Steady, As She Goes

Clever song, good band. Like the new work from Jack White.

The first thing one needs for a successful marriage, as many long-time marrieds have said, is a friend. That's priority one. If you've got a friend on top of searing passion, well, then you've got yourself an amazing combination.

I feel that the subject of the song is indeed feeling the pressures of society, as many here have stated. The bit that gets me is that there must be disappointment, or he isn't committing for the right reasons, etc. He's obviously to a point at his life where he's done with the single bit and now he wants to see how the other half lives.

However, friends, as they often do, want to make sure that the decision-making process isn't flawed. They seem okay with his leap into matrimony, but not quite convinced that he's doing it for himself or society (another fine point that someone mentioned.)

I think the particular line "no matter what you do, you'll always feel as if you tripped and fell" is a metaphor for the infatuation itself, and not necessarily a bad thing. After all, we "fall" in love. Some of us even "trip on it" as well. Countless songs have played with the myriad semantics we use to describe courtship.

But this song has a hidden cynicism -- coming from the single friends, not the marrieds. Once he's "completed what he thought he had to do" (gotten into the married life, settled down, made the commitment) -- "and your blood's depleted to the point of stable glue" (perhaps the most telling line of the song) then everything changes.

For me, this is the hands-down most indicative lyric of the entire song. We see blood as life, virility and dynamism. We even use extreme action words for it. Rushing, pumping, flowing, racing, etc. Regulated by our heart, it's one of the most powerful forces of life.

And here ... it's become stable glue.

Psychologically, the single believes that marriage can only work if that 'blood' becomes 'glue'. If everything that is dynamic, spontaneous and passionate becomes well-worn, routine, and predictable. It's the debate of the ages. Can the passion last throughout marriage?

As a resolution to all his woes, he's deciding to be pragmatic about it. It can't hurt. He's not denying himself the new life nor is he rushing into it. He's evaluating the pros and the cons and deciding to dip a toe before going swimming.

Again, just my $0.02. But that's what this site's about, so ... muse on!