Little Golden Age

This song is about growing up and graduating high school in a small town.

"“Graduating in a small town is such a very specific thing – you probably already have job, you’re thrust into adulthood,” he said.

“It’s not like you have the option to go study mythology at McGill , it’s a very rural middle class thing to idolize your last high school summer.”

The key lyric from “Little Golden Age” was an effort to fend off any nostalgia for that rural reverence: “I don’t miss my little golden age, ‘cause the body takes the heart... around from place to place...you can’t go back, who would want to anyway?” It’s a line that doesn’t refer to the revisiting of his roots, but rather the reopening of old wounds."

http://www.seemagazine.com/article/music/music-previews/just-a-small-town-boy-4459/

*This song is about college (if you enjoyed it the right way.)

You live in a place long long ago Where nothing moves, and time goes slow And someone sang about a golden age In summertime park, drinking in the dark This place was the machine that put the iron in your heart

• Its a time that feels long ago, but really wasn't that long ago. Where everything was carefree and you were having the time of your life and you thought it would never end.

So we hung around, and we hung around, and we hung around for days In the parking lot stoned, the stars shone out of phase And the rain came down, cassettes were out, oh no And you left town, feeling pretty down With your headphones, and your coat, and your dirty graduation gown

• This part of the song relates to the time after the graduation where they hung out in their college town for a little longer. Then it was time to move on (the rain came down) and college was over and that part of their lives was done and it was hard to let it go.

You were in the bedroom singing radio songs Sing loud, sing all night Emily Needed something to help you along

• This Emily character is still missing that life and music helps her cope with leaving college behind and facing the real world

Freeze, freeze, freeze little golden age Freeze, freeze, freeze little golden age

• wishes college could have lasted forever

And I don't miss my little golden age Cause the body takes the heart, takes the heart from place to place But this place still stands, this place remains unchanged And you can't go back but who would want to anyway

• Singer states he doesn't miss it because there will be good times to be found along the road and even though the college and the town are still there as they always were, they really aren't there for his graduating class any more because their times have passed and its a whole different world now so whats the point of going back?

• After hearing this song one time, I connected it with leaving the college world and entering the real world. Maybe cuz Im a recent graduate so I can really relate.

I think this song is just kind of simply about not wanting a really good time to end. And looking back on it after its over and realizing you can never go back to where you were or those times.

i agree allyfalcon42

he's doesnt want to look back at his past and realize that his best, most fun years were behind him. If you think about, that's a really depressing thought.

I guess people who have this great experience of college in all of it's excesses & glam, as gadrobcm16 described in their theory, can somewhat relate to this sad epiphany.

To me it seems that the song starts out pretty nostalgic, with him remembering another time before responsibility, when you would "sing about a golden age."

I think the most important part of this song is certainly this stanza:

And I don't miss my little golden age Cause the body takes the heart, takes the heart from place to place But this place still stands, this place remains unchanged And you can't go back but who would want to anyway

He doesn't miss it, because he realizes that every part of life is simply another phase, and if he wants to return to one phase, he'll find himself missing out on all the other phases of life. He also makes the statement that his little golden age will always be the same. It will always be perfect, and I think he doesn't want to return to that time because the nostalgia will be gone and it will no longer be perfect.

Perfect song for the everyman.