Tennis Elbow

Oh my gosh definitely my new favorite song! Got it when it came out, and haven't stopped listening to it!!! I love Adam Young's music sooo much!!

I thought this was on Owl City song...

Heh. Well, I was wrong. I think that this song is saying that even though life isn't so great at the moment, you can still find joy in being in love. Adorable, adorable, adorable.

I think it's about actions having consequences (he took that risk and "scratched a rainbow" - so now he's suffering with Tennis Elbow. He wants to do one thing, but confusion & carelessness leads him to something else. I think it's about being lost in that moment & nothing else (consequences/the future) mattering at that time.

This song's been dear to me for a few good years, and I've narrowed it down to being about communication.

During the first verse, Adam makes many references to different forms of communication and travel, such as "Cellphones and travel stations". In our generation, cellphones and long-distance relationships/friendships are becoming so much more common, leading to people developing deep yet indirect connections with one another. The lines "Several calls I made to Thailand, wound up in Prince Edward Island, and my head feels like it's ready to blow" are referring to the narrator's confusion and disdain with the way communication has become so abstract. It can be so difficult to make genuine connections with people nowadays over the phone and internet, so we get what we get.

The second verse is much more abstract, but I'd say that "I served and scratched a rainbow" and the lines succeeding it are supposed to mean that the narrator took a chance or felt like he had a chance at a happy relationship through the internet or over the phone, and realized that it's much more difficult than he realized. He "scratched a rainbow" trying to reach it, but fell just short. Now he doesn't "want to play" because he realizes just how hard it can be to love someone who's physically (and in some cases emotionally) so far away.

It's also possible that "I sent the birdie downtown at 730" could be a reference to how people used pigeons and hawks to deliver messages way back in the day, which in our modern society seems an ever more indirect way of communication than telephone or instant messaging. The narrator's so desperate to make things work that he even contemplates this possibility, but soon recognizes his foolishness and the reality of the relationship's strength. The lack of communication and inability to make things work despite his best abilities brings about a pain comparable to "tennis elbow", which is experienced from frequent use of the forearm and elbow.

The final chorus is probably the narrator's wish that things could be simple. "We are lost in the sound" - The way we handle communication and honesty today in relationships often corrupts love and we become so blind to how strong a relationship could be. "Close your eyes, and I will twirl you around" - the narrator simply wishes that he could be close to the one he loves, without all the distance and complications of an indirect relationship making everything so hard.

I've always wondered what these lyrics might mean, and this made so much sense! Thanks