Life And How To Live It

The lyrics seem to describe someone trying to manage different sides of life by keeping them separate. The speaker mentions two doors, two names, and two pockets, suggesting choices or private and public selves. At first, this arrangement sounds practical: one side can replace the other when it becomes tiring. But the repeated images of hiding, walls, and secrets make the strategy feel uneasy. The speaker’s thoughts become more tense, and the song ends by naming a book about “life and how to live it,” as if the answer is still being sought.

The walls may represent barriers built to conceal faults or protect private feelings. Yet the speaker also says the walls are “within my tongue,” which could suggest that speech itself can hide what a person means. The pockets that run around “barking in the street” turn hidden contents into something noisy and exposed: secrets may not stay private. The carpenter, who might build or repair the walls, is away and talking outside, leaving the speaker’s inner structure unfinished.

These images do not form one clear story, and that uncertainty seems important. The two sides could be useful alternatives, but they may also divide the speaker and make honesty harder. The “wisdom wall” and secret knock sound like a promise of knowledge, though the lyrics say wisdom is lost as well as locked away. The ending may be playful, hopeful, or self-mocking: writing a guide to living does not necessarily mean the speaker has figured life out.