Soft pyramids evaporate at daylight.
Internationally fashioned, like disease.
Patterned always yes, (maybe no).

This soft is bulding the softest buildings.
This soft is raising the firmest ceilings.
This soft is dimming the brightest cities every night at midnight.

How can we ask for a blanket and a habitat?
How can we ask for a place.
We can't imagine it.
How can we ask for the brightest cities overnight?

Please pick (select) a color for your chequelist.
Kiss every comma in your chequelist.
How can we ask for a blanket and a habitat?
How can we ask for the best?

We can't imagine that.
The softest blackout is still soft and black,
outside and in.
Clue me in.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Q and Not U's Soft Pyramids speak of the fragility of modern human existence and how it is weaved around soft and malleable ideas. The first verse shows the ephemerality of our constructions; like soft pyramids, they vanish at daylight, suggesting how temporal our creations are. The second verse tries to equate the fragility of these constructions with our existence, as we are also "internationally fashioned, like disease." The use of the word disease here creates a dark metaphor for how we have colonized the world and spread our constructions globally, much like how a disease spreads throughout the body. The bridge suggests that we can't even ask for a secure blanket and safe habitat as a fundamental right, and this lack of basic amenities is what creates our vulnerable existence.

The chorus has a paradoxical nature, as it talks about how the "soft" is building the "softest buildings," raising the "firmest ceilings." The idea here is that even though we try to create robust constructions, they are still based on delicate and malleable ideas. The ending line, "Clue me in," hints at the inability to completely understand this confusion that arises from our precarious existence.

Line by Line Meaning

Soft pyramids evaporate at daylight.
The fragile structures of power dissolve in the light of truth.

Internationally fashioned, like disease.
This system of pyramids exists across borders, like a harmful and contagious illness.

Patterned always yes, (maybe no).
The structure maintains its power through blind adherence, but its promises are not always kept.

This soft is bulding the softest buildings.
The power structure is built on a foundation of weakness and vulnerability.

This soft is raising the firmest ceilings.
Despite its weakness, the power structure is blindly raising its ceiling of influence.

This soft is dimming the brightest cities every night at midnight.
The power structure clings to its fading strength, even as it blocks the light of progress.

How can we ask for a blanket and a habitat?
We are struggling for even basic necessities within this flawed system of power.

How can we ask for a place?
We are searching for some sense of belonging and security.

We can't imagine it.
The power structure has blinded us to what true change could look like.

How can we ask for the brightest cities overnight?
We yearn for rapid and radical transformation, but it is difficult to envision how to achieve it.

Please pick (select) a color for your chequelist.
We are being asked to make arbitrary choices within a system that is flawed at its core.

Kiss every comma in your chequelist.
We are being asked to blindly follow the rules of a system that is failing us.

The softest blackout is still soft and black, outside and in.
Even when the system of power tries to silence and obscure others, it remains weak and hollow.

Clue me in.
We are seeking greater understanding and insight into this flawed system of power.

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