This song is my favorite on the album and is brilliant on many levels - melodically, chord-progression, vocal delivery, and most of all, lyrically.
Self deprecation, self loathing, esteem issues, "addiction" issues, depression -- big issues melded together with great metaphors of empty glasses, broken things and baked hearts.
Knowing Dando's drug and addiction history -- it would not surprise me if the song's antagonist is Dando himself. "Tired of getting high" is key, and shows all of the associated feelings behind it, including the
terrible cycle of addiction and depression. The past hope sounds odd at first, but turns out to be ironic, funny and sad. Hoping in the past = hoping not for a future, but for perhaps brighter and better
things that occurred in the past.
The final coda / outro sums up the deal - a rudderless ship is a ship without direction (i.e. - an addict / depressed individual without a direction of life -- just floating through life and not taking direct
action). "A ship without a rudder" repeated is just that... a ship without a rudder... no other metaphor or comparison can be put forth. It is what it is. There is no better way to describe it. And perhaps no other way
for the protagonist to move on. Resignment with a tiny hint of sympathy.
This song is my favorite on the album and is brilliant on many levels - melodically, chord-progression, vocal delivery, and most of all, lyrically.
Self deprecation, self loathing, esteem issues, "addiction" issues, depression -- big issues melded together with great metaphors of empty glasses, broken things and baked hearts.
Knowing Dando's drug and addiction history -- it would not surprise me if the song's antagonist is Dando himself. "Tired of getting high" is key, and shows all of the associated feelings behind it, including the
terrible cycle of addiction and depression. The past hope sounds odd at first, but turns out to be ironic, funny and sad. Hoping in the past = hoping not for a future, but for perhaps brighter and better
things that occurred in the past.
The final coda / outro sums up the deal - a rudderless ship is a ship without direction (i.e. - an addict / depressed individual without a direction of life -- just floating through life and not taking direct
action). "A ship without a rudder" repeated is just that... a ship without a rudder... no other metaphor or comparison can be put forth. It is what it is. There is no better way to describe it. And perhaps no other way
for the protagonist to move on. Resignment with a tiny hint of sympathy.
Near perfect.