I'm Always in Love

i'm pretty sure the words are "it's a drag i snag," which leads me to believe that this song may be about drugs. you can also hear "smoke pot" being repeated in the background of the verse that begins "i don't get the connection" ...just something to think about

beanicka, I believe you're right about the lyrics, though "drag I snag" is a stretch to think he snagged a drag of pot or something.

However...the band is definitely singing "Smoke pot, smoke pot" repeatedly in falsetto in the middle of the song. It's garbled on "Summerteeth", but it's very clear at the live shows they've been doing recently. Download one and take a listen :) Maybe it's just homage to the Beatles' White album period?

I believe that this song is about touring on the road and leaving his wife behind. "I set the sun on a big wheeled wagon"(bus) Also the longer the tour, the longer the hair. When he folds the cold in his jet lagged palms and has soacked so long he forgets his mother to me means that he has abused his body with to much drugs, booze, sleep deprivation or all the above that he is in that complete fog state. Maybe I am wrong, but I believe the whole album is about a tour where he goes to far and has problems with his wife. The album sounds very personal and autobiographical to me.

This song, like many of Jeff Tweedy's songs from this period, seems to be about the disconnect between what we think love is and what it really is, and then, once we become aware of the distention, how we choose communicate that love to others.

It helps me to think of lyrics from other wilco songs when trying to understand this one:

"What would love be without wishful thinking?"

"All my lies are always wishes..."

'I'm the boy who gets excited, i'm the boy who's gonna fall apart, etc."

The speaker begins the song wondering why he's constantly heartbroken, why his love for his lovers keeps disappearing (the feeling goes) as time passes (his hair keeps growing). From there, the lyrics devolve into a kind of nonsensical, exaggerated lover's boast to someone unspecific, followed immediately by the admission that he's, "bragging" and "always in love."

This is the backbone of the song - it's a warning to his lover. He's saying, "I'm going to make some big ridiculous proclamation about how much I love you, but really I'm just caught up in the moment and I do this all the time."

The second verse starts with the speaker questioning what will happen if he gets the love of the unspecified object of his affection. These lines are coded in more over-the-top nonsense (Tweedy's way of making fun of his own romantic impulses), and the result is something impossible (catch the moon like a bird in a cage). Tweedy here is alluding again to our inability to carry out our romantic intentions into reality - love is never in life like it is in your dreams, just as a bird in a cage can't catch the moon.

Still he forgets (It's for you i swoon) and loses his train of thought (I don't get the connection...). Here the 'smoke pot' refrain might be an allusion to a Joycean 'lotus-eaters' kind of idea, as the speaker is clearly falling further and further into indulgence as the song goes on, and thus losing his grip on the main idea here - the infatuation is going to fade eventually. He then assures himself he won't forget that this is how love works, even though it's clear he will.

The last verse is the most dense with coded self-aware, self-indulgence. I believe the lyric is 'fold the coal in my jetlagged palm,' which could equate to using pressure to produce a diamond, or in this case, lasting love (his palm is jetlagged because of how many times he's been through this process already, he's worn out). The next lyrics, about soaking (again, see lotus eaters) and forgetting your family, seem to allude directly to being lost in something (here, the love affair, his infatuation). Then Tweedy again offers his original lover's boast and remembers what he swore he wouldn't forget: he's prone to falling into feelings that he doesn't have the wherewithal to carry out in a way that fits with reality.

That's why it's a 'drag' that he's always in love, and also why he's worried - he might never fix this problem because, despite all of the self-awareness displayed in the coded romantic boasts, he still keeps forgetting that this is how it works and making the same mistakes over and over.

really sweet tune.... i think he says "it's a drag ass night" then "i'm always in love" in the second to last paragraph here but hey- i could be wrong, like really wrong.

whats does the "will i set the sun on a big wheeled wagon mean" THis is a huge stretch but all i can think of is how the roman and greek god ( i forget which one) pulls the sun across the sky in his chariot, but yep 'i dont get the connection' between that and this song. Also i think that its "when i sulk so long i forget my mother"

This song has a very simple melody but thats what I like about these songs. . .

It's definitely "It's a drag I snag" in the cd booklet. Anyway, great song. I'm starting to like Summerteeth almost as much as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot...but not quite.

what are the backup lyrics when jeff starts singing" I don't get the connection"?

I'm positive it's either "it's a drag I snag" or, the one I prefer, "it's a drag I've snagged."