wow, so for school I wrote a paper on this song, and I pretty much tore it apart and I think i may have figured out its meaning. I won't go too far into it, because i would have to basically just rewrite my essay online, but basically:
the scaffolding is a metaphor for a purgatory: the stage between heaven and hell, where people have to earn their way into heaven, and he is trying to earn his way to immortality on earth--or "earning his way into heaven"--as seen in the last verse as he says that his masterpiece is a crystal clear canvas...if that made any sense
Also--"my hands clench the squeegee, my secular rosary"--from this phrase I figured that since a rosary is a string of beads in which every bead repents for a sin, and secular means not relating to the church--this phrase means that every window he washes (squeegees) is like another prayer he is repenting, and he wishes to make himself a better person, but it isnt getting him anywhere because he is just cleaning windows.
He also mentions his notion of heaven "green pastures...his family, grandpa etc"
So after explaining that and some other stuff that im too lazy to post, i came to the conclusion that this man is a metaphor for the everyday person who just wants answers, to be immortalized and to have a better home life (ex. how he says he wants to be with his family in heaven)
wow, so for school I wrote a paper on this song, and I pretty much tore it apart and I think i may have figured out its meaning. I won't go too far into it, because i would have to basically just rewrite my essay online, but basically:
the scaffolding is a metaphor for a purgatory: the stage between heaven and hell, where people have to earn their way into heaven, and he is trying to earn his way to immortality on earth--or "earning his way into heaven"--as seen in the last verse as he says that his masterpiece is a crystal clear canvas...if that made any sense
Also--"my hands clench the squeegee, my secular rosary"--from this phrase I figured that since a rosary is a string of beads in which every bead repents for a sin, and secular means not relating to the church--this phrase means that every window he washes (squeegees) is like another prayer he is repenting, and he wishes to make himself a better person, but it isnt getting him anywhere because he is just cleaning windows.
He also mentions his notion of heaven "green pastures...his family, grandpa etc"
So after explaining that and some other stuff that im too lazy to post, i came to the conclusion that this man is a metaphor for the everyday person who just wants answers, to be immortalized and to have a better home life (ex. how he says he wants to be with his family in heaven)
i actually enjoyed writing this paper...weird