Hardcore UFOs

For me, this song is about reminiscing about just wasting time with a best friend back when you were a kid. Bob employs the metaphor of an alien analogy for the long absence in the relationship when they grew up.

I agree el d4nt3, about childhood. Hanging out a friend in the kind of relationship, you have with someone, that is basically family but something more special. I think it’s harder to get that as you grow up, you start to get involved in your own things, more self obsessed, less time to just hang out with people. I guess you often lose that closeness. ‘I’ll be with you, without you, again.’ Wasting an entire day just talking to someone, or listening to music, or just hanging round at their house that’s special and not always even something that exciting, but something that sticks with you, always. ‘you know why I left you for so long...’ I don’t know if this means things can’t last, or that even as you spend every waking second with someone, you still grow apart, and you still hurt each other. There is something obsessive and intense in any close relationship, something that makes you love and hate and just feel things, so hard.

I agree el d4nt3, about childhood. Hanging out a friend in the kind of relationship, you have with someone, that is basically family but something more special. I think it’s harder to get that as you grow up, you start to get involved in your own things, more self obsessed, less time to just hang out with people. I guess you often lose that closeness. ‘I’ll be with you, without you, again.’ Wasting an entire day just talking to someone, or listening to music, or just hanging round at their house that’s special and not always even something that exciting, but something that sticks with you, always. ‘you know why I left you for so long...’ I don’t know if this means things can’t last, or that even as you spend every waking second with someone, you still grow apart, and you still hurt each other. There is something obsessive and intense in any close relationship, something that makes you love and hate and just feel things, so hard.

The song is about young love, and how some of us don't grab on and hold tight to that love, but instead let go and explore the world, only to discover that young love was the deepest and purest we would ever know. And all that time apart exploring the world it meant very little without that person by our side. And with that realization we are now wondering, are they thinking of me, the way I'm thinking of them? And we are wondering, are they hoping I'll reach out to them, from as far away as outer space, it might seem. Because after all this wasted time without them, we realize they are the only one who gives our life meaning.

Yes, like Dorothy's ruby red slippers, happiness is found within. But there are a few happy couples in the world who prove that when you are with the right person, your happiness doubles, and your troubles are halved. When you are with someone who loves you as much as they love themselves. when you are with someone who needs you as much as you need them.

The fear that still needs to be faced is why you ran away in the first place: loving someone that deeply means you might lose them. And then what would you do?

People seem to think this one's about childhood or young love, though I see this as more a paean to independent musicians & amateur music scholars obsessed with their art.

For me, the imagery of playing guitar and making art late into the night immediately identifies the voice of a passionately creative person. They're not watching sports or out cruising for chicks, they enjoy their free time noodling on the guitar and doodling at home. They're done by 10, which implies they have to get up at a respectable time for work or school. Or work at school - Bob worked as a teacher for a number of years.

The line about watching "hardcore UFOs" paints a portrait equal parts crackpot, dreamer, outsider, and punk rocker. Also a possible reference to Hüsker Dü's "Books About UFOs" wouldn't be lost on fans of pre-Nirvana and pre-streaming independent music.

When Pollard asks "Are you amplified to rock? Are you hoping for a contact?" it's both evocative of being different & alienated, and wanting to use your music to find other likeminded people - E.T. trying to phone home - and an artist hoping to make industry contacts that could maybe lead to their part time band turning into a real job. Maybe this is a GBV fan giving Bob their demo. "I'll be with you, without you, again" could be about music, how when you listen to a song, the artist is there with you, though not in person.

In this context, the angel calling becomes the muse of music and creation. The "falling" up and down / back and forth, through "broken down buildings" could be the fan listening to music from different eras, of bands no longer together, styles no longer in fashion?

Then the line "please don't bother at all"... Is this all futile? Countless days have been wasted, to "build a playground in your head". Is this devotion to the art futile? Until they've "made it", what does the songwriter have to show for it, except something that only exists in their head?

The final line, "you know why I left you for so long" implies that this all is an explanation for some type of neglect. Either the author has been physically gone for some time - maybe on tour with their band trying to break big, or they just spent all their time making music and listening to records instead of socializing and giving their attention to their friend / family or other aspects of their life.

So that's an alternate interpretation of "Hardcore UFOs"!