In Ear Park

My interpretation->

All of us walk a long steady line And now that you're gone I've nothing but time To walk with your bags down to the docks Sit in the grass Right in your spot In Ear Park In Ear Park And if you listen you'd hear the waves, Ahhhhh Ahhhhh But we all forgot dear But we can't forget dear

All the time All the time All the time All the time All the time

This is definitely one of my favorites of all time. It is musically perfect IMO, well at least the live version. The album version is too stripped down and so you miss some of the beauty.

I think all people know that In Ear Park is dedicated to Daniel Rossen's father, who passed away in 2007. Therefore, it is safe to approach this album from that vantage point. Generally speaking I would have to say that it is about remembrance. To ensure that memories of his father are kept alive and are not forgotten, which is akin to allowing their father to figuratively die in the families’ hearts ("we can't forget dear").

All of us walk a long steady line <- the line is life with an ending and beginning, everyone lives everyone dies

Now that you're gone I've nothing but time <- there is only time for remembrance of times past, time for new memories has past

To walk with your bags down to the docks <- again, recalling the past, the bags/stuff are not his father that he is taking or going with, but his bags which are all that is left, stuff and places.

Sit in the grass Right in your spot, In Ear Park <- places and things are all that remains of his father, going to these spots of places can help keep the memories stronger.

And if you listen you'd hear the waves <- He grew up in LA, and so I imagine that this place or the places which he remembers his father always have the sound of waves

But we all forgot dear <- time passing can make memories fade But we can't forget dear <- Don't make light of forgetting memories of him, for that is all that is left. We must cherish them, we must not forget.

All the time <- All the time you must remember, you cannot let the memories fade. Memories are what keep people alive in the hearts and minds, and so to let them die would be to let the person die completely.

So, that is my take, wrong or right, the song is amazing.

to walk with your bags*

"In ear park" to me means inside your head, like the "park" in between your ears is a place inside your brain where you can sit and remember someone who has passed

"In your spot" implies that he goes there often and that it is a special place reserved for the subject

but we can't forget dear, all the time

like saying, we won't always forget you because you are apart of us. there are places we will go that will always remind us of you.

chris taylor spoke to me about the reasoning behind "ear park" -- i think it was that a few of the members met there. i don't really remember what he said. regardless, the song is beautiful.

this was taken from the department of eagles website:

"[M]uch of the material that Daniel brought to In Ear Park draws on memories from his childhood, especially those relating to his father, who passed away in 2007 and to whom the album is dedicated (the title track is a nickname for a park in Los Angeles that the two used to visit)."

So I'm guessing a lot of what Dan talks about is personal memories with his father.