Sea Lion Lyrics

Lyric discussion by benRu 

Cover art for Sea Lion lyrics by Sage Francis

i don't quite understand these lines tho:

Piano man got checkered dance floor The grace and the painful look on his face Cause the crowd is packed And the louder they clapped The less he is able to make the connection Between what he sees when he hears certain notes And the hurt that is shown in his facial expression

is it that he feels that he's worked hard to achieve these big goals and yet that his popularity has hindered his ability to connect with the people in the crowd. That he has trouble with being lauded publicly for what he does? Perhaps that he feels guilty over his success. I believe, I could be wrong obviously, that a lot of his writing from this period is about not having a feeling of intimacy with other people or specifically not feeling able to give himself fully and the sadness that that brings.