Travel Song

I love this song so much. I honestly don't get it at all though. "Cause we're just held together..." i dunno i guess implies a relationship is barely working out. Maybe because it's long distance? Like he can only see her for two weeks at a time, and it doesn't come often when he can travel out to meet her. That could be totally off, but i always kinda liked the idea.

eh, i think it could make sense. without really taking the two weeks part into consideration, i always kind of thought of it as being about a cruddy relationship, and the only reason they stay together is because of, well, sex, and because they've been together for so long all ready that the thought of not being together just doesn't really occur to them. Then again I could be totally off too, hah

it sounds like like theres a girl on the west coast that he knows, and whenever he heads in her direction (probably because of touring) he calls her and they hook up for two weeks, but that's all their relationship can really be. he can't really be with her because "She's got problems you can't stand"

i love this song/this band

I don't view this as a song about a personal relationship between two people. I always find it a bit curious--and sometimes even humorous--that everyone is so quick to presume that a song was written about a girl! (Case in point: '97 by Alkaline Trio)

It seems clear to me that this song was written about the sort of corporate-industrial wage slavery under which most of us are forced to serve. He's writing about the manner in which people let their careers and jobs dictate the entirety of their lives.

The chorus perfectly outlines the plight--the hopelessness and desperation--of those barely getting through the daily grind of their day to day routine. It tells of the tightrope walked by people who have been stripped of the freedom inherent in their humanity, people whose wills have been so thoroughly broken that they now rely on (or are "held together" by) an adherence to schedule, a routine and the perceived necessity of the pursuit of material wealth ("calendars and cents"), and the insignificant personal habits ("daily papers and a pack of cigarettes") that allow them to temporarily ignore their desperately unhappy situation and make it through one more day.

(The background singing of "on a beach near your heart" at the end of the second chorus evokes the notion that people are always looking to escape their depressing routine--even if only by means of imagination.)

The first verse alludes to the fact that people are so often putting off travel or other personal endeavors because of their work, and how they cannot say with certainty they're actually taking a trip until physically there (on the beach in the case of this song). It highlights the level to which people will allow work to consume their lives, and how the endless drudgery destroys their spirits to the extent that the only "blessed" aspect of one's perception of their future becomes the standard 2 weeks of personal vacation time allotted each year.

The second verse is written about a boss or supervisor towards whom the speaker has an ill will--probably because he hates his job--and the surprisingly arduous task of putting work the boss and the office out of mind, even on vacation.

I doubt anyone will ever even read this comment, but I have an oddly strong love for this song, and I feel it's deserving of--even if not necessarily correct--and alternative interpretation.

Anyway, here are the lyrics as I hear them:

Cannot say trip til our bodies rest on a catskill island shore Travel out west, our future's blessed only two weeks at a time

Cause we're just held together by calendars and cents Our Daily papers and a pack of cigarettes

Try to understand she's a goddess of someplace we just left Try to understand she's got problems, son She's got problems you can't stand

Cause we're just held together by calendars and cents Daily papers and a pack of cigarettes (on the beach near your heart)

We're just held together by calendars and cents Daily papers and a [boot?] of cigarettes

I feel like this song can also represent the writers early tours in/as a band.

"Travel out west, our future lasts, only two weeks at a time"

This conveys that "tour" feeling towards me personally because when I tour that's all i think about and it's over before you know it, (our future, lasts only two weeks at a time)

"Cause we're just held together by calenders and sex Daily papers and a pack of cigarettes"

When your out on the road there isn't that much keeping you together, I guess the writer feels like this is all he needs while traveling/touring. for me personally it was an occasional meal, cigarettes, music, and of course you have to keep up with the dates.

"Try to understand she a goddess of someplace we just left Try to understand she's got problems She's got problems you can't stand"

A lot of bands meet girls on tour and you never truly get to know them. They have a whole separate life apart from the however many hours you spend with them at/after the show. Sometimes you get attached to a particular individual within a short amount of time, and the second and third line in this stanza, I feel like, can be the writer convincing himself it's better to not get attached, to not develop feelings over the girl(s) and move on.

and then repeating, back to the routine of tour held together by very little.

Could be way off, but that's how I like to think of the song

In my opinion, it's really just about... travel.

They tour, it makes sense to me.

I'm a crazy travel kid, I live to explore, make silly two weeks road trips. When you're out for long enough, out of your own element... you're there, you're happy, but you're only holding on my a string, you're this close to just going on and on and not going back home. Just held together by calendars, sex, newspapers and cigarettes. Ties to "reality."

Touring specifically, I'm sure; it can be terribly stressful, all that's keeping you from going crazy is...

Well, you get the picture.