The End Of The Tour

This is what this song means: Kurt Cobain died April 1994. John Henry was released September the same year. Kurts death was THE issue on the music industry's nimd during the second half of that year. The girl with the crown and scepter is Courtney - look at the cover of the Hole album.

The references to the two of them being flaming wrecks etc are metaphors for their troubled - drug ridden relationship. The people inside are the fans, the industry, the entourage, all the hangers-on whose existence was facilitated by Kurt and Courtneys success. When Kurt killed himself he opened the doors and let all those people out.

The end of the tour is the time of Courtney's death when she and Kurt will supposedly meet up again in heaven/the afterlife/whatever.

It's about a couple torn apart by death.

There's a man and a woman, very much in love. One day, though, the girl is killed (quite possibly in a car wreck). Obviously, the guy is crushed and shocked at the death of the person he loved. However, he winds up finding some degree of solace when he realizes that they'll "meet at the end of the tour"--in other words, when he dies, they'll see each other again.

To go into more detail about their relationship, the "girl with a crown and a scepter" is the narrator's girlfriend/love interest--the person who dies. He describes himself as being "bent metal", while she's "a flaming wreck". She's the one who was killed; he was just crushed by it. At "the end of the tour", though, they'll see each other, and they're "never gonna tour again"--they'll never have to be apart anymore.

A few other thoughts. It's possible the girl lingered for a while after whatever killed her, which is why she says that she's "THINKING of going home"--she was in serious condition, and they didn't know if she'd make it. I'm not sure of that, though.

I've also always interpreted the part where he talks about how they "kissed at the overpass" to be about a literal kiss, not a head-on collision as many have suggested.

In short, though...

"The tour" = life. "The end of the tour" = death. "Home" = the afterlife. "A girl with a crown and a scepter" = the girl who dies. "A knock on the door" = the narrator discovering that the girl is dead. Maybe the police or someone came to his house to inform him that his girlfriend had been killed. It could also be a metaphor for him realizing that she's not coming back. "The vehicle" = again, probably life, or MAYBE a literal vehicle. "The people" = the girl. "[Opening] the door and [expelling] all the people" = the death of the girl, assuming that "the vehicle" is a metaphor for life.

It's a deep, beautiful, amazing song. Definitely my favorite song of all time.

"I was bent metal you were a flaming wreck when we kissed at the overpasss I was sailing along with the people driving themselves to distraction inside me then came a knock on the door which was odd and the picture abruptly changed"

sooooooooooooo good! the end of the tour is the end of this girls life. she gets killed when the narrator (john l.) crashes into her on the highway.

Wow, that might be right. Good call, dude. That explains the churchy references in the bridge.

all i know is that john linnell sang this to me at their latest tours

This is what I think: The girl with the scepter is a news reporter on channel WLSD. She is reporting the tour of two wreck cars. All there is alot of people coming to see it, noting else and it is geing old for her. One of the cars can see itself at the end of the tour. There are way too many places for the tou to go, but if the other car is still there, it will meet up with it. They were always on the tour since the accident on the overpass. Where the other car hit the door on the singing car and caused the people inside to be thrown out of it.

This is what I think: The girl with the scepter is a news reporter on channel WLSD. She is reporting the tour of two wreck cars. All there is alot of people coming to see it, noting else and it is geing old for her. One of the cars can see itself at the end of the tour. There are way too many places for the tou to go, but if the other car is still there, it will meet up with it. They were always on the tour since the accident on the overpass. Where the other car hit the door on the singing car and caused the people inside to be thrown out of it.

hmph, well... since this didn't get posted before for some reason, I recently discovered that WLSD is a religious radio station. This sort of fuels an interperation of the song which suggests that "the tour" is just life, and seeing someone at the end of the tour means meeting them on the other side. I don't think that either of the Johns would write a song about a car accident that they'd caused... it just doesn't seem to fit who they are - it seems like it's more a pretty striking metaphor for death.

To me this is a simple song with very little meaning. Its about a touring band and life on the road. its a hard job which can seem to go on till the end of the world.

Guessing tmbg got sick of it on a tour bus one day and penned it, grand song though but doubt it has any relevance to life/death/religion/love.

some people read too much into the painfully obvious

Incomplete- I think your understanding of the song is mirrored in your name. There's certainly more to this song. This is what I believe it's about:

The girl is a reporter, complaining about the "scene" or current culture or whatever... Then "Never to part since the day we met out on Interstate 91." This is switching the narration to the view of the car. It continues with "kissed at the overpass." This is the accident. "The knock on the door" is the car expressing its surprise at hearing the sound of the accident, then the picture changes, aka the car dies/afterlife whatever.