Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in His Hair

Well I'll preface this saying that there's a lot of personal meaning anyone can draw, with or without a "correct" interpretation of the actual narrative. This is after all an amazing heartfelt and hard-hitting song emotionally. But to my sense of the story, aside from what it means personally, it goes something like this:

Our narrator works a wage job at an airport "in the bags" for Capitol Air. He is financially troubled, has a gambling habit, and finds his father's life choices embarrassing and weak (I read this as joining the military... a cynical view of that being suicide for limited financial security.. though this detail could be off) and what he failed to recognize in his gambling was the great risk he was willing to undertake to strike it rich by any means possible. Add to this a troubled marriage on the verge of divorce and you have a desperate man with a weak sense of risk and enough frustration to take the next big windfall and escape that comes his way, legal or not.

A woman, seeing his position working behind airport security, offers him a lot of money to become a mule--that is, to transport illicit materials. Drugs? Documents? Priceless artifacts? Exotic plant seeds? Who knows? (Probably drugs. I mean come on.) We do know that though this transaction is the formal pretense of their relationship, there may well be a sexual element, and even something beyond mere exploitation. "Bobby, don't look back."

At last, we realize how short lived his scheme was. Among his personal belongings is a bottle of aftershave, filled, of course, with not-even-close-to-aftershave. "I can explain," he pleads in futility to the TSA personnel, as he considers the life cycle of the shadfly. He is running from them; from the truth that like theirs, his was but a day-long last-ditch effort at life, doomed from the start to be tumultuous, risky, chaotic, and ending in certain death (figuratively for our Bobby).

Bobby got a shadfly caught in his hair. Yes he did.

Sex is almost certainly a part of the narrative, but I think it's mostly a part of the shadfly metaphor; of the lust-unto-death drive of their final hours.

-bg

This song reminds me of The Upper Peninsula from the Michigan album. In both songs, there's a male character whose life is somehow falling apart. This is one of the best songs by Sufjan, in my opinion. The lyrics are perfect.

Apparently, a shadfly is a kind of mayfly that lives only a few days to reproduce, and then dies. It spend most of its life underwater and a larva. I think the fly is a metaphor for the character, he lived a mundane life, only to advance into a stage where he was consumed only with sex, and his life fell apart.

This song is flippin' amazing. Period.

Man, oh man. I love solid b-side albums. 'The Avalanche' could have been a whole new album and I'd never have suspected otherwise.

In addition to wanderingmounty's information on the shadfly: I looked up Bobby and Springfield, Illinois. the only person I found was comedian born there in 1888 or so who started with small parts, then he did predominantly efiminate parts, then he became famous for playing hitler in movies. Towards the end of his career, he was simply waiting to get little one-liners in a few movies. That sounds similar to the story of the shadfly...spending most of his life unnoticed(under water) and then he finally comes above surface to get his break(as HITLER of all things) and everything falls apart from there as he is no longer needed. Or maybe he has nothing to do with the song, but Sufjan seems to introduce the history of these places into his stories...Maybe I'll come back and critique it further some other time. In the mean time, look it up urself and see what you find.

That was Bobby Watson by the way...

I think this song is about a man losing faith in the world and undergoing something of a (to use a terrible cliche) mid-life crisis: he's realised that his life hasn't really meant anything to this point, and he tries to find meaning in an extramarital affair, but it doesn't work.

"I don't care to say what I failed to recognize Every single day from the poker to the prize"

I think this references somewhat subtly the viewpoint character's failing marriage.

"Running out of Springfield I worked for the Capitol Air in the bags Found a woman there who said She had a mind to make me a messenger man"

Offering herself?

"If my father took his life for national plan I don't care I'm not about to stake my grave with a paper and a bucket of plans Never ever"

I don't care. He doesn't even care about the death of his father, let alone anything else.

"I can take the pillowcases off the yellow pillows Make a property line from the bed In the living room, the living room, the morning papers Make the most out of nothing at all"

The reportage of the papers is all about nothing at all. The discordant guitar solo here is absolutely heartbreaking: I feel that it represents this man's internal struggle, railing against the meaningless of it all, his failed life, his marriage, etc., only ending when he makes the decision to have the affair:

"So we took the room with a view of the runaway I took off my clothes and she took it for a holiday I was taken for all the things that I never had before Running out of Springfield She left me with a note saying, "Bobby, don't look back"

And if my wife took a bicycle ride with a knife in her hand I saw it coming All the shadflies run at once with a trumpet or a train Oh, I'm running from it"

I do agree with wanderingmounty to a certain extent. I think that Sufjan intentionally uses the shadfly as a metaphor for this man and others, but I don't think it extends as far as the 'obsession' with sex: this man tries to break out of his meaningless life (the larval stage or what-have-you) with an affair, but other 'shadflies' try to make something of their lives with music (the trumpet) or travel, or a train collection, or whatever.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute Give a minute, baby, I can explain the aftershave Wait a minute, wait a minute, give a minute Bobby got a shadfly caught in his hair

Yes, he does"

His marriage falls apart.

The one thing I'm not clear on is who Bobby is meant to be. The note 'Bobby don't look back' makes me think that it's the singer/narrator, but then it seems like the narrator is speaking when he says 'Bobby got a shadfly caught in his hair.' I realise that Bobby could be both the narrator and his son (e.g. Bobbys Jr. and Sr., whatever) but I don't think Sufjan would be that confusing. I welcome any insight into who Bobby might be, and also why Bobby getting a shadfly caught in his hair would "explain the aftershave."

Oh, and by the way, this is absolutely my favourite song from the Avalanche. Just incredible, and so different thematically from most of Illinois. It has such a final down note, it gets me every time, and the guitar solo is perhaps the most emotive instrumental passage that I've heard from Sufjan.

mjearnshaw = love

I really love this song, not only because it's a fantastic song but also because I've been going to Springfield, Illinois every year since I was born.