To answer maxben's question, Tommy is the protagonist of the Who's rock opera of the same name. The album has a song entitled, "I'm Free" in which the lyrics in one instance go: "I'm free, and I'm waiting for you to follow me."
Now, relate both the suicide and the lyric to the song; what Graffin has done here is used both the suicide of his friend, and an inverted song lyric from the aforementioned song to create a simile about loss, or even going one's own way.
I think it refers to both.
To answer maxben's question, Tommy is the protagonist of the Who's rock opera of the same name. The album has a song entitled, "I'm Free" in which the lyrics in one instance go: "I'm free, and I'm waiting for you to follow me."
Now, relate both the suicide and the lyric to the song; what Graffin has done here is used both the suicide of his friend, and an inverted song lyric from the aforementioned song to create a simile about loss, or even going one's own way.