Wildflowers

No comments? You people must be crazy. I don't know what this song is about, but I really love the near otherworldly feel that it exhudes, with just a voice as powerful as Lanegan's and an acoustic guitar. It is painful, but also dreamy, and even comforting, in a weird way.

I find this song pretty hard to decipher, I'll have a shot at it anyways! The overall feeling I get from this song is that he is waiting for someone to come home, so that they can make a decision of importance. Let us say that this song is about two lovers, in that case I believe that "river" is a metaphor for "home". And I believe that "wild flowers" stands for unconditional love. The "my mind is an open book with nothing inside" seems to be about his mental state as he is waiting.

Tl;dr : It's about the moment just before you have to choose love, or let go.

The music really sets the mood for that interpretation, you get that "before the storm" wibe!

I think it's actually "earth" and not "river", and then it's "my mind is an oper door". But then I think that doesn't change the fact that your take on this song is pretty good.

i've always connected to mark lanegan's work on an extremely boots-hit-the-ground level. one of the things i believe is a main theme in his first 2 albums is God trying to get a hold of him spiritually, and how paranoid it's making him, especially given how strong his drug addiction is impacting his life.

i believe wildflowers is a reference to heaven, a place he's always subconsciously believed in, but didn't really have a reason to care about, until the time of the events of this album...i say that because that's one of the things in this world i've associated with heaven: beautiful, vast areas of living plants/ things...when i was a kid, God spiritually communicated to me when i was looking at a tall flower garden that was in front of a wooded area, and the existence of such a place in a different world was randomly beamed into my conscience without me construing it as from God until later..

the person he is talking to in the song "i have to watch you come back to earth" is someone who has as shitty a life as him, but believes/ hopes in God/ heaven. the idea of such hope seems foolish considering how unreligious or "christian"-like his life is....

the "watch you come back to earth" part is about him trying to be realistic and not believe in what he is being made to hope in from another source. "will you still be convinced wildflowers are waiting for you" is him being tempted to look at his life instead of his hope....ie,"do you really think you will go to heaven looking like this?"

"In my mind I've done good things And never cared why And my mind is an open door, with nothing inside"

he's realizing that his way of thinking is based on nothing, yet something made him do things he thought were good

"Looks like the autumn is upon us It's turnin' so cold When everything said's either faded out Or written in stone

If you could find an easier road, you'd take it today You could have taken me anywhere You just take it away"

after experiencing something really powerful and hope-giving, it's back to the standard cold, lonely laneganism.

he's talking to himself and God, understanding the wisdom of a theoretical easier road, but realizes that God, who had the power to give him an easier life, took away the power to go that road, leaving him where he is, struggling.

My reasoning for this is heavily based on the fact that this album is named after the song in which he claims to have encountered God, during which he at one point gets pinned down, unable to move, as the "dogs of hell" dare him to give up. I had my own version of this in 2009 when demons ("dogs of hell") pinned me down and starting attacking me, and the only way out was to call out to God for help.

i believe this album is like snapshots of his life around this event, and this particular song is an internal battle between him believing in heaven, but also doubting whether or not it's real for him.

one of the greatest songs ive ever heard. no doubt