I can totally understand your view mounty, mostly because we live in the same neighborhood in suburbia. For all I know, that could be precisely what Matt intended by this song, but what I do know is that with The National it doesn't matter if you "miss the mark," the lyrics probably mean something different for every listener. From reading interviews of Matt, I know that he commonly takes the approach of grapeshotting image-laden phrases in his lyrics. He made this comment in reference to Fake Empire specifically, but I think it applies to all of his lyrics. This method is particularly well-suited for my idea of individual interpretation because the images that come into your head from the lyrics are (for me at least) all things that you yourself have personally experienced. Whatever it means to you (the listener), Gospel is a beautiful, simple closing song which I think summarizes the entire concept of Boxer: The National can play softly and cut just as deep.
I can totally understand your view mounty, mostly because we live in the same neighborhood in suburbia. For all I know, that could be precisely what Matt intended by this song, but what I do know is that with The National it doesn't matter if you "miss the mark," the lyrics probably mean something different for every listener. From reading interviews of Matt, I know that he commonly takes the approach of grapeshotting image-laden phrases in his lyrics. He made this comment in reference to Fake Empire specifically, but I think it applies to all of his lyrics. This method is particularly well-suited for my idea of individual interpretation because the images that come into your head from the lyrics are (for me at least) all things that you yourself have personally experienced. Whatever it means to you (the listener), Gospel is a beautiful, simple closing song which I think summarizes the entire concept of Boxer: The National can play softly and cut just as deep.