This is a song about feeling lost and alone in life, and losing to one's fears. He looks for answers in an old book of wisdom, in his desire for a girl, and ultimately in gin. The book doesn't teach him anything, the girl is only a fantasy, and he's not even able to buy his drink of choice. Sarcastically he compares himself to Ulysses at the end because he "heroically" avoided getting drunk.
I remember him talking at various concerts in the early days about a time in his life when he got mono for like 6 months. He talked about how he tried to read Ulysses during this time, never finished it, and said "I like magazines." A lot of these lyrics conjure up images from his life at this point. This was when his first album was out and was a hit, they tried to record a follow up with his original band, and he got mono and the band sort of fell apart for awhile. When...
I remember him talking at various concerts in the early days about a time in his life when he got mono for like 6 months. He talked about how he tried to read Ulysses during this time, never finished it, and said "I like magazines." A lot of these lyrics conjure up images from his life at this point. This was when his first album was out and was a hit, they tried to record a follow up with his original band, and he got mono and the band sort of fell apart for awhile. When he came out of his sickness, the Mason Jennings Band had become Mason Jennings, the original drummer was gone and the band suddenly had a saxophone. Anyway, the time between the first and second album, when he had mono is the time of his life alot of these lyrics seem to refer to.
This is a song about feeling lost and alone in life, and losing to one's fears. He looks for answers in an old book of wisdom, in his desire for a girl, and ultimately in gin. The book doesn't teach him anything, the girl is only a fantasy, and he's not even able to buy his drink of choice. Sarcastically he compares himself to Ulysses at the end because he "heroically" avoided getting drunk.
I remember him talking at various concerts in the early days about a time in his life when he got mono for like 6 months. He talked about how he tried to read Ulysses during this time, never finished it, and said "I like magazines." A lot of these lyrics conjure up images from his life at this point. This was when his first album was out and was a hit, they tried to record a follow up with his original band, and he got mono and the band sort of fell apart for awhile. When...
I remember him talking at various concerts in the early days about a time in his life when he got mono for like 6 months. He talked about how he tried to read Ulysses during this time, never finished it, and said "I like magazines." A lot of these lyrics conjure up images from his life at this point. This was when his first album was out and was a hit, they tried to record a follow up with his original band, and he got mono and the band sort of fell apart for awhile. When he came out of his sickness, the Mason Jennings Band had become Mason Jennings, the original drummer was gone and the band suddenly had a saxophone. Anyway, the time between the first and second album, when he had mono is the time of his life alot of these lyrics seem to refer to.