sleight of hand question

jorgems
jorgems Posts: 275
edited August 2009 in The Porch
Does the guy commit suicide at the end of the song? Ive always wondered this...
Albuquerque 98, BSB 99, Houston 2000, San Antonio 2003, Monterrey 2005, Las Vegas 2006, Los Angeles Night 2 2008 (Ed Solo)
Post edited by Unknown User on

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  • Snoopy Died For Our Sins
    Snoopy Died For Our Sins Posts: 2,608
    not what I go out of it........he settles and bides his time...........
    "No way to save someone who won't take the rope,and just lets go..."
  • Better Dan
    Better Dan Posts: 5,684
    jorgems wrote:
    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.
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  • MrMerkinball
    MrMerkinball Posts: 1,978
    DS114969 wrote:
    jorgems wrote:
    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.
    I always took it as he decides to make a change
  • PureandEasy
    PureandEasy Posts: 5,818
    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
    Don't come closer or I'll have to go
  • capecodriot
    capecodriot Posts: 340
    great fucking song i always thought it was about suicide...could be wrong
  • jorgems
    jorgems Posts: 275
    but what about "I'll see you on the other side", I took that as the possible suicide line...
    Albuquerque 98, BSB 99, Houston 2000, San Antonio 2003, Monterrey 2005, Las Vegas 2006, Los Angeles Night 2 2008 (Ed Solo)
  • mfc2006
    mfc2006 HTOWN Posts: 37,491
    capecodriot wrote:
    great fucking song i always thought it was about suicide...could be wrong

    your avatar freaks me out! :lol:
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  • Wishlist5.1
    Wishlist5.1 Posts: 115
    I always thought it was about a guy who made a change. Never even though about him offing himself...

    just my 2 cents 8-)
  • Thorns2010
    Thorns2010 Posts: 2,201
    mfc2006 wrote:
    capecodriot wrote:
    great fucking song i always thought it was about suicide...could be wrong

    your avatar freaks me out! :lol:

    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.
  • jorgems
    jorgems Posts: 275
    Binaural f* rules!
    Albuquerque 98, BSB 99, Houston 2000, San Antonio 2003, Monterrey 2005, Las Vegas 2006, Los Angeles Night 2 2008 (Ed Solo)
  • goldrush
    goldrush everybody knows this is nowhere Posts: 7,824
    DS114969 wrote:
    jorgems wrote:
    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.
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  • CJMST3K
    CJMST3K Posts: 9,722
    edited August 2009
    I thought this was a song about David Copperfield.

    ShowLetter.jpg


    ...was my interpretation of a PJ song wrong, yet again?
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  • capecodriot
    capecodriot Posts: 340
    mfc2006 wrote:
    capecodriot wrote:
    great fucking song i always thought it was about suicide...could be wrong

    your avatar freaks me out! :lol:
    * :D queue the music*
  • ScrapeMySky
    ScrapeMySky Posts: 426
    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... ;)
  • PJSEMPRE
    PJSEMPRE Posts: 687
    MrMerkinball wrote:
    I always took it as he decides to make a change

    It's the way I interpret it too.
    Let's say knowledge is a tree, yeah.
    It's growing up just like me.
  • idrapr
    idrapr Posts: 66
    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.
  • mach271
    mach271 Posts: 562
    I fucking LOVE this song.......
  • Jeff Murray
    Jeff Murray Posts: 1,259
    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! :lol:
    If there were no Angels would there be no sin?

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