Interpreting my current 5 favorite songs

Time To Pretend by MGMT

I think this song captures the tension between the destructive, hedonistic fun of young adulthood and the idyllic childhood that preceded it. It justifies and perhaps glorifies a party lifestyle, fatalistically accepting the consequences of making the "decision to live fast and die young" because not doing so would result in an even worse fate - a life that centers around a boring, unhappy, meaningless "jobs in offices" and "wak[ing] up for the morning commute." Yet, it recognizes the costs of this joyful burnout - innocence and pleasure in simple things fade, family ties strain, and winding up "chok[ing] on...vomit and that will be the end."

Fireflies by Owl City

This song is a surreal reminiscence on childhood. It describes fantastic visions which are embodied in the music video by childhood toys coming to life, symbolizing the imaginative fantasies of childhood that are lost as we grow into adults. There is a desire to hold onto this time, articulated as the desire for the "world turn slowly." This song describes remembering and daydreaming, but it places this activity in a less happy setting - the narrator is inventing fireflies as he lays in bed unable to sleep, trying to believe in the scraps of bursting dreams that he's held onto.

Punk Rock Princess by Something Corporate

This song expresses romantic wishful thinking. The singer hopes for a girl to be his Punk Rock Princess, speaking of all the different ways they would be counterparts to each other. He wants to be her "first real heartache" and share intimate conversations with her about "why [she] just [doesn't] fit in and how [she's] gonna be somethin'" But she seems to be either unaware or rejecting of his desires, because he portrays her as "wonder[ing] if [she]should" and at the end as "only burning [his] friendship." It's a ballad about the daydreams of being with someone that may never be realized even though they're beautiful in your head.

Five Minutes to Midnight by Boys Like Girls

This song is about the hookup that the singer doesn't want to end that night. The girl is portrayed as his Cinderella, who is perfect but possibly fleeting if the opportunity is missed, when the narrator asks "And when the clock strikes twelve/Will you find another party?/Go kiss and tell?" It's a real possibility, because he has no guarantee. But he clearly wants her to stay, as he continues: "'Cause you know I never will/I think we should strike a match/We'll hold it to the wind to/See how long it lasts/We can make the time stand still." He wants to stop time, to savor this one night and hopefully turn it into something more. He knows time is running out, so he's pouring out his feelings in hope of seeing her again. He wants her to know that he's not selling her some "fiction or storyline" but that he "needs [her] for more than just tonight."

We Are Nowhere And It's Now by Bright Eyes

I feel like this song has so many layers it needs to be interpreted on a line-by-line basis. The lines at the beginning seem to be exposing the contradictions in the way we live. He lampoons the pursuit of alcoholic oblivion, and cynical atheism which covers a longing for salvation. He points out that we're living under dead stars, but even then, they're still bright - this symbolizes the way that even if life is meaningless (and God is dead) there's still a kernel of meaning, still a breath left in the old dream of God, that set everything into motion in the first place. Our current place may be nowhere, and it may be alienating, but we should still hold onto faith for good luck. Also, the reference to yellow birds was explained in this comment by plasticflowers on the linked website: "They used to send canaries (which are yellow. And birds.) down the mines to find out if there was a lack of oxygen or any other dangerous gases - if the canary died, then they knew that something was wrong, and so they didn't send the humans down. So, "did you forget that yellow bird?" - did you forget to send the bird down first, to check if the coast was clear? Did you just plunge ahead and find out too late that there was danger awaiting you?"