Sinking and Swimming On Long Island

i think this song is anthony talking about how he doesn't think his band has really made it yet.

"This place is dragging me down A hamster wheel I thought I'd be done by now Now that all my allies are gone I realize advancing can hold you back"

basically saying that he always comes home to the repetitive hamster wheel that is his town. he thought he'd be able to have moved on by now. all of his friends who lived there have moved on by now and gotten solid jobs and whatnot. i'm pretty sure they formed their band at a young age, i think the last line here means that they advanced to going on the road before anyone else his age had anything going for them, but now they have more than he does (as far as he seems to see it).

"My good intentions just keep sliding by the wayside But it's high tide and they get washed away with time Til everything's gone Til everything's gone"

good intentions, meaning writing genuine music for himself and his fans. however his band is fairly unknown, so every time his band puts out a record, it gets overlooked among the thousands of bands out there (again, just as far as he seems to see it). his records are then "forgotten about" and washed away, along with the time he spent creating the music, until his whole life has been spent doing nothing but writing generally overlooked music.

"All's fine along the Long Island sound But fine's polite I'd rather things more profound I've become a rock these days And I swim like one, alone again Barely surviving the tidal wave"

says that everything's fine, but that's just putting it nice. he'd rather have things be going better than they are. the rest of this part is pretty self-explanatory, given the rest of my explanation.

"I swear Damn it all to hell Damn it all to hell I think I finally found the way To go to heaven without dying So I'm on my way The harder you work, the harder you fall You wake up one day with nothing at all"

damn it all to hell, meaning all of the things he feels he hasn't accomplished yet in life. he's found a way to go to heaven without dying, in that he makes music he loves, tours, and gets to play shows to rooms full of fans every night. he's on his way to his own definition of success. the last two lines are directed at all of the people in his town that grew up and job regular jobs, because they're working hard at jobs they probably don't enjoy. they'll one day wake up with no real life experience.

I find this song is actually talking about someone who does things for everyone else but never himself. With time people always forget about those thing you have done for them. He is now alone and he can't help anyone else, and that's the only reason he notices he doesn't know what to do for himself...

This is not a song about liking Long Island in general..... he's talking about his support system (friends/family) being gone, he has no one to back him up . He can't advance without locking himself into a place without everyone he likes.