"Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell" (The Flaming Lips)

Like any great work of science fiction, The Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002) uses fantasy to examine the human condition and human foibles.  
Mortality.  Love.  Longing.  Need.  Hubris.  
All of these things are stirred into the electronic masterpiece that is Yoshimi and, more specifically, the album track "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell."
Thematically, the song is about obsessing over a single instance of rejection to the point of letting everyone and everything else in life fall by the wayside.  Or, to use Lips frontman Wayne Coyne's more philosophical explanation of the song (which was, at one time, posted on the band's website): "To derive one's happiness from only specific moments in time is to miss out on the cosmic accident that is all of life's moments..."
The production feels futuristic; burbling/chirping sound effects, fat synth bass, and surprisingly funky drum programming set the Year 3000 mood.  But strip away the sci-fi motif and digital effects, and keep only the piano and strummed acoustic guitars, and what remains is a classic ballad that stands tall on its own as a composition.  
And that's what makes me revisit this song, over and over.