Depreston

The meaning of this song is obvious; she is shopping for a house in the suburbs after living in the city for too long (she's gonna save money by making her own coffe because there aren't so many coffee shops out in the suburbs). It becomes an existential experience. She ends up wondering about the previous occupant of the home, an old lady who died there, and maybe her son was killed in Vietnam, and somebody with a half a million dollars will probably just come along and demolish the house anyway.

This song makes me feel so sad when I listen to it. The lyrics themselves aren't overtly depressing (despite the title) but there's something about the feeling of it and the music. I suppose because I can picture the exact part of Preston she would be singing about, and that feeling of the old lady dying maybe by herself in the house she's owned for 50 years... I can't really even put it into words properly right now but it is overwhelmingly sad to me. Beautifully sad, but sad nonetheless.

@Robert128 You're right, but I feel there is so much more to this song (maybe you agree and couldn’t be bothered writing it all out, fair enough).

It's about how we treat and think about other people. It’s asking how much do we really care about our neighbours (as in people other than ourselves)? The concept of looking for a house is used as a driver/example of how we are more often interested in looking after ourselves than caring about other people’s stories, love and suffering. I think the storyteller (Courtney, I guess) is saying that she realises that the home and the stories that are left behind are of more significance than whether it has polished floorboards, north-facing rooms etc. And now that she sees the significance of what was there, she couldn't live there/doesn’t want to live there as it isn’t her ‘home’.

This ties into the ‘half-a-million/knocking it down’ idea, that so many of these stories just get destroyed and forgotten about (as Robert128 said).

But the song is also about suburbia, growing up and how you’re meant to live your life. Many of us grow up with our family, go to school, get a job, get married, buy a house etc… Courtney is questioning the whole idea, does it bring happiness? Why is it the right way to live life? By following the same path are you just destined to die in a Californian bungalow and be forgotten about?

As with the whole album, there is also something undeniably Australian about this song. Not just the references but the whole concept. Being Australian and knowing the culture we live within unlocks another layer to this song and the album (not having a go at people who aren’t Australian, just an observation).

This is a very timely song that will resonate with a lot of people.

Yeah, I think it's about an existential crises caused by societal and social influence.

I sense some oppression here. She's not too enthusiastic about seeing the town ("I guess it couldn't hurt..."), and her first observation is a man being arrested. And then she's dealing with pressure from the realtor and her partner.

So, she's standing in the house, realizing the passage of time and how this is where someone else's life took place. A life I'm sure was very meaningful to them, but means nothing to her. And the realtor doesn't give a shit--They just want to sell the house, and they'll push any benefit to potential buyers. ("It's cheap because of the whole deceased thing... But! Look at the ceilings! Look at the lovely garden! Don't have two cars? No problem! You can still make use of it! No? Don't like it? Well, you can always tear it all down...")

And she is just like, "What is the point of saving all this money to buy a house that you'll spend your life paying off just so you can die and someone else can profit off of it?"

Up to this point all of the outside forces were guiding her along, and she's just going with it and it's really starting to get depressing.

So, instead of worrying about meaningless details like the location of a door like most people would, she's having profound, albeit depressing thoughts.

I think the takeaway here is that if you let other people decide what's best for you, what you need, and what you desire, you're sacrificing what it means to think for yourself. You're buying into a dream and a lie, and the needless suffering could've been avoided if you had just stopped and listened to yourself

I agree with you @xanya. It makes me feel so sad too and it is hard to express. In short I think it is about the pain of time passing and the inevitable loss of all we care about and find meaning in. About how all of our lifetimes, the highs, the lows, our intense love for our families...everything is rendered empty by time as the world turns and everything turns to dust. Make the most of every moment. With love, S

Yeah, I think it's about an existential crises caused by societal and social influence.

I sense some oppression here. She's not too enthusiastic about seeing the town ("I guess it couldn't hurt..."), and her first observation is a man being arrested. And then she's dealing with pressure from the realtor and her partner.

So, she's standing in the house, realizing the passage of time and how this is where someone else's life took place. A life I'm sure was very meaningful to them, but means nothing to her. And the realtor doesn't give a shit--They just want to sell the house, and they'll push any benefit to potential buyers. ("It's cheap because of the whole deceased thing... But! Look at the ceilings! Look at the lovely garden! Don't have two cars? No problem! You can still make use of it! No? Don't like it? Well, you can always tear it all down...")

And she is just like, "What is the point of saving all this money to buy a house that you'll spend your life paying off just so you can die and someone else can profit off of it?"

Up to this point all of the outside forces were guiding her along, and she's just going with it and it's really starting to get depressing.

So, instead of worrying about meaningless details like the location of a door like most people would, she's having profound, albeit depressing thoughts.

I think the takeaway here is that if you let other people decide what's best for you, what you need, and what you desire, you're sacrificing what it means to think for yourself. You're buying into a dream and a lie, and the needless suffering could've been avoided if you had just stopped and listened to yourself

This song is only half about the first-person view. It’s also about reflecting on your own older years, life, experiences.

This song is truly about realizing you’re aging and picturing what you’ll be like when you need a “shower bar”

“I wonder what she bought it for” doesn’t refer to money, it’s about what choices and sacrifices she suffered

This is one of the most empathetic songs I’ve ever heard. Author can almost feel themselves in the previous homeowner/departed’s situation.

It starts out with a depressed narrator. Reluctant to go even for a car ride, much less far outside town. Depressed about everything, including suburban life. Change of scenery hasnt’t helped.

By the end of the song, it’s gone from a hopeless lamentation to a wishful/hopeful mood and lyrics

Perhaps the woman who own the home before here was an inspiration. Kept a nice garden. Maybe she lived alone. (A whole new story)

Seeing the handrail in the shower is a very real sign of aging, frailty.

The storyline’s buyer is picturing their own future, aging, being alone, body deteriorating. This becomes existential.

This song is only half about the first-person view. It’s also about reflecting on your own older years, life, experiences.

“I wonder what she bought it for” doesn’t refer to money, it’s about what choices and sacrifices she suffered

This is one of the most empathetic songs I’ve ever heard. Author can almost feel themselves in the previous homeowner/departed’s situation.

It starts out with a depressed narrator. Reluctant to go even for a car ride, much less far outside town. Depressed about everything, including suburban life. Change of scenery hasnt’t helped.

By the end of the song, it’s gone from a hopeless lamentation to a wishful/hopeful mood and lyrics

Perhaps the woman who own the home before here was an inspiration. Kept a nice garden. Maybe she lived alone. (A whole new story)

Seeing the handrail in the shower is a very real sign of aging, frailty.

The storyline’s buyer is picturing their own future, aging, being alone, body deteriorating. This becomes existential.

“Spare half million” lines are about narrator being pessimistic that someone would knock down thus perfectly good home because it isn’t “brand new”

The beginning starts with a 2nd hand account of a conversation between two roommates or partners:

> You said we should look out further

They’re house shopping. Want to move. Nothing affordable in the city.. Then….. “Hey babe, we can’t afford anything near the city, so let’s check further out. Longer commute, possibly better quality of life”

> I guess it wouldn’t hurt us

“Sure, babe, why not. We’ll look out further”

> We don’t have to be around all these coffee shops

Unsaid, sarcastically: There’s so much here, why would we want to live further out??”

> Now we got that percolator, Never made a latte greater and I’m saving $23 a week

Another extremely sarcastic comment about how the concept of ‘giving up avocado toast’ is going to make people suddenly rich. Also a commentary on how they are SuRROUNDED by coffee shops, but still bought a percolator. Also, the percolator probably cost more than most of their trips to the coffee shops”. There’s a huge disappointment being expressed here that the “savings” from the in-home percolator have resulted in spending less time in coffee shops, meeting people, people watching, other qualify of life stuff for city-dwellers

> We drive to a house in Preston. We see police arresting. A man with his hand in a bag. How’s that for first impressions

If this is referring to a possibly homeless person who bought alcohol in a brown bag, but in big cities, a person suffering from homelessness would be a very minor and probably ignorable crime by local police. This suggests that the suburbs face the same challenges as a big city, but they have more resources to police the “undesirables”

> This place seems depressing. It’s a California Bungalow in a cul de sac

The artist is not from CA or even USA. Analysis: This might be the “American Dream” house/property, what the average person wants (or others think the average person wants”

> It’s got a lovely garden.

Someone took care of this place, and loved it enough to do so

> A garage for two cars to park in. Or a lot o storage if you’ve just got one.

The use of the word “just” in describing the potential renter/homeowner’s ability to own more than one car is classist. Judging or even slightly commenting that people may not be able to afford a property is very common. This is probably the most insulting part of the song. The Estate Agent has, let’s face it, inadvertently exposed their bias and made the potential buyers feel like “less”, just because they might only own one car.

It’s also foreshadowing a bit for the end of the song, as older people often lose their partners, and end up with a single car.

> Storyteller: “And it’s going pretty cheap you say? realtor” Well, it’s a deceased estate. Aren’t the pressed metal ceilings great?”

The realtor is clearly trying to downplay and deflect the fact that a person died here or spent their last days here.

> Then I see the handrail in the shower, the collection of those canisters of coffee, tea and flour. And a photo of a young man in Vietnam

Storyteller starts to realize an older person lived here. A family. A couple, at the very least. Storyteller starts to imagine the previous owners of the home. What did they go through (Vietnam)?

> And I can’t think of floorboards anymore. Whether the front room faces south or north.

How can any of the minute details about this home be critiqued by a random buyer (our storyteller) because it has a story older and richer than has been told. What events occurred here? Were they good or bad? Both?

> And I wonder what she ‘bought it for’

To me, this means two things. “Bought it for” is most likely thought about “how the died”. An idiom. However, I feel like this wording could be more about what it took for her (previous owner) to get to the point in her life that she lived in that house. Was it an easy life (doubtful), what did she endure? Women haven’t always been treated wonderfully in the home, so “what she bought it for” includes not ownership of the home/property, but what she sold her soul for, what she endured, what she left for this world. This might be the most thought-provoking and disturbing lyric of the song.

> If you’ve got a spare half a million, you could knock it down, and start rebuilding

This is repeated several times in the song because (I believe):

• It’s insulting to the previous owners. A perfectly but maybe outdated house? Why tear it down?
• It’s insulting to people barely able to buy property due to financial issues and the economy? A “spare” half million dollars?? Hahahahahahahaa
• It’s a commentary about disrespect for our general history, elders, etc
• It’s a personal (storyteller) commentary about potential topics like ‘will Gen Z ever own a home” or “city or suburbs?” Or connectedness to people. Of not supporting local businesses (coffee shops), of leaving the city only to find that its not so great in the suburbs