I'm absolutely mesmerized by this song as of late. I have the Store Front Hitchcock dvd so I'm only acquainted with the live version, as stunning voice, guitar and harmonica rendering of the song. It's very sublte an poignant especially the short spoken intro/explanation he gives before he sings it. Even his facial expressions (mostly his eyes) are very telling of the songs meaning to me. It seems to be about outgrowing the people and places you come from and definetly the fear and sadness that comes when you realize you have to leave them if you wan't to be sane and whole. At that point you can either try to completely blot the past out of your memory (which is the point of the song...and which is impossible in my opinion) or you can look back on it fondly ala "Penny Lane". Either way you have to leave. I especially like the way the narrarator even tries to use surrealism to dismiss the whole thing as some type of absurdist dream "now there's a butterfly on my face...and I'm a number in a drawer". You can imagine a child trying to escape something painful by daydreaming of something peaceful and benign to ease the pain. Anyway without getting to artsy farsty (too late) this is a perfect song to mope too while drinking a glass or two of inexpensive wine.
I completely agree with you. It's about erasing the past from your memory. The character even fantasizes a suicide, where he's not there anymore to feel the pain he has transferred to his past love.
I completely agree with you. It's about erasing the past from your memory. The character even fantasizes a suicide, where he's not there anymore to feel the pain he has transferred to his past love.
I'm absolutely mesmerized by this song as of late. I have the Store Front Hitchcock dvd so I'm only acquainted with the live version, as stunning voice, guitar and harmonica rendering of the song. It's very sublte an poignant especially the short spoken intro/explanation he gives before he sings it. Even his facial expressions (mostly his eyes) are very telling of the songs meaning to me. It seems to be about outgrowing the people and places you come from and definetly the fear and sadness that comes when you realize you have to leave them if you wan't to be sane and whole. At that point you can either try to completely blot the past out of your memory (which is the point of the song...and which is impossible in my opinion) or you can look back on it fondly ala "Penny Lane". Either way you have to leave. I especially like the way the narrarator even tries to use surrealism to dismiss the whole thing as some type of absurdist dream "now there's a butterfly on my face...and I'm a number in a drawer". You can imagine a child trying to escape something painful by daydreaming of something peaceful and benign to ease the pain. Anyway without getting to artsy farsty (too late) this is a perfect song to mope too while drinking a glass or two of inexpensive wine.
I completely agree with you. It's about erasing the past from your memory. The character even fantasizes a suicide, where he's not there anymore to feel the pain he has transferred to his past love.
I completely agree with you. It's about erasing the past from your memory. The character even fantasizes a suicide, where he's not there anymore to feel the pain he has transferred to his past love.