Warren wanted a Beach Boys thing for this one, and Carl Wilson and Billy Hinsche came in, with Carl arranging the vocal parts. The other harmony vocalists (credited as the "Gentlemen Boys") were Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Zevon's longtime backers Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderon, and Linda Rondstadt/Stone Poneys guitarist Kenny Edwards.
What was it like to see
The face of your own stability
Suddenly look away
Leaving you with the dead and hopeless?
Eleven and she was gone
Eleven is when we waved good-bye
Eleven is standing still (waiting for me)
Waiting for me to free him
By coming home
Moving me with a sound
Opening me within a gesture
Drawing me down and in (showing me where it all began)
Showing me where it all began
Eleven
He was too scarred to realize
You were the voice that's been calling me back home
Under a dead Ohio sky
Eleven has been and will be waiting
Defending his light and wondering
Where the hell have I been?
Sleeping, lost and numb, I'm
So glad that I have found you
I am wide awake and heading home
I wish that I could see you
Turn and run to play
Dreams are fading
Carry my ancient soul, carry me into the light
Aim your body heavenly
Enduring a memory
I'll come to your light
Hold your light
Hold your light where I can see it
High
Hold your light, eleven
Lead me through each gentle step by step
By inch by loaded memory
I'll move to heal
As soon as pain allows so we can
Reunite and both move on together
Hold your light, eleven
Lead me through each gentle step by step
By inch by loaded memory until
One and one are one, eleven
So glow, child, glow
I'm heading back home
The face of your own stability
Suddenly look away
Leaving you with the dead and hopeless?
Eleven and she was gone
Eleven is when we waved good-bye
Eleven is standing still (waiting for me)
Waiting for me to free him
By coming home
Moving me with a sound
Opening me within a gesture
Drawing me down and in (showing me where it all began)
Showing me where it all began
Eleven
He was too scarred to realize
You were the voice that's been calling me back home
Under a dead Ohio sky
Eleven has been and will be waiting
Defending his light and wondering
Where the hell have I been?
Sleeping, lost and numb, I'm
So glad that I have found you
I am wide awake and heading home
I wish that I could see you
Turn and run to play
Dreams are fading
Carry my ancient soul, carry me into the light
Aim your body heavenly
Enduring a memory
I'll come to your light
Hold your light
Hold your light where I can see it
High
Hold your light, eleven
Lead me through each gentle step by step
By inch by loaded memory
I'll move to heal
As soon as pain allows so we can
Reunite and both move on together
Hold your light, eleven
Lead me through each gentle step by step
By inch by loaded memory until
One and one are one, eleven
So glow, child, glow
I'm heading back home
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Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
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The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
I can't speak for Maynard, but to me this song seemed to represent overcoming the fear of death. Two parts of himself coming back together, the light of acceptance, and going back to a mind unafraid of dieing. Just my two.
Too late. He died long ago, but nobody had the heart to tell him.