Meaning of "Off He Goes"

DJLAMB · November 2003

I've always thought about a buddy of mine during the song "Off He Goes"

Does anyone know who inspired this song or the story behind it? One of my favorites PJ Songs!

Sea As His Floor · November 2003

This is one of my favs too Lamb. I always believed that it was Ed talking about himself, just basically stepping outside of his own mind and telling himself to take it easy and not let everything (fame) get to him. Just my thoughts on it.

MF1918 · November 2003

I agree w/that

Sort of like a guy who won't come down from the clouds, the fame went to his head

"I wonder 'bout his inside
Like his thoughts are too big for his size"

Also about the way people who let this happen usually forget their friends and leave them behind

"And now I rub my eyes, for he has returned
Seems my preconceptions are what should have been burned
For he still smiles... And he's still strong
Nothing changed but the surroundin' bullshit
That has grown

And now he's home and we're laughin'
Like we did, my same old, same old friend
Until a quarter to ten
I saw the strain creep in
He seems distracted and I know just what is going to happen next

Before his first step, he's off again"

VEDHEAD27 · November 2003

Good lord I LOVE this song with every inch of my being!!!!

With that said, yes, I think it is for sure about loosing yourself and finding yourself all within the same long journey that is life. When Ed says....

"He's yet to come back but I see his picture.
It doesn't look the same up on the rack"

Oh man it just gets me. I see him looking around and seeing his face everywhere, seeing this image, this creation that is just beyond him. At a glance, he knows that it's him, yet from a distance, from the outside looking in, the views others have of him..what they think him to be, it's totally someone else. It becomes confusing. Like you suddenly have mutiple personalities. There is the "real" you, and then this other person, ya know? It's very powerful and very moving.

In another OFF HE GOES post with a similiar question a friend of mine responded with what I thought was an excellent interpretation of the song. I'd like to share it with you all.

Here it is....

Originally posted by fataloceansinhiding
It is about losing touch with an old friend, but I guess that Eddie has said it is actually about losing touch with himself and his old self, and that is even more clever and sad. I mean, it is very cleverly not made to be depressing, but it is a thing that we all go through. We see people drift away...and sometimes those people are even our former selves too...because we are sort of a construct of our social situation (at least as we see that situation in our own minds). We are a composite of what we see our position as, in its reflection in other people. Therefore whether we lose touch with ourselves or others it is basically the same in a way. Eddie knows that it is awkward to leave these things behind and that emotion is why I love this song. It portrays this feeling SO WELL!!!

Meaning of "Off He Goes"

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