His goal is to be an echo. To me this is the key. He has found his perfect love, but she isn't really, his pure idea of romance is sullied by the gritty and painful reality of failed relationships. So as he travels through the towns, and chrome canyons to finally sleep on a mountain he realizes he is forever changed. The perfect pure love he had for this woman is lost forever. That is unless she remembers. The only way that part of him will continue is in her memory. So his goal to be an echo is to have that pure and innocent person he was when he loved her live on. This may be my favorite Wilco.
His goal is to be an echo. To me this is the key. He has found his perfect love, but she isn't really, his pure idea of romance is sullied by the gritty and painful reality of failed relationships. So as he travels through the towns, and chrome canyons to finally sleep on a mountain he realizes he is forever changed. The perfect pure love he had for this woman is lost forever. That is unless she remembers. The only way that part of him will continue is in her memory. So his goal to be an echo is to have that pure and innocent person he was when he loved her live on. This may be my favorite Wilco.