Morning Song

This song is one of my favorites from a poetic and overall musical structure perspective so I love to over-think it. I may also end up using this for a rough draft paper or a speech in a required public speaking course, which explains the lengthiness. Before someone tries to plagiarize, I have a concrete way to prove I am the author beyond that the username references my real name which will be in person with my prof ergo if your student doesn't than well I just made your life a whole lot easier didn't I? Don't steal people's hard work. Moving on I've taken a more literal approach when looking at the lyrics.

START OF ANALYSIS BELOW:

Short summary (not an intro paragraph) of the conclusion: The narrator commits suicide and the song is about the very real problem of rising rates of elderly depression.

"The carbonation in my drink The bubbles rise while my heart sinks And I'll I tend to do is think of you"

In the first three verses we get a picture of an angry man struggling with drowning his depression in beer. This distinction is supported by the reference to carbonation and an angry drunken feel created by the occasional slurring of words and the over accentuating of words throughout the song, this is different in detail from the pronunciation in the artist's other works. While not stated directly it hints at a bar given how the "pretty dames" and "kids" verses are done much like a rant directed to some group of people or bartender with little references to the first person compared to the previous verses that were described as "thinking" or rather an internal monologue. Nobody drunkenly rants at nothing in such a teaching fashion. It's clearly not in a sober conversion because of how generalizing it is as well as how it comes across as an outburst in the song, this claim reinforced by the change to a different, louder melodic line that throws away many of the original lines' rests for the instrumental accompaniment. More on that later, this group of stanzas is only to set the scene.

"Was it easier to pack your bags And book that flight to Paris as The plane began to move that afternoon"

In this next group of verses, we hear the narrator's inner thoughts as he recalls when his wife or longterm girlfriend left him. We know it was a significant enough relationship to cause an intense major depressive episode at the time and also in the near future it's what he claims is his reason for suicide, but I'll get to that later. Back to the verses at hand their relationship was in shambles. Instead of trying to fix it, the woman packs her bags and leaves which is represented by the reference to it being the "easier" option in a sentence that is set up as a bitter comparison. We know it was a separation by how the narrator says "that flight" not something like "our flight" and because of the aforementioned, negative comparison to it being the easier option in a relationship context. They had to be in some form of a split for them to be in the situation of her leaving alone given how much the narrator dislikes her choice, shown by him, in his angry remembrance, taking a stab at how it was easier to do compared to the alternative he presented.

"When all the trains have pulled away From local stations in decay It's I who waits, it's you who's late again"

Now the train portion is impossible to take in a literal way since it can't be by the laws of physics. It references local train stationS, plural. He could not have possibly been WAITING at multiple stations and he clearly wasn't traveling between multiple as that would be searching not waiting. Waiting is a verb that requires someone to be stationary in an area. She wasn't really late again, the narrator was in deep denial about her leaving for good and wasn't moving on. He was still waiting for her to come home. This is also supported by how she left for paris on a plane and not only are the song's artists based out of the states and the song is in english and the terminology used in this song places it's intended time period before the trains that cross the English channel were built so being in, at the time, Britian wouldn't help. If I had to guess the memory would in the 40's or 50's proven by the combination of technology and terminology referenced but that's besides the point. Important facts are English-speaking, the plane and it's destination in Paris, and no way for the woman to return by train after leaving by plane. This is all going beyond his inability to be waiting at multiple stations at once. Also the "in decay" description sounds much like a metaphor about the depressed ex that is unable to move on, they are therefore decaying.

"And did you think of me when you made love To him, was it the same as us Or was it different, it must have been"

This next group about her being with another man doesn't need much support to explain it. She moved on, and given that this comes after his denial this was the beginning of his acceptance in the past. We're now coming back to his present self supported by how these stanzas are summarizing years of the past to bring the listener up to speed. Proof that it's years comes later. For this stanza, he is still doing an internal monologue as he's talking to her directly despite her being gone. Some may argue, with some merit, that this is where the narrator speaks to her in person after she does return, but that would not fit with the immediate two groups of following stanzas that don't reference their relationship at all and instead reference following failed relationships and grown children in a drunken teaching fashion.

"And all the pretty dames They'll hug and kiss you all the same And when they go, they're gone They're not run-ning late Oh all, all the pretty dames"

"And the kids you hold in your arms With promises to protect them from harm But they grow, and they go And you're all alone All the kids, all the kids that you hold"

"And it's a shame that it ends this way With nothing left to say So just sit on your hands, while I walk away It's a shame, it's a shame, it's a shame"

These next three groups of verses that are about women and children are best to explain as a whole. This where we fully return to the present and the narrator starts talking to the people or a person around him. He may also just think people are listening given his mental state. He's explaining to someone or some people in the bar how they will experience the same fate in love after he continues to have failed relationship after failed relationship. The explaination of many failed relationships occuring after are supported to his next rant about children that he fathers and that grow up and leave him "ALONE". We now get a clearer picture at his age thanks to these two groups together. The Paris incident was estimated as being in the 40's or 50's by terminology and in order to have all these failed relationships and abandoning children the father must be in his senior years and also in present time. The children, again note the plural, weren't the original womans' as they weren't talked about or hinted at until he begins talking about later relationships. In an unrelated but important fact for the setting, more evidence for his high b.a.c. is in his way over accentuation of the word "promises" and how all of the verses slowly lose volume to become rambles and mumbles. If someone is "sitting on their hands" it means that while their is something to do, like respond to a rant, they do nothing. The old man then disappointedly walks away since the audience can't, or won't, respond.

"When my hands begin to shake When bitterness is all I taste And my car won't stop 'Cause I cut the brakes I hold on to a hope in my fate"

Now we get to the darkest two groups of stanzas in the song. He's still drunk and very bitter about his all these events put together. He cut his car's brakes and his hands are shaking because of what he knows he's about to do. He gets in and drives and because his car won't stop he is clearly trying to crash it and cause major harm to himself. We know it's not into the original woman's house by what is said in the following group and how she left, also there's no evidence to suggest it's a homocide attempt to anyone else. We know it's a suicide attempt by how he says he'll "hold on to a hope in my fate", referencing how unfortunately suicidal people generally believe death to be a release. The writer also specifically used the word "fate", a word that is very difinitive and morbid in context. What could he be hoping for in his fate if he only meant to injure himself in a crash? Attention is one answer but that doesn't hold up in the next group of stanzas. As sad as it is he wanted to end everything and again, unfortunately he does.

"Oh oh ah ah hey hey May you return to love one day Well I hope and I pray You get what you gave Oh oh ah ah hey hey"

This group is by far the most chilling part of the song. He has now crashed and the "oh oh ah ah hey hey" aren't some accapella-like sounds, they're the narrator's exclamations of pain as he bleeds out. He then addresses the woman that he believes started his downward spiral while she is nowhere around, asking will she return to "love" one day. She did move on and he knows that, so he can't be talking literally as if she's in denial still. He's speaking metaphorically about her returning to him. He's dieing so the only state she would return to find him in would be him being dead. This would mean that she would return to either his grave or his funeral as she is still alive, supported by how he hopes she "gets what she gave" and gets is future tense. He believes she gave heartbreak and depression so he hopes and prays she gets the same, specifically from this tragedy. This is supported by the strongest support of this entire explaination, the title. Morning song, and while the spelling is different, this done possibly to hide how depressing the real story is, the sound is the same. Mourning song, the narrator is hoping she gets the same depression from mourning his death. He accepted that she moved on which is why he has to hope and pray for this reaction, not just expect it. The song ends on a final exclamation of pain, "oh oh ah ah hey hey", and every instruments' final note is on his final "hey" with the instruments' sustain representing his final exhale. I warned this would be dark.

Put together this song tells of an elderly man who is abandoned by lovers and children alike, leaving him alone. Loneliness and abandonment are thought to be the two main causes of the rising rates of depression in the elderly. The narrator even eventually saw suicide as the better option, a sad trademark of depressive disorders. The artist's strong summary of this struggle gives light to the vivid and horrifying reality of this societal problem.

Hope someone enjoys this theory, post any criticisms of the explaination you want.