this song drastically shifts its focus at the line "that's not how he planned it." The first half is about how much fun partying can be. He talks about "kids with broken hearts, kids with broken bones," but somehow manages to put a positive image on seemingly awful things and caps it off with "she had a confidence smile and a nervous cough. and we got off," hinting at how all these crazy activities bring out the best in people. A lot of The Hold Steady songs focus on the ups and downs of such a wild life, and the second half focuses on that. The last 7 or 8 lines are pretty obvious and just show that there are highs and then there are lows to going out and getting trashed every night.
this song drastically shifts its focus at the line "that's not how he planned it." The first half is about how much fun partying can be. He talks about "kids with broken hearts, kids with broken bones," but somehow manages to put a positive image on seemingly awful things and caps it off with "she had a confidence smile and a nervous cough. and we got off," hinting at how all these crazy activities bring out the best in people. A lot of The Hold Steady songs focus on the ups and downs of such a wild life, and the second half focuses on that. The last 7 or 8 lines are pretty obvious and just show that there are highs and then there are lows to going out and getting trashed every night.