I'm the Man Who Loves You

THe first five lines:

All I can see Is black and white And white and pink With blades of blue

are about a piece of paper. a piece of paper has a ink margin and blue lines going across.

would you believe that I actually created a username with songmeanings tonight purely on account of this song? great eerily-light-but-full-of-depth song that is quintessential Wilco.

the way I read this stanza probably comes from my own experience, "All I can be is a busy sea/Of spinning wheels and hands that feel for/Stones to throw and feet that run, but/Come back home".

I picture a guy who has broken up his truest of loves, clearly isn't over her yet, and is reminiscing while secretly hoping things between them will work out if only he has one last chance to show her how much he still cares for her. the head-over-heels singer tries to keep busy when she's absent in his life, and still shows classic hopeless romantic traits (the hands that feel, instinctively almost, for the stones to throw once more at her window). I'd do this with twigs to the ex who introduced me to Wilco, ironically, nearly two years ago. He travels around, hoping perhaps to find an escape from fantasizing about a future with her, only to return to the same places they spent time together, knowing in his heart all the ways he could be right for her again, knowing what he knows now.

His love is ever-welcoming, as a home in the last word of that selected stanza, and he obviously wants her to return to it, and him.

This is the kind of song I'd want to sing to a girl I'm in love with. These lines:

"If I could, you know I would just hold your hand And you'd understand,"

I mean, how much more can you put into words? Sometimes the most telling things go without words. Just holding a girl's hand and looking her in the eye with one of those looks you can't really sum up in words can express much more than anything else ever could.

I wanna hold a hand and express this, haha. Oh well. Goes along with most of my gender-confused theme songs. I want to ride a bicycle to this song.

To me, this song is about a couple that's had a nasty fight. One of them left. And now the narrator is trying to write a letter of apology, reconciliation and sweet, sweet love, but it's pretty much amazingly hard for him to get what he feels down in writing.

So he just wishes he could hold her hand and, yes, you've got it, make her understand, that he's the man who loves her, thus making it all nice. On ice. Allright.

At least, that's how I hear it.

You can write or say anything you want to someone but how you make them feel is what they will remember

This song brightens my day whenever I hear it. It's like when you see a couple doing something really nice for each other, just fixing each-other's hair, zipping up a jacket, opening a door- something little and seemingly automatic- and they don't know anyone's watching. It gives me that same feeling, like you're witnessing their love, and even though it's not yours, it still makes you giddy.

With the "throwing stones/run away" bit I think that maybe they didn't get in a fight or anything, he's just so in love with her he's not sure what to do. He almost wants to run away, or mess it up by "throwing stones". I'm not sure what biblical reference you guys (you know who you are) are talking about.

Oh, and telecaster, you're pretty much a genious. I completely missed the lines/colors equaling paper.

Probably my favorite Wilco song!

I've always understood that this is a song about a shy guy that's struggling to tell his feelings to a girl he likes, so he's decided to write her a letter but he's not sure what to write or if he's going to be able to capture his feelings in writing.

So he's meandering about, trying to come up with something to write but coming up short, and trying to express his feelings personally but falling flat (a busy sea of spinning wheels, looking for stones to throw, feet that run but get nowhere) and it all makes no difference because the girl is totally oblivious to his feelings, probably because the guy is too shy to tell her directly.

And given this inability to articulate his feelings, he wishes that if he could somehow summon the courage to hold her hand she'd automatically understand how he feels and they'd be happily ever after.

This song reminds me of a more traditional love song from the '60s, maybe, but it still has that not-quite-making-sense aspect that makes it wholly a Wilco song. My favorite.

i love this song, it's great. the words are so meaningful. you should know that even if i can't express it well, if i could i would.

This song portrays my feelings towards a man. It's hard for me to get the words out sometimes, and "if I could, you know I would, just hold your hand, and you'd understand, I'm the man that loves you." it sums up having a hard time explaining things. so "beanicka" I definitely understand.