying that from a child's point of view they wouldn't think that, it's too deep to know. Which is why many kids don't run away, despite wanting to, and why many kids commit suicide. When he says he'll cave in, that is what he means."

    Now this I think is not true its almost like running away from
    this nuclear bomb. Grabbing change and everything he needs or at the time he thinks about it. Now we think he is running away now you really got think when in the song he said;

    "If the bombs go off, the sun will still be shining
    Because we've heard it said that every mushroom cloud has a silver lining
    (Though I'm always undermining too deep to know)"

    Now again the last sentence (though I'm always undermining too deep to know)" now what does that mean exactly if in the first part of this song it sounds like he is running away.

    So my thought on this is... that it's almost a nuclear war going on he is a homeless boy or kid or whatever, this person knows that a nuke is coming he somehow goes to a fallout shelter so he is protected from the blast. That makes sense. When said "always to deep to know)" he is too deep to know if the bomb went off.

    Now my very last thought you may of thought well a dirt bike on dirt pike. "how does a homeless boy/person afford such a thing?" Now I believe this is a metaphor for rideing a bike or a dirt bike on running or wishing he could get to the shelter faster.
    Now this may make no sense to you but it's my opinion for what's going on!

  3. anonymous
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    Oct 28th 2015 !⃝

    If you have the mind set of young US Soldier returning back......

  4. anonymous
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    Apr 11th 2013 !⃝

    At first the song seems to be about running away from home as a child.
    "I'll ride the range and hide all my loose change in my bedroom, cause riding a dirt bike, down a turnpike, always takes it's toll, on me"

    yes, it's a pun about the turnpike, his songs are full of these puns, but there is meaning hidden behind them.

    if a child wants to run away from home, he has to hide all his loose change in his bedroom where his parents won't find it.

    when he says "I'm history" in that line he's trying to tell his parents that he's serious about this and there's no stopping him.


    "I've had just about enough of quote 'diamonds in the rough'
    Because my backbone is paper thin
    Get me out of this cavern or I'll cave in"

    he's saying he's had enough of trying to find the good in bad situations, and that he can't take anymore of being in that house, the house being the cavern he mentions.

    "If the bombs go off, the sun will still be shining
    Because we've heard it said that every mushroom cloud has a silver lining
    (Though I'm always undermining too deep to know)"

    He's saying that if the family has a serious issue, the bombs going off, he'll be okay because every bad situation has a silver lining of sorts. his would be running away; but he's saying that from a child's point of view they wouldn't think that, it's too deep to know. Which is why many kids don't run away, despite wanting to, and why many kids commit suicide. When he says he'll cave in, that is what he means.


    "I'll soak up the sound try to sleep on the wet ground
    I'll get ten minutes give or take
    'Cause I just don't foresee myself getting drowsy
    When cold integrity keeps me wide awake"

    he's talking about insomnia there, and how kids tend to lie awake and think. he's using very vivid pleasant imagery there to the point of being surreal, showing that the kid hasn't really run away, but is instead imagining it and how great it would be.

    at the end he's talking about how if he crashed he would likely die/kill himself, so he's keeping "his helmet" on for safety. his helmet is likely a metaphor for the emotional walls we all put up to protect ourselves from others.

    Finally, he states that he will keep his eye on the task at hand, survival, and his ideal future. He's talking about the long journey of life that he's persevering through despite suicidal thoughts.


    so that's it. it's a song about childhood crisis at home that leads to suicidal tendencies and the journey of surviving those young hardships for a better future.

  5. anonymous
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    May 7th 2012 !⃝

    The song is about the series of games "Fallout"
    Taking place in an alternate universe after a nuclear war "Every mushroom cloud has a silver lining" as humans still continue to live. "Swallow a drop of gravel and blacktop
    'Cause the road tastes like wintergreen
    The wind and the rain smell of oil and octane
    Mixed with stale gasoline" the landscape is dirty from all the destruction caused by the nuclear blasts.

  6. anonymous
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    Dec 6th 2011 !⃝

    This song is talking about the pressure that Adam has to endure as an artist. Adam mentioned in several interviews that he refers to his basement, where he writes many of his songs, as a "cave." He has to live up to many expectations and often wants to just get up and leave ("When I strap my helmet on I'll be long gone"). Because of all the pressure, he sometimes "caves in" with stress. However, he knows that he'll never leave "When cold integrity keeps me wide awake."

    Pun alert! "Cause riding a dirt bike down a turnpike always takes its toll on me" You have to pay a toll to drive on a turnpike. :D

  7. anonymous
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    Jun 27th 2011 !⃝

    It seems to me that this song is about how people keep telling Adam that he has the potential to be great, but he won't believe it until he sees it.

  8. anonymous
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    May 16th 2011 !⃝

    I think this song is about leaving a relationship where you're not respected anymore.

  9. BloodAndInkPaint
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    Nov 23rd 2010 !⃝

    People didn't like or appreciate him at school so he got fed up and left. Seeing if people would notice


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