Does the guy commit suicide at the end of the song? Ive always wondered this...
That's definitely one interpretation and Ive wondered that as well. It could also be about a man who realizes what his life has become and decides to change it..."he waves goodbye..to himself" (his old self?).
I don't think there's a right or wrong answer.
2003: San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Seattle; 2005: Monterrey; 2006: Chicago 1 & 2, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Detroit; 2008: West Palm Beach, Tampa; 2009: Austin, LA 3 & 4, San Diego; 2010: Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbus, Indianapolis; 2011: PJ20 1 & 2; 2012: Missoula; 2013: Dallas, Oklahoma City, Seattle; 2014: Tulsa; 2016: Columbia, New York City 1 & 2; 2018: London, Seattle 1 & 2; 2021: Ohana; 2022: Oklahoma City
Does the guy commit suicide at the end of the song? Ive always wondered this...
That's definitely one interpretation and Ive wondered that as well. It could also be about a man who realizes what his life has become and decides to change it..."he waves goodbye..to himself" (his old self?).
I don't think there's a right or wrong answer.
this is my favorite PJ song and the suicide option never even crossed my mind, always thought it as someone who decides to walk away from his current situation
great fucking song i always thought it was about suicide...could be wrong
your avatar freaks me out!
I think that's the point! :ugeek:
Hmmm....anyway, I love this song, now I'll have to go listen to it again. I've always liked the mood present in this song, but I can't say I ever thought of it along the lines of suicide.
Does the guy commit suicide at the end of the song? Ive always wondered this...
That's definitely one interpretation and Ive wondered that as well. It could also be about a man who realizes what his life has become and decides to change it..."he waves goodbye..to himself" (his old self?).
I don't think there's a right or wrong answer.
The lyrics to this song, and these lines in particular, always remind me of a Paul Auster novel (I think it's Oracle Night). There's a guy in the story leading a very normal, nothing sort of life and one day he goes out to post a letter and just keeps walking. He leaves everything that he knows behind and just walks away. As if he's waving goodbye to his old self.
These are some of my favourite PJ lyrics, really fascinating storytelling.
“Do not postpone happiness”
(Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)
Read somewhere that it was written about someone who's stuck in a traffic jam. So the idea of changing a current stuation always seemed more appealing to me. And not necessarily in the Michael Douglas in Falling Down kind of way...
I love this song. My interpretation has always been that it's about a man that has just an ordinary life with a daily routine that never changes and as a younger man he had thought of being something more than just a number. I don't think it's about suicide. I think he just drifts off thinking about what could have been and when he drifts back to reality he waves goodbye to what could have been.
Great song! Was just listening to it today off of Benaroya Hall. I can't stop listening to the three song set of "I Believe In Miracles", "Sleight Of Hand", and "All Or None".
Funny how someone is thinking about the same thing at the same time! Especially on a PJ forum!
Comments
That's definitely one interpretation and Ive wondered that as well. It could also be about a man who realizes what his life has become and decides to change it..."he waves goodbye..to himself" (his old self?).
I don't think there's a right or wrong answer.
your avatar freaks me out!
www.cluthelee.com
www.cluthe.com
just my 2 cents
I think that's the point! :ugeek:
Hmmm....anyway, I love this song, now I'll have to go listen to it again. I've always liked the mood present in this song, but I can't say I ever thought of it along the lines of suicide.
These are some of my favourite PJ lyrics, really fascinating storytelling.
(Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)
“Put yer good money on the sunrise”
(Tim Rogers)
...was my interpretation of a PJ song wrong, yet again?
*NYC 9/28/96 *NYC 9/29/96 *NJ 9/8/98 (front row "may i play drums with you")
*MSG 9/10/98 (backstage) *MSG 9/11/98 (backstage)
*Jones Beach 8/23/00 *Jones Beach 8/24/00 *Jones Beach 8/25/00
*Mansfield 8/29/00 *Mansfield 8/30/00 *Nassau 4/30/03 *Nissan VA 7/1/03
*Borgata 10/1/05 *Camden 5/27/06 *Camden 5/28/06 *DC 5/30/06
*VA Beach 6/17/08 *DC 6/22/08 *MSG 6/24/08 (backstage) *MSG 6/25/08
*EV DC 8/17/08 *EV Baltimore 6/15/09 *Philly 10/31/09
*Bristow VA 5/13/10 *MSG 5/20/10 *MSG 5/21/10
It's the way I interpret it too.
It's growing up just like me.
Funny how someone is thinking about the same thing at the same time! Especially on a PJ forum!