| The Wallflowers – 6th Avenue Heartache Lyrics | 1 year ago |
|
I like the multiple layers in this song: One, the physical, where Jacob is looking down from his apartment at an old street busker. Two, the metaphysical, where Jacob feels an artistic kinship with the man, and feels that connection is now "drawin' me in" to the life of an artist. Three, the aspect of time, where Jacob is a young man near the beginning of his life/career choices, and the older homeless busker has reached the end of his life/career choices. Four, the aspect of life and death ... it appears that the older man has died (shots ring out ... screams out loud), while Jacob, the younger man, his life ahead of him, "has his fingers crossed on a shooting star". Five ... a possible deeper layer is that the older man represents his father, and that there's a passing of the torch so to speak. And that Jacob didn't really have a choice here ... the "same black line" that was drawn on him, is sort of a curse that came from his father. I know that everything Jacob does always somehow gets tied back to his father. But even so ... maybe this reference could be subconscious here(?), because Jacob wrote about the actual inspiration (the homeless busker) and did not mention his father. I feel that number two is the strongest thread. Jacob feels that in this moment of this older musician passing, their two lives touch. The place where they touch feels to him like a "black line". It seems this represents the hard life of an artist. The hard line between living a normal life, and the choice to cross over that "same black line" and instead living a less-than-ordinary-life, where your primary focus is making art. Because Jacob is making a connection with the man, instead of ignoring him as just another homeless person, he realizes ... with some regret ... that the moment is actually "drawin' me in" instead of repelling him. He is becoming an Artist in this moment. This, even though he might be on the exact, same hardscrabble path ... for "50 years", only to disappear without much notice. Because he is channeling deeper meanings from this moment, Jacob realizes this means that he too is destined to be an Artist ... even if it means he might never have much success at it. That's the "6th Avenue Heartache" ... Jacob's realization that he is going down the same dark, uncertain path as the one that that ended this homeless busker's life. The same black line that was drawn on you Was drawn on me And now it's drawin' me in 6th Avenue Heartache (note: every time I said "Jacob" here, I really could have said "the song writer". I don't know him. This is just my interpretation. But we all know who the song writer is, and who is father is, so ...) Edit: oops ... Jakob. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.