A common theme throughout the album is escapism concerning TGE:
1. Wiseman - In the prequel to track 7, the character is told they will have to fly away and essentially escape this world where the captian has resigned and the ship is going down (there's no saving it).
2. Alley Cat - Her escape is pretty obvious her, relationship extasy...although it also hints at music and alcohol as an escape method for our friend that in "the long way home" seemed to have possibly escaped her problems to an even bigger problem....her current life situation.
3. The Angel Maker - Orphans escape the problem of parents not being about take take care of their children, but end up in a far worse fate.
4. King of the White Water - It appears the sound coming from the "king" is irresitable. The feeling given before the death occurs is an escape from the stress of life, and therefore lures them into death as by this point the feel so good they don't care if they die. Death itself then kind of also becomes the escape.
5. The Long Way Home - The character from #2 is younger and takes the long way home, but she was obviously trying to escape (how can keys just disappear, I would die to have them here). Perhaps, the long way home is an intentional diviation from where she was headed (perhaps to tell her parents) and in taking the longer route she decides to not to go home, which possibly lead to her situation in song #2. Eitherway, taking the longway is a time lapse and escapes having to tell her parents (or boyfriend) the truth.....and if she decided home was a horrible place (as indicate by the songs end) she probably never made it to her destination, therefore escaping the situation all together.
6. Move On Through - The poor man on the street is using music as his escape mechanism, therefore he doesn't care that people are walking by not paying him a dime, hes found a moment of bliss. The rich girl seems troubled by a situation in which perhaps she saw suffering in an African country, but at the current time, she cannot COMMIT to volunteer work as her future has been set (higher education, career). She is upset and her only escape is to turn up the music and drown out the thoughts in her head. Music unites us and becomes a positive method for getting away of the stresses in our life, even if just for a few moments.
7. The Great Escape - We pick up from track 1 and now we find the character actually going through with mother earths plans and escaping. However, the escape (while an adventure of sorts) does not have a happy ending, therefore like in track 3 it is a forced ESCAPE but unlike track 3 there is no justiced served, the earth is burned to flames because we ESCAPED our responsibility to take take of it.
Alright, go ahead and torch my analysis, lol