This is one of my fave songs from the album. I took the effort to learn to play/sing it on guitar; maybe I'll brush it up!
The hero of this song is Simon's "Walter Mitty," albeit with a different tack. Simon is more than a Thurber; he's a Joyce. He's a master at capturing people's inner dialogs; this song is the lament of a feign man. He's failing at romance, and tries to convince himself he's granting the object of his affections her freedom. He's ill at ease in the natural world (garden). He has "bulwark" fantasies, interlaced with good-ol'-joe salt-o'-the-earth fantasies. He finally resorts to a past-life fantasy. Is it real? Or is this just "higher and deeper?" is the very act of scrabbling to escape reality by indulging fantasies this fellow's trap?
This is one of my fave songs from the album. I took the effort to learn to play/sing it on guitar; maybe I'll brush it up! The hero of this song is Simon's "Walter Mitty," albeit with a different tack. Simon is more than a Thurber; he's a Joyce. He's a master at capturing people's inner dialogs; this song is the lament of a feign man. He's failing at romance, and tries to convince himself he's granting the object of his affections her freedom. He's ill at ease in the natural world (garden). He has "bulwark" fantasies, interlaced with good-ol'-joe salt-o'-the-earth fantasies. He finally resorts to a past-life fantasy. Is it real? Or is this just "higher and deeper?" is the very act of scrabbling to escape reality by indulging fantasies this fellow's trap?