For some reason, I always thought of this song as about an author. benodictine has good ideas that I've never considered, that could very well be it. Here's what I thought:
"Like a cloud his fingers explode" -- This line was unclear to me... "like a cloud??" I thought the "fingers explode" meant that he was typing fast, was eager to write somethin down.
"His hearts in a bowl behind the bank" I assumed this meant he was so far in debt and so poor that the bank, owed lots of money, had also taken his spirits and happiness from him, just as they can take possessions and property.
"Make his supper and eat it alone" Hints maybe that his loneliness weighs on him even more than his financial problems.
"His black shirt cries while his shoes get cold" I pictured his sweat being the "tears" the shirt.. perhaps not affording air conditioning? His shoes are cold because he's not wearing them, but I can't think what that'd mean.
"One summer, a suicide" In the summer of a particular year in the past, he wrote a fictional novel that excited him, capturing his love of storytelling and focusing on a suicide.
"Another autumn, a traveler's guide" Some time after the suicide novel, he is so bound by finances that he needs to stop his freelance writing and pick up a job at... say... Frommer's and write traveler's guides to recieve more steady income.
" He feels lucky to have you here
In his kitchen, in your chair
Sometimes he forgets that you're even there" The writer finds someone, perhaps a girlfriend, who he can really love and peace from financial problems and a cure to loneliness spawn from her presence. Just having her around is enough. "sometimes he forgets that you're even there" He gets so absorbed in his other love, writing, that he loses track of other things.
I guess i can't explain the "dream he keeps having".. the other explanation is starting to sound pretty convincing. Oh welll, make of it what you will.
For some reason, I always thought of this song as about an author. benodictine has good ideas that I've never considered, that could very well be it. Here's what I thought: "Like a cloud his fingers explode" -- This line was unclear to me... "like a cloud??" I thought the "fingers explode" meant that he was typing fast, was eager to write somethin down.
"His hearts in a bowl behind the bank" I assumed this meant he was so far in debt and so poor that the bank, owed lots of money, had also taken his spirits and happiness from him, just as they can take possessions and property.
"Make his supper and eat it alone" Hints maybe that his loneliness weighs on him even more than his financial problems.
"His black shirt cries while his shoes get cold" I pictured his sweat being the "tears" the shirt.. perhaps not affording air conditioning? His shoes are cold because he's not wearing them, but I can't think what that'd mean.
"One summer, a suicide" In the summer of a particular year in the past, he wrote a fictional novel that excited him, capturing his love of storytelling and focusing on a suicide. "Another autumn, a traveler's guide" Some time after the suicide novel, he is so bound by finances that he needs to stop his freelance writing and pick up a job at... say... Frommer's and write traveler's guides to recieve more steady income.
" He feels lucky to have you here In his kitchen, in your chair Sometimes he forgets that you're even there" The writer finds someone, perhaps a girlfriend, who he can really love and peace from financial problems and a cure to loneliness spawn from her presence. Just having her around is enough. "sometimes he forgets that you're even there" He gets so absorbed in his other love, writing, that he loses track of other things.
I guess i can't explain the "dream he keeps having".. the other explanation is starting to sound pretty convincing. Oh welll, make of it what you will.