Half Dead

When dealing with loss, you often go into autopilot during tasks that lead you to dwell on that loss...like packing up belongings, having that emptiness surrounding you where someone else used to be. Of course, you always fall back into those thoughts again, but as the years go by you get better at the autopilot thing so those times of dwelling are fewer and far between. The illusion of being ok with how things are. :p

When things get tough in life, you have no choice but to remove yourself from the situation and hope for the best. Here, Darnielle or his character feels like they need to erase what happened in the past and move on, but they are constantly haunted in a way by their old lover/mate/family member.

I love what he does with this song and the electric guitar too by the way.

I think of this whole album as somebody preparing for suicide. The loneliness and need to leave is established in "Wild Sage" and the thought of death is introduced in "New Monster Avenue." I hear this as the character thinking about his past and feeling nostalgic. "You" could just be the general idea of someone he used to love, or even someone he still does. He is trying to say goodbye while also feeling unsure whether or not he can leave them forever.

I'm pretty sure "half dead" is a double entendre and the narrator is middle aged (or nearly so) at the time the mentioned relationship ended, hence "half dead."

The song overall seems to be about a romantic relationship that was years long, probably comprised the majority of both partners' romantic lives, and ended in a subdued manner rather than spectacular failure. The muted way the lyrics are sung gives off a feeling of "Huh. What now?" rather than sadness or longing, or really any other strong emotion.

new album?...once again an awesome song

i gotta accually buy this album