Wait So Long

In my experience, most men interpret this song as the lament of a man in the friend zone of a woman he loves. I'm a woman, so perhaps I can offer a different perspective. That's not the way I hear it at all. Perhaps it's just what was going on in my life when I first heard this song, but I always interpreted it as a song about a relationship where the woman is kind of mentally unstable, or maybe just sort of wild and emotionally needy, and the man is making the better choice by choosing not to be with her, even though he likes her and wants to help her.

"I could never pretend that I don't love you / You could never pretend that I'm your man"

Clearly he cares about her, but,

"That's exactly the way that I want it / That's exactly the way that I am"

This guy is a player. He enjoys the romantic attention he gets from her, and he knows he can't reciprocate, yet he continues to sort of lead her on. I say "sort of" because she seems to realize that he doesn't like her as more than a friend (and you can kind of sense that general tension in their relationship based on the lyrics) yet she still holds onto hope while dating men who don't treat her all that well.

"And you call me in the morning with your troubles / Takin' it downtown every night / I could never place the stars at night above ya / I got my hands on the ground, and you know I'm right."

She needs a lot from this guy emotionally. She calls him to complain or to get things off her chest, maybe just in general lament about her existential angst. He's saying that he's not the answer to her problems, and he doesn't have the answers, and they both know that this relationship is not healthy yet he can't say no to her, because he does care about her, and she can't stop going to him because she loves him.

Honestly I've had a relationship exactly like this one.

"It's a coffee stained earth ever time it happens / Liven up honey it ain't that bad"

He's saying that she kind of keeps herself in a mindframe such that she is always depressed, or maybe overdramatic, or perhaps is self-destructive or self-sabotaging in her relationships or even just her thoughts.

"Any afterthought rose to recognition / Like every other coffin that I had"

She knows she's this way but she can't stop, and she knows she won't find her answers in a man, but she keeps trying. The narrator is sort of equally pitiful and disgusted by her behavior.

"And your buick broke down in Winnemucca / Fall to your knees and you pray to the lord / Then you take up hope at the politicians / Nothing happens in this burnt out town anymore."

She keeps trying all these things to fix her life, keeps trying to find things to blame for her rut, but she doesn't realize her self-destruction. She keeps narrowly missing these moments of clarity, like when her car breaks down, or when she wonders if perhaps it's the small town she lives in that's keeping her down.

"And your heart rolls on like a frozen freight train / You know that I help you if I can"

Pretty simple. She keeps putting her whole heart into new relationships or crushes every time they come along, thinking that this will be the one that changes it all. The narrator just sort of sits back and lets her implode time and time again but tries not to get too involved, helping her whenever she comes to him.

"But I'm just a raindrop in a river / Just a little itty-bitty grain of sand"

Just one more guy in her river/beach of guys. Just one more person whom she relies on for her emotional support. He feels that he's not all that special to her, and maybe she's the one using him for attention, and not the other way around.

"And you know that I'm doomed to repeat this / With all the bad habits that I've learned / But it's better than your fire-borne fornication / And all the dirty money that you earn"

He's made some bad habits in his relationship with her, and he's wondering how long it will affect him, or if his future relationships will be trustworthy because he's spent so much time in this dysfunctional semi-relationship. He's glad he's not as dysfunctional as her, though, and he sort of uses her life as a remedy to his own insecurity about love. Like, "someone's always having a worse day than you" sort of thing. He also appears to now be having some moral problems with their relationship.

I think this song is a lot more complex than the simple "friend zone" or "in love with a prostitute" story. But perhaps I'm reading too much into it.

The End

I feel like it's about a fellow that is in love with a gal friend of his. They've always been close, possibly slept together a few times, and he's always wanted the two of them to be together.

She, however, is always looking for something bigger and better for a relationship. She wants a rich, powerful guy. This guy has always been there to help her out and listen to her problems throughout the years, but she's never let him be her man or really appreciated him enough.

Finally, he's getting tired of it. She's getting screwed over by other guys, and she's always really messed up about it. It's getting to the point where he's tired of hearing about it and just thinking "liven up honey, it ain't that bad." He's realizing that his caring about her and helping her is for nothing. She's waited too long to realize they should be together. He's just about done with it.

But once again he comes back to it. He still wants her and he can't stop. She's become like a bad habit that he can't shake. He realizes it's pitiful to keep putting himself through it, but she's a worse person for putting him through it and being like she is.

this is destined to become a bluegrass classic with some f*ckin' amazing musicianship and lines like:

"I could never pretend that I don't love you. You could never pretend that I'm your man."

I bet what I thought was "Winnemuckin" is actually "Winnemucca" in Nevada. Johnny Cash mentions it at the beginning of "I've Been Everywhere".

It's about a man in love with a whore. Not 'whore' in the figurative, derogatory sense, it's about an actual prostitute.

"And you call me in the morning with your troubles Takin' it downtown every night"

"But it's better than your fiber 'n fornication And all the dirty money that you earn."

It a song about a old girlfriend that he kept taking back. Even though he hates what she did he takes her back anyways. He's having trouble with resenting her crazy past.

I think it's about a woman he loves that just won't hold still. She keeps running around and refusing to settle down and he's telling her that if she keeps waiting so long he won't be there anymore because he's beginning to resent her.

Also, nobody's feet go "amok'n" the line is:

"And your Buick broke down in Winnemuckin You fall to your knees and you pray to the Lord"

Although, I'm not certain about the "Winnemuckin" bit. I'm at least fairly convinced that it's the name of city. However, I don't know Minnesota all that well.

Thanks for the input. Changes made.

"And your hollows on like a frozen freight train"

I think should be:

"And your haul goes on like a frozen freight train"

I think the previous comment hit the nail on the head. Adding to that

I think it's about a guy who loves a girl and has always been there for her despite the shitty guys she dates, and all of the bad decisions she makes. She always comes to him with her problems "And you call me in the morning with your troubles. "Takin' it downtown every night" and he gives her advice which she ignores until it's to late. Then when things fall apart she recognizes he was right "and you know I'm right" "Any afterthought rose to recognition". Then she goes on to repeat the process, choosing bad relationships over a healthy one with him. He's gotten to the point where he's content with his role in the relationship because he knows she won't change, and see's she's too damaged if she ever did.

Even though he knows they'll never be together he still loves her, and will continue to help her even though it's become a "bad habit" because he realizes that his only problem is that he's "doomed to repeat" helping a somewhat hopeless cause.

He realizes that his biggest problem is that he's helping a lost cause, but is willing to sacrifice his help because her problems outweigh his.

Overall it's about him acknowledging the situation he's in, knowing it's not gonna change, and being selfless enough to stick around to help because he loves her, even though she'll never reciprocate.

I may just be seeing what I want to see in this song because it illustrates to a T a relationship I have with a friend, but nonetheless it's a great song with great lyrics.