Tearing at the Seams

The power of this song shocked me the first time I heard it. I mean this thing hit me like a ton of bricks.

There is a world weariness and crystalline clear sense of despair and hope that fill this song to an emotional breaking point. The lyrics are written in a highly poetic, Dylanesque style here, and the music behind the words slowly builds and crescendos until the singer finally snaps with fire and fury, the singer looking back on the life of a long relationship that's come crashing down around him, not of his own choosing.

This is gut bucket soul music of an extremely high caliber. I don't know. It's pretty amazing stuff. For a good example of what I'm saying, watch Daniel's performance of this on Seth Meyers. It's powerful, it's moving, and I practically dread what must be in the mind of the singer as this is pouring out of him.

@goodvibe61

Okay. I've wondered what this song means for quite sometime. Definitely my favorite song of his... I think it's about a strained relationship, that others don't want the couple to be in love for whatever reason. So in the first lyric he's confirmed that nothing will tear them apart, he asks "wait, did you think I would break underneath the pressure in the end?" Then says "if the heart is not to feel. It's a wandering waste in the driest land". Then he speaks of "these heights on these hills, there is a funny thing no one else can see". He's speaking of the love they have and no one can see it for what it truly is. Now in terms of the love that no one can see, he says "there's a light on the stage, with a young child's eye's" "and it happens all wrong, and only half of it is seen from here". The young child that can't see the stage completely are the people that don't understand and disagree with the love they have. Then he asks "where's all the time gone? In separate ways it runs long." This is where the strained relationship happened. That time causes us to drift away and we can seem to be a hundred miles apart from one another. He then questioned the relationship and the things people are saying. He says "now wait, is this a game or am I walking into a snare... these lies will spread until we are choking on the innocent". I think the innocent he speaks about is the love they have. He says "and half of us tied, and the other half of us in chains". This is probably the couple, where one is attached to the lies and gossip while the other is crippled by it. Then says "We'll cover our eyes and cover our mouths just the same" this is the couple's acknowledgement that they will ignore all of it. It Roughly ends with him singing that it's been tearing at the seams of all the love they have for each other, but the others are gonna have to drag them away to end their love. I think it's beautiful. Regardless of whether or not I am right or wrong.