The Gold

I feel its not directed at a woman at all but directed at his father

Couldn't really love you any more You've become my ceiling (Referring to his strained relationship with his father that is holding him back mentally) I don't think I love you anymore That gold mine changed you (His father’s mining career has changed his personality and driven them far apart) You don't have to hold me anymore Our cave's collapsing (Referring to a cave or “mine collapse” as a metaphor for their collapsing relationship)

I don't wanna be me anymore My old man told me "You don't open your eyes for a while You just breathe that moment down." (Referring to advise his father gave him about being a man and bottling up all your anger, fears and frustrations and breathing it down and moving on) Forty miles out of East Illinois (Refers to Fermilab research facility in Batavia, Illinois associated with Black Hills Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, SD ) From my old man's heart attack (Struggling with the knowledge his father is in poor health from a heart attack and advice to suppress his emotions)

I believed you were crazy You believed you loved me (His father thought by working hard and providing for the family he was showing his love but his son left alone felt he was crazy for spending his life underground away from the family)

I don't wanna bark here anymore Black hills, the colly (Refers to the dust lung or black lung associated with miners of all materials the colly or ash & soot is responsible for such diseases that wreak havoc on miners health including the bark or cough and heart attacks from respiratory distress) Wasn't really dangerous for us We just catch you coughing What the hell are we gonna do? A black mile to the surface I don't wanna be here anymore It all tastes like poison Can't open your eyes for a while You just breathe that moment down (Again referring to his father’s work was dangerous underground work that wasn’t a danger to the rest of the family. They were however left to deal with his deteriorating health. A black mile to the surface and it all tastes like poison is his father’s reasons for not wanting to be down there but he must bottle up all his anger, fears and frustrations and breathing it down and moving on)

Forty hours out of Homestake And I'm trying to translate you again (Visiting is ill father post heart attack forty hours away from the Homestake Gold Mine in Lead, SD and he is trying to understand his father)

I believed you were crazy You believed you loved me You and me, we're a daydrink So lose your faith in me (Covered earlier the first two lines of this chorus the second two refer to he always felt they were nothing but acquaintances that occasionally had drinks in the company of one another. His son cannot move forward because he is doomed to keep trying and begs in his mind for his father to lose faith in him so that he doesn’t have to be the one to let go)

heard them on XM say that this is about when men used to go into deep pits digging for gold as an analogy for when the band leaves their loved ones to go on the road.

The gold mine is a metaphor for his girl’s perception that he’s become obsessed with his job / money. He's probably a workaholic like his father and obsessed with money. The cave that's collapsing (and a black mile to the surface) is a metaphor for the dark place their relationship has become. His “crazy” girlfriend is telling him this. His father is now doubting his choices in life and doesn’t want to be who he’s Become. He has a heart attack and he’s breathing down the moment.

In the next stanza, He's given up on trying to change himself into something she'll love (after leaving his high paying job for a shit job he equates to now working on a coal mine - the black hills, the collie the derivative of the word collie is coal. Yes I looked that up).

So he says lose your faith in me (ie he can't change himself to what she'd love)

I believe the song is about the son's relationship with his father, who worked in coal mines for big pay "gold" but overworked himself with overtime, to the detriment of their relationship, and developed black lung from the mines.

He explains it himself on this short video. Very interesting back story!\n\nhttps://youtu.be/sutPXbfboxc

I'm thinking it's about his relationship w/ his dad and his dads obsession w/ gold when he was a kid. That's my best guess - I think.