Ive always got the impression that the two people in the song used to travel together (as many young friends do). They were both living in west Texas, and decided to pack up and see the world "to check the
austin post office box, and i take the detour, through our old neighborhood".
Anyway, they travel around for a long time, and backpack around the globe (including Thailand of course). The main character after a while decides its time to "grow up" and leaves the other person, moving back to west Texas", the other person wants to keep travelling. They leave on good terms though, and agree to keep in touch "well i'll tell you what i know, like i swore i always would"
The traveller tries to keep in touch, sending postcards from various places they visit, sending them to the PO Box.
On the trip home, the main character realises how much misses the one who keeps travelling, and longs to return to them again (his "heart breaks"). He trys to figure out where he could possible rejoin his friend by looking at the postcards that they sent, to see if he can predict where they will be next "i check the the picture, and the postmarks, and the captions and the stamps, for signs of any patern at all". Soon, he realises that it is impossible "when i come up empty handed, the feeling almost overwhelms me" and becomes incredibly bitter as he realises that all that he has left are his memories "and i smile a bitter smile, not a pretty thing to see, think about a raileroad platform, back in nineteen eighty three"
This is perhaps my favourite MG song (for this week at least). I heard a live boot of this. Only John could do a live version recorded on a palmcorder that has better production values than he album version.
If you dont know what a mobius strip is, look it up, it adds a lot of depth to the song.
@dagwood Best explanation I can come up with as well. A guy living somewhere west of Austin who at some point traveled with his best friend/lover in Bangkok. She is still traveling, he is back in TX, and all he has is a memory of a railroad platform in 1983. My only question is whether the characters correspond to any of the others on AHWT or if this is a separate couple. I don't see anything that obviously links them to the others.
@dagwood Best explanation I can come up with as well. A guy living somewhere west of Austin who at some point traveled with his best friend/lover in Bangkok. She is still traveling, he is back in TX, and all he has is a memory of a railroad platform in 1983. My only question is whether the characters correspond to any of the others on AHWT or if this is a separate couple. I don't see anything that obviously links them to the others.
Ive always got the impression that the two people in the song used to travel together (as many young friends do). They were both living in west Texas, and decided to pack up and see the world "to check the austin post office box, and i take the detour, through our old neighborhood".
Anyway, they travel around for a long time, and backpack around the globe (including Thailand of course). The main character after a while decides its time to "grow up" and leaves the other person, moving back to west Texas", the other person wants to keep travelling. They leave on good terms though, and agree to keep in touch "well i'll tell you what i know, like i swore i always would"
The traveller tries to keep in touch, sending postcards from various places they visit, sending them to the PO Box.
On the trip home, the main character realises how much misses the one who keeps travelling, and longs to return to them again (his "heart breaks"). He trys to figure out where he could possible rejoin his friend by looking at the postcards that they sent, to see if he can predict where they will be next "i check the the picture, and the postmarks, and the captions and the stamps, for signs of any patern at all". Soon, he realises that it is impossible "when i come up empty handed, the feeling almost overwhelms me" and becomes incredibly bitter as he realises that all that he has left are his memories "and i smile a bitter smile, not a pretty thing to see, think about a raileroad platform, back in nineteen eighty three"
This is perhaps my favourite MG song (for this week at least). I heard a live boot of this. Only John could do a live version recorded on a palmcorder that has better production values than he album version.
If you dont know what a mobius strip is, look it up, it adds a lot of depth to the song.
@dagwood Best explanation I can come up with as well. A guy living somewhere west of Austin who at some point traveled with his best friend/lover in Bangkok. She is still traveling, he is back in TX, and all he has is a memory of a railroad platform in 1983. My only question is whether the characters correspond to any of the others on AHWT or if this is a separate couple. I don't see anything that obviously links them to the others.
@dagwood Best explanation I can come up with as well. A guy living somewhere west of Austin who at some point traveled with his best friend/lover in Bangkok. She is still traveling, he is back in TX, and all he has is a memory of a railroad platform in 1983. My only question is whether the characters correspond to any of the others on AHWT or if this is a separate couple. I don't see anything that obviously links them to the others.