What is “Low Orbit” about?
"Low Orbit" is about drifting away, as the narrator circles a quiet star, somebody's car and a version of herself she used to be, calling herself a body without a country. Unlike the homecoming songs around it, she asks not to be called back down, and the refrain "I am beautiful and gone" holds that distance without judging it. As the thirteenth track on Solstice Light, it is the album's most ambivalent moment before the closing run of "Mercury Hymn," "Glass Parade" and the title track.
Low Orbit lyrics
I am circling a quiet star
I am circling somebody's car
I am circling a thing I was
I am circling because, because
Gravity is just a word
For the things you never heard
Falling is just another shape
Of the staying you can't escape
In the low orbit
In the low orbit
Cold air, slow light
In the low orbit
I am beautiful and gone
I am beautiful and gone
Somewhere between a breath and a dawn
I am beautiful and gone
Low orbit, low orbit
A body without a country
Low orbit, low orbit
A heart without a gravity
If you find me in the snow
Please do not tell me what I know
Please do not tell me I'm alone
Please do not call me back down home
I am beautiful and gone
I am beautiful and gone
Somewhere between a breath and a dawn
I am beautiful and gone
Low orbit, low orbit
A body without a country
Low orbit, low orbit
A heart without a gravity
(Low orbit, low orbit)
(Low orbit, low orbit)