Interstate 8

Driving a road shaped like a figure eight? It's infinity. A figure eight -- infinity. Forever and ever, amen. Doing the very same thing, the very same way, all day, every day for years. It's life, guys. Going nowhere? Guaranteed late? Same stress we all put on every pointless situation, from miserable high school to mediocre job to death. Life.

I've always liked this song because a lot of my trips take me on I-8, and Modest Mouse fits the vibe of that road very well. It's one of the most desolate and empty stretches of road in the country, especially the part in Arizona. I think the song is about loneliness and the monotony of life.

I made an account just to comment on this song ^^

The song is a hopeless love song. The chorus ( "You go out like a riptide" to the last "How have you?" ) is a description of the person that the narrator loves, but who either doesn't understand or doesn't want his love. The narrator says that the person is "an angel with an amber halo, black hair and the devil's pitchfork" ... which is a description of how the narrator feels about the person... how he can't help but love her but also hates her for making him "drive around the interstate 8" (fruitless love, get it?)

Some important lines:

"How have you been? How have you been? How have you? How have you?"

The above passage is a recount of the conversations he has with this person, simple small talk that goes nowhere.

"I drove around for hours, I drove around for days I drove around for months and years and never went no place"

The above also says how no matter how long he's been trying he's never gotten anywhere with the person.

"We're on a pass, we're on pass I stopped for gas, but where could place be To pay for gas to drive around Around the Interstate 8"

The narrator asks himself why he simply continues down the endless, meaningless road that goes nowhere, only to find that the reason is some misplaced and pathetic strand of hope that he'll get somewhere.

Did anyone else catch the meaning of the line "you know that ball has no sides"?

Something with no sides has no points. A ball is pointless, so to say. Which, I think, ties in with the repetitiveness of life theme this song heavily underlines. Interstate 8, like thedeity mentioned, is a metaphor for life. The entire song emphasizes how the narrator feels that life is all a cycle, it's all a loop. Isaac's even known for his cyclic ideology and lyrics.

Interstate 8 is a pointless loop.

I think the strongest line in this song is "You know that ball has no sides" saying that they are arguing over something that is written in stone and can't be changed but the girl/person who he is talking about doesn't see it like he does. I go out on a limb here to say that its like the person he is talking about sees the ball as having an infinite amount of sides rather than zero and somewhere within that argument is something i don't yet understand. Like a ball is made up of infinite tangent lines that touch it and because she sees it that way maybe she wants to get off the day to day routine and wants to have a spontaneous and new life everyday.

i think towards the end i come closer to what i was trying to say but still i don't think i was dead on with it=\ hope someone enjoys that

to me this song is absolute beatuy. beauty damnit. love love love hate beat. dramamine, beauty. brock, man you sing it wonderfully.

hes going nowhere. i think the only person who can truly understand this song is the one who wrote it. its obviously a reflection of some of his emotions. one we the listeners can never understand and claim to have figured out by posting our opinions here. anyways no matter what it means the song is great.

i thought it was ember halo. i duno tho, thats wat it sounds like to me.

"I'm on a road shaped like a figure 8 I'm going nowhere, but I'm guaranteed to be late"

That sums up life pretty well, I think. You live, basically doing the same things over and over. And when you die, you end up nowhere.

i love this fucking song