Despair is most often the offspring of ill-preparedness

This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you

To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing

You've already decided the process.

People ask me if I left the lyrics open to ambiguity. Of course I did. I wanted to make a whole series of complex statements. The lyrics had to do with the state of society at the time.

In a sense, 'American Pie' was a very despairing song but it can also be seen as very hopeful.