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Man on the Moon Lyrics
My daddy was an astronaut
That’s what I was often taught
My daddy went away too soon
Now he’s living on the moon
Hang on to me people
We’re going down
Down among the fishes in an absence of sound
It’s the presence of distance and it’s floating in time
It’s lack and it’s longing and it’s not very kind
Send it scratching in this rented room
Scratching and tapping to the men on the moon
Down all the things that I’ve been told
My daddy was an astronaut
That’s what I was often taught
My daddy went away too soon
Now he’s living on the moon
We’re going down
Down among the fishes in an absence of sound
It’s the presence of distance and it’s floating in time
It’s lack and it’s longing and it’s not very kind
Send it scratching in this rented room
Scratching and tapping to the men on the moon
Down all the things that I’ve been told
My daddy was an astronaut
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Starts from the POV of a child, relating how he believes his father to be an astronaut living on the moon, rationalizing his absence. This is but a cover, what he has been told by those who know the true reason his father has absconded, meant to dull the pain of simply telling the kid the truth, either that his father ran off or possibly died. Second verse I believe is the narrator speaking from adulthood, speaking through the pain of learning the truth and having to deal with such a gaping wound, now doubled by knowing a lie was concocted to cover it up "for his best interest."
Pretty tragic song, despite its short length.
It's Man In The Moon, isn't it? Everybody knows there's a man in the moon, you can see his face. This little kid has been told it's his daddy - so he won't feel lonely, he can look up in the night sky & see his father's face. Nick Cave's father died when he was young.