Birthing - Intellectual

If we follow the interpretation of the lyrics being about the perspective of a baby in gestation, these few lines paint a vivid picture of how being in the mother’s womb affect its different senses.

Babies can hear the life outside the womb before birth, the auditory system finishing his forming usually in the 25th-27th weeks of gestation. The outside world manifests itself to the infant with the voices of children playing together, but having no pre-existing conscience of what’s life outside, they cannot make sense (« without meaning ») of what they’re hearing.

Prenatal visions are also present, hence the appearance of colors « shifting and vaporizing », depicting a dim and blurry vision where the lights comes through the body tissues of the mother’s belly. The immediate line of sight consists of its newly formed body parts and the inside walls of the womb, the oceans might represents the blood and perinatal fluids in which the baby floats.

Possibly a comedic approach to the constant need for attention babies posess. “Pay attention, motherfuckers, I need your purest ability to caress in order to crawl up to this world”.

It could also refer to the baby preparing to exit the mother’s womb and commanding the people present in the delivery room to get ready for his birth.

During the ‘23/'24 tours, Birthing has been the setlist’s closer for almost every show, so this line precedes the final “drop” of every concert.

Michael is also, in that context, giving a heads up to the audience to get ready for a final stream of sonic impacts.

Ultimately, this small vocal sample has been probably inspired by a 1973 Bruce Nauman lithograph that features the three words, written backwards.
Michael has often cited how contemporary art inspired his lyrics, be it during Swans or Angels of Light tracks.

It could be that the whole song is about a literal birthing. On this interpretation, the “door” would be a mother’s womb.

“The door was closed” is also a reference the band’s final EP Die Tür ist zu (The Door is closed) before the supposed final album Soundtracks for the Blind in 1996

This could be a reference to the baby’s supposed pre-birth connection to its mother, where the baby saw its mother before being born

Assuming ‘Birthing’ is a song about a baby being born, it could be the baby wondering if there’s an end, if life really ends, or if we are reborn, as the baby is being born.