Wilco – Impossible Germany

General Commentstanding next to a friend (my gemany) the other night, listening to wilco play this song live, the message of the song that i get kept coming home. listened to the song for months, hearing of a struggle between two people, trying to communicate, always separated -- like Germany and Japan, two countries so foreign to each other but together for a period. this notion of "i'm trying to tell you but you're not listening or can't hear me" is to me about a person who's very close and yet unreachable. that reaching out, trying to help the other who misses that "this is what love is for/to be out of place", is in vain, the other can't hear. at the end, i hear that other person turning, listening. it's hope that i hear. i think the two guitars at the end are sort of the extension of the lyric, that enough was said about the struggle, the emotion of two guitars is that push past words, just expression.

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  @delenda
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  I agree with you

  Flag Victrolaon April 22, 2010  

My InterpretationI think this is about straight up unrequited love.

"Impossible Germany
Unlikely Japan
Wherever you go
Wherever you land"

He is pining for someone who he doesn't know very well. I think she flits in and out of his life. He is wondering where she is headed, figuratively and literally speaking.

"I'll say what this means to me
I'll do what I can
Impossible Germany
Unlikely Japan"

He is determined to be honest about his feelings and telling her is as much as he can do to try to control the situation and he is hoping she will reciprocate those feelings.

"(The) fundamental problem
(We) all need to face
This is important
But I know you're not listening
No I know you're not listening"

He is frustated because she is ignoring or disregarding his confession. It is seemingly meaningless to her.

"(If) this was still new to me
I wouldn't understand
Impossible Germany
Unlikely Japan"

Either he has been through this before with other people or this is just the latest in a series of pleas to her.

"This is what love is for
To be out of place
Gorgeous and alone
Face to face"

They may be individuals who don't fit in and he relates to her in that way. If she would just give him a chance, she would see that they were meant to be.

"With no larger problems
That need to be erased
Nothing more important
Than to know someone's listening
Now I know you'll be listening"

He longs for a new start with this girl. It is fresh and free of problems and fights-nothing to apologize for (yet). It's his dream scenario that she will hear him and want to be with him too.

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  @ladybug2009

General CommentGermany and Japan were allies during WWII. It is a metaphor for two lovers. The "impossible" and "unlikely" show the defunct nature of the two parties involved. Obviously, there is a problem in the relationship and it's not being solved because the other person isnt listening.

The problem disappears when they realize that love is "to be out of place." After that, the "Impossible Germany, Unlikely Japan" line disappears and the narrator knows that the other is now listening.

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  @dirtyp28

General CommentI love, love the dueling guitars at the end of this song.

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  @UnionThug

My Interpretation@delenda I feel that the guitars represent pushing past the words as well, but i believe they represent action taking over. Maybe the lesson taught is that actions speak louder than words.

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  @nliebert

General Comment"It is hinting around where you start to see where it ceases to be impossible when you think about what a country or a place can become. And when does it stop being something unbelieveable and something you can act upon to try and change when you realize that there's something inside of yourself you need to fix. Basically, when do you wake up from denial?"


Its about a nation drifting towards the same situations in Japan and Germany in the second world war. There is nothing bad in the German or Japanese psyche that would make them more likely to instigate this. A warning that nothing is impossible and we should always question the power that people and counties adopt and accept as rightfully theirs. If it can happen to countries a unlikely as these, what chance do other countries have. Its asking you to wake up and change before its too late. The fact that Jeff writes it as a love song to his country makes it all the more poignant. A devastatingly intelligent song.

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  @koan
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  I know this comment is a few years too late, but I completely agree with you. I was just reminded of this track after watching "Ashes of American Flags." My wife sent me this album on an ipod while I was in Iraq for my third tour and listened to the "Impossible Germany" track over and over again, trying to figure it out. Especially trying to figure everything out with where I was and what I had seen. I completely agree in your interpretation of the track that its "A warning that nothing is impossible and we should always question the power that people and counties adopt and accept as rightfully theirs." One of my favorite songs ever. Thanks for helping me make sense of it.

  Flag randyran00on September 05, 2014  

General CommentImpossible Germany. Unlikely Japan. Maybe Korea? Thoughts of a Frenchman buying a new car.

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  @palatin8

General Commenti asked for the lyrics to be revised since Grendelbomb based them off the early version played live during the kicking television tour... now they are in line with the album

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  @mavs41

General Commentthe solo. =o its really good. its a very wilco-y song, one of my favorites from the new album.

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  @armsaimedatthe_sun

General CommentI enjoy the guitars in the second half as well.

When I first listened to this song as a bootleg, I interpreted it as the band expressing their surprise over how successful they've become. They started off small, and now they're touring in places such as Germany and Japan, something that seems "impossible," or at least "unlikely."

I think dirtyp28 has the right idea, though. It hadn't occurred to me that the countries shared a strange past.

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  @lostrock