This song isn't autobiographical. It's just this story that Art made up - likely something he might have heard of where he grew up, but definitely not about him. I read about some of the song meanings a long time ago where Art was actually telling what they meant and he said that after he sang this song, Greg (who was pretty new to the band) apologized about his mom and Art was like "huh?" and he was like "the song" and Art told him it wasn't a true story. I think of that every time I hear this song.
This song isn't autobiographical. It's just this story that Art made up - likely something he might have heard of where he grew up, but definitely not about him. I read about some of the song meanings a long time ago where Art was actually telling what they meant and he said that after he sang this song, Greg (who was pretty new to the band) apologized about his mom and Art was like "huh?" and he was like "the song" and Art told him it wasn't a true story. I think of that every time I hear this song.