Across the Overpass

OK, after going over what I had written over a year ago, I've decided to revise and expand my interpretation of this song. And this time it isn't 2 AM and I am relatively coherent right now. Note: I am assuming the singer is the guy in the relationship and the other person is a woman. (Figuring that the basic heterosexual relationship would make this simple with my use of pronouns.) And I am also substituting corrections from what I can tell from the audio of the song.

OK, after going over what I had written over a year ago, I've decided to revise and expand my interpretation of this song. And this time it isn't 2 AM and I am relatively coherent right now. Note: I am assuming the singer is the guy in the relationship and the other person is a woman. (Figuring that the basic heterosexual relationship would make this simple with my use of pronouns.) And I am also substituting corrections from what I can tell from the audio of the song.

First Verse and Chorus: The Beginning of the End. The singer is saying that...

First Verse and Chorus: The Beginning of the End. The singer is saying that only the present is what really matters and it shouldn't be complicated by adding things in from the past or questions about the future. This is emphasized by him saying, "It's as simple as this." The word "this" should be looked at closely in that it implies closeness or proximity in relation to the person, place, time etc. He goes on to even say that the only things that matter are their feelings at the moment. I am still going to hold onto the "animation of sunken souls" as telephone lines. First they can have some slack to them if they've been worn down over time, obviously they are strung on telephone poles, and they tend to blend into the background. They also can represent communication in a relationship or between people in general that may convey feelings, ideas, and the like. Despite the fact that telephone lines may carry such burdens as our feelings through them at times, they are physically very fragile and can be damaged quite easily. A breakdown in communication can be the silent killer of a relationship without people noticing it till it is too late.

Her going around the earth or running shows how she is willing to abandon their relationship despite the fact that what they had might have been a good and worthwhile union. This is possibly supported by "shadowed by the same light" in that they have both gone from the happiness they shared to the "pain that keeps" they connected now. Although she's given up on them, he refuses to move on and attempts to salvage the happiness they both had at one point.

The first chorus depicts how he is straight forward with her in his intentions from the line "cards on the table." The second line can describe either person in the relationship. It can describe the singer as being worn out and tired from his attempts to win her back or it can describe how the woman he is pursuing has changed from what he used to remember of her or who she was at the beginning of it all. When he says "spell out your name across the overpass" can either describe his attempts to clarify things between him and her or it can be his "big plan" as a grand romantic gesture in order to get her back.

Verse and Chorus 2: The End is here, now what are you gonna do about it? The second verse is the singer mourning the death of his relationship with his significant other (I'll be PC for just a minute there) and how it will haunt him. The "deliver my spark through the dark to the angels in the ashtray" lines can be seen from a couple of view points. The most literal way one can see this is the image of him smoking in the dark and knocking the ashes into an ashtray. A slightly more metaphorical way of viewing this is that his attempts at saving their relationship (a spark to rekindle the flame) were destined to failure and to be consumed by the "shadow" they were both under. "Angels in the ashtray" can be interpreted as his spark or the relationship itself is now a dead but still visible thing or feeling. The "saturation of hopeless need" can just be the singer drinking in order to cope with the "need" to fill an empty void. The asphalt bleeding is a term used to describe a state where too much asphalt rises to the surface of the road and increases the potential for cars to skid across the surface. This can be caused by a "bad mixture" or from "stresses" put on to it by traffic. Either reason can be used to describe reasons why a relationship might either take a bad turn or lose control all together. The "curtains rising" can be seen as two opposite things but with the same results. Curtains rising can be a reference to either the beginning or the end of a show. The beginning when the curtains rise to show a new story about to unfold or the end when the show is completely over and it is time to put it away into storage or to prepare it for another performance. A note that one can make from this is how the singer's cigarette can be related to their relationship. It was a doomed existence from the first "spark" no matter how you looked at it. A lit cigarette can be smoked slowly, quickly or not at all and light will eventually go out. Either way you smoke it, it will eventually reach its end with the only the ashes and the butt as a reminder of what you had. If it isn't smoked at all, it will eventually go out with little to nothing to show for it. Either way, you'll probably end up with a bad taste in your mouth for a little while afterward.

The chorus now goes from the present to the singers prediction of the future of how the person that left him will realize that what actually doomed the relationship was her. She will see that he was there with her "standing in her path", even if he was just there to support her in the "background." And she will also realize how he had done everything he could ("you'll see your name scrawled across the overpass") and even some grandiose signs to demonstrate his commitment. All of this being "as simple as that" shows how it will all be clear in hindsight. The singer then goes to say how "simple" is more than what it seems. Either it being seen in the present or afterward, relationships can never be categorized as simple or easy thing.

Additional notes Another image that comes from this how the singer is either in his car at the time or is near a road. The mentioning of freeways, telephone poles, drainpipes, overpasses, asphalt, and backgrounds are all potential elements of the immediate environment of being on or near a street. This is potentially the scene from which the singer/writer composed this song or could be the place/event where he had gotten his inspiration from.

Once again, this is solely my own interpretation of the song and what I can draw from its context. I apologize for the length of this but this song is very complex from my understanding of it and to attempt to shorten a lot of the explanations wouldn't do it justice. If you've made it this far, I hope you enjoy this song as much as I do and that you might be able to take something away (or possibly add) from this lengthy post.