Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt

The lyrics bring together a musician’s reflections on learning and self-expression with more poetic and astrological passages. The speaker sounds proud of having taught himself, but also aware of mistakes and unfinished work. This confidence is balanced by humility: he is both a student and a teacher. By the end, he describes music as something that passes through him, suggesting openness to inspiration rather than complete control.

Several images suggest how experience becomes part of a person. The crab slowly “assimilating” what it receives compares learning to taking in nourishment: music is absorbed over time and eventually shapes the musician. “The moon rules the fluids” connects the body’s inner processes with the emotional or imaginative life, though the meaning is deliberately unusual. “Fly through the strangest land” may suggest entering unfamiliar worlds through music or imagination.

The lyrics shift abruptly between conversational speech, astrology, and dreamlike images, so they do not form one clear narrative. The crab passage might describe patience and persistence, but it could also be a separate voice or idea placed alongside the musician’s reflections. Likewise, saying “the music’s coming through me” can express humility, as if the artist is a channel, while still showing a personal desire to express what he has absorbed.