Julep

I'm mostly commenting here to see if anyone knows if there's a name for the wordplay used in these lyrics: "and you looking down from Heaven...'s a julep on the porch." Where the single word is used to connect two different sentences. I really love it.

Besides that, this is such a beautiful, romantic song. Although I can't figure out the perspective used in it- is it from the POV of the man who loves the woman, or (given the "he brought the whiskey, asked for my blessing" line) of the woman's father?

Well, 8 years ago we lost the sweetest angel woman and stepmother to our little girl. I think this song really says a ton about a man who has it all, they have it all so much that every day together was a day that could be his last. Enough to die happy at any moment from there on out. Every day as a family was icing on the cake. Nothing like the aging together if you’re lucky to have a long life, love and happiness together. But heavens a Julep on the porch, the kids around, it is the heaven on earth thing going on when you’ve got that. And for most people who have love and a mate, you feel like it doesn’t get any better than this as when you first are in love and you wind the love clock and now the days are ticking away. Hauntingly enough it has a slightly sweeter meaning for us thus why it would be amazing to catch this live at Telluride or elsewhere. It is an absolutely masterful balance of these things as in most songs coming from the Punch Brothers. Who needs a book a movie or anything else when the journey is a musical one. Elevated artistry here in every way. If one ever needs proof of evolution well, here you go.

The song is about a man looking down from heaven. Time has stopped, and he's drinking a julep on a porch. He's is watching his son bring a girl to his grave explaining how he's planning on marrying her.

I love this song. I think it could have a lot of different meaning and perspectives. I’be been married for 12 years and have two small daughters. I asked my father-in-law for his daughters hand in marriage. So that’s where I’m coming from. \n\nTo me, the song is sung directly to the man’s wife. He has already passed away as he sings to her. She died before him (you looking down from heaven). Heaven for this man is not just having his favorite drink on the porch. It’s a very specific moment: the day his future son-in-law came to ask for his daughters hand in marriage. His daughter brought the sugar and mint. His future son-in-law brought the whiskey and asked for his blessing (yes sir, I know she’s heaven). It’s a great moment, but it’s also a curious one to use as your eternity. \n\nThat moment is traditional and most likely a good moment, but it’s bitter sweet since it means that now the number one man in his daughter’s life isn’t him anymore. He is giving that responsibility to the son-in-law. I remember when I asked my father-in-law and I took it very seriously. It seems that this man saw that moment a beautiful coming together of their full family as it should be. And everything was right. And he wanted it to never end. And so now he gets to live it forever. The clock still ticks on the wall, but they don’t have to wind it anymore.\n\n He sings even more directly to his wife at the end. She wasn’t just s girl that he should meet. She was the girl he WOULD meet. And then all of this beauty was able to be a reality because of it. It was destiny. \n\nI love how time becomes this constant reminder that it will always be this way. (Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. We used to wind it). Time on earth seems to be a constant reminder that things are changing. The simplicity of this is amazing. I think it’s easy to think of the afterlife as grandiose and something beyond our imagination. This man took a moment from his corporeal life and wanted to stretch it out forever. In the end, it’s just how I would want it to be for myself. \n\nAgain, this is my interpretation. Excited to see more thoughts on this.