Ruby

I think this song is about somebody dealing with a painful chronic illness. They have a loved one, who is already grieving them. They have trouble seeping because of the pain, and hope to dream about a version of themselves who is not ill. I will break down the song verse by verse to justify my theory.

it isn’t always i am well / for sometimes i am ailing / and yet in steaming night i smile / to downplay this my failing / and make a noise to bury all / of your weeping and your wailing /

The narrator's illness periodically flares up. They try to downplay the symptoms to comfort the loved one with them, who falls into despair otherwise.

and then in bed by little light / and closed off from it all / i must try and bring a conscious end to night / and hope that dreams begin to fall /

After the loved one has gone to bed, the narrator tries to fall asleep, but can't due to being in pain/feeling illness

the color of my dreams, they would be you...ruby / oh if i could close my eyes and bring you to me / push your head into / make you not you not you not you but me /

and then in dreams i wander free / and see some things i’m meant to see / and sometimes even i see thee /

I think Ruby represents the version of the narrator who is not ill. The narrator wants to dream about that version of themselves and find comfort in dreams.

and would the night go on and on / and not tomorrow end at dawn / and whatever mat i lay upon / dissolve /

And they want to keep dreaming instead of facing real life.

the color of my dreams, if i had dreams, they would be you...ruby / everything i do is done to bring you closer to me / when you sleep your breath it blows right on through me /

The narrator does everything to be healthy again. When they are asleep, that's when they feel their healthy self being th closest to them (when you sleep your breath it blows right on through me).

and illness be or wellness thrive / my dream proves i am yet alive /

Even though the narrator is ill, they are still alive and still harbor hope for getting better.

[Edit: Put slashes between poem lines]

2am wake up call, great music. and its true that 2am is productively a great time to work, think, reflect, dream while conscious. this song captures that eerie aura successfully. and takes me to another place. will oldham's voice matches the song incredibly well and add's to the feeling created.

Best song ever... 'nuff said.

Not enough people listen to Tweaker. But maybe that's a good thing.

um, that's not exactly the meaning of the song, but whatever. Like happy child, this one seems to be about loss, or maybe never having someone in the first place "everything I do is done to bring you closer to me" and then what he thinks about this person while suffering from insomnia.

I'm going out on a limb here, but...

rape?

"and yet in steaming night i smile to downplay this my failing and make a noise to bury all of your weeping and your wailing"

Weeping and wailing... steaming night... you know.

And also, ruby, the color of blood?

I don't know, I'm just guessing. Excellent song.

Heheh. I just realized that it was almost a year ago today that I posted the second comment on this song.

How...sad.

From tweaker.net:

"Since I'm the type of person who enjoys full albums (records that take me on a journey, teach me, have something special to say), I've tried to capture this with both tweaker records. Where the first album dealt with one concept (one man's journey through life to find contentment), 2 a.m. wakeup call is more of a concept within a concept.

It's a nighttime record about dreams, nightmares, and insomnia -- things that keep us up at night.

My wife was suffering a long bout of insomnia, where she would bolt awake every night, strangely, at exactly the same time Ð 2 a.m.. It led to me sharing her insomnia night after night and I wound up staying up with her and discovered that when the world-at-large was fast asleep I had unearthed a wealth of creative energy in myself. These were the hours when most of the work on 2 a.m. wakeup call occurred.

When collaborating with the guest singers, I explained what my inspiration was and only gave them the directive "What keeps you up at night? And what do you dream about?" What you hear lyrically on the album is how each singer interpreted the music and direction. "

I figure that these lyrics are the nighttime ramblings of someone trying desperately to get to sleep. Just crazy thoughts jumbled together when your mind is so foggy but still keeping you awake.

Crimson (non-spectral red) or simply "real red" contrary to blood red (variants include "devil red", scarlet, brick red, lava and vermilion) which lies on the low frequency end of the solar spectrum -the color of communism- is the color of wine, rubies and fruits i.e. cranberries, pomegranates, raspberries.
Cerise, a variant is the name for "cherry red." Given the speculated location of the Garden of Eden, it is quite possibly the fruit which represents Original Sin is the pomegranate. Isiah 1:18