Q.
In the publicity material for this song [If I Wrote You] you said that there is the insinuation that the narrator is clean and sober now. On the album I see that it is dedicated to the memory of Townes Van Zandt.
A.
It goes either way, but it doesn't work completely for being about Townes Van Zandt. In a sense, he could be the narrator deceiving someone, he was a notorious alcoholic, but beloved. One of the things that the narrator is saying is that we have had a destructive relationship and I had to get away, but another thing the narrator is saying is that you are a completely worth it, wonderful human being. I feel like the narrator is saying, "I'm not going to judge you but I had to get away."
Q
I have been wondering about the lines, "The truth was the only way out,/ But not the only way."
A.
That was a line I wrote after I realized that it was an autobiographical song. I didn't think it was, I was just trying to flesh out a certain narrator, and then I realized who it was about. I think that these two people knew that there was only one way to go if they were going to be successful. I watched them get that glint of recognition of which way they should go. I watched that recognition and then I saw a secondary understanding, that given that was the way you should go, you could go a number of other ways and get away with it. It was really helpful to suddenly have a reference point and to be going off a live model instead of an abstract.
an interview with dar
Q. In the publicity material for this song [If I Wrote You] you said that there is the insinuation that the narrator is clean and sober now. On the album I see that it is dedicated to the memory of Townes Van Zandt. A. It goes either way, but it doesn't work completely for being about Townes Van Zandt. In a sense, he could be the narrator deceiving someone, he was a notorious alcoholic, but beloved. One of the things that the narrator is saying is that we have had a destructive relationship and I had to get away, but another thing the narrator is saying is that you are a completely worth it, wonderful human being. I feel like the narrator is saying, "I'm not going to judge you but I had to get away."
Q I have been wondering about the lines, "The truth was the only way out,/ But not the only way." A. That was a line I wrote after I realized that it was an autobiographical song. I didn't think it was, I was just trying to flesh out a certain narrator, and then I realized who it was about. I think that these two people knew that there was only one way to go if they were going to be successful. I watched them get that glint of recognition of which way they should go. I watched that recognition and then I saw a secondary understanding, that given that was the way you should go, you could go a number of other ways and get away with it. It was really helpful to suddenly have a reference point and to be going off a live model instead of an abstract.