Off he goes (meaning?)

Bradass

All I know is that the Live On 2 Legs version is the best.
It needs the nice hard drumming.

sampreety

To me, this song just brings back sad memories of a friend that I had, who was battling with drug addiction.

Evil Chris

this song still moves me...

and so I thought I would say so once again.

GRIMMY

I have allways thought it about a guy taking a bad trip (acid) that he just cant handle being around any love ones...


"I wondered about his insides its like his thoughts are to big for his size"

Pearl Jam and toast

It's not about drugs.

Not directly..

I've disected this one a lot (used to be a really good thread about this in here but I think it's long gone)..

It's about Ed. Written in third person.

A post-fame song.

Ed runs off... gets big... comes back into town. His best friend knows it's temporary.. can still see that restlessness in his eyes.. etc.

The song itself is really refelctive of the situation it describes...

Very very depressing and almost tragic feeling.. but with undertones of this nice, mellow, happy emotion. Then it ends on a happy note, just like the situation probably did in real life.

"Well.. he's gone again.. but it's for the best, i'm happy for him.. there he goes!"

Flannel Shirt

mikeismyhero wrote:

i'm pretty sure that the song is about Ed himself. and the difficulty he has in maintaining his various friendships given the nature of his profession.

agreed! always felt that he wrote this about himself.

"He's yet to come back...but I've seen his picture
Doesn't look the same up on the rack...we go way back..."

"With his perfectly... unkept clothes... there he goes..."

sidenote...always felt countryish to me...this song would be a hit on the CMT or nashville network.

norm

First I have to say that the song means whatever you want it to mean. However, Ed spoke about the meaning at LA2. I didn't want to transcribe so here it is (just the intro, not full song)
http://download.yousendit.com/D865871B4F139631

Sprunkn7

mikeismyhero wrote:

i'm pretty sure that the song is about Ed himself. and the difficulty he has in maintaining his various friendships given the nature of his profession.

I heard this also. I also heard him say it's about him being a "bad" friend. He feels he's not there for his friends enough. From what kind of person I heard Ed is, that seems hard to believe. Maybe it's about one incident where he feels he fucked up in a certain situation and hadn't forgiven himself yet.

Pearl Jam and toast

Sprunkn7 wrote:

I heard this also. I also heard him say it's about him being a "bad" friend. He feels he's not there for his friends enough. From what kind of person I heard Ed is, that seems hard to believe. Maybe it's about one incident where he feels he fucked up in a certain situation and hadn't forgiven himself yet.

"This is about being friends with an asshole" - e. V. ~

I've heard a very interesting interpretation that it's about Neil Young, but I think the song is way to personal not to be Ed writing about himself.

WickedJeremy

Evil Chris wrote:

I think it's a beautiful song. I have always thought that, but I never wondered the meaning until now. It makes me think of my 2 1/2 old son for some reason.

I'd like to know the meaning and background please.
Thank you.

For me it has come to mean distance. A friend who is having trouble getting it together. You keep getting glimpses of him being happy but it never lasts. For me, it is very similar in content to Blind Melon's "Drive".