I'm a little surprised that no one has suggested this yet (and I'd also like to put a vote in for 'wheels of PROmotion', which is what he clearly sings), but this song is certainly not a positive "everything will be all right" message.
The premise, as in most of the songs from this album, (and, really, most every FoW song in general) is of suburban desperation. It's the same idea as Hackensack, Fire Island, Bright Future in Sales, and even Stacy's Mom.
The most important thing to realize is that you have an untrustworthy narrator here. Listen to what he's saying in the chorus: "I tried to change but I changed my mind." When you put that together with "The sun still shines in the summertime / I'll be yours if you'll be mine" you've got a pretty solid presentation of the societal ills associated with the wealthy, suburban upper-middle class in America. (Specifically the New York metropolitan area, if you'd like. Long Island, if you wanna go deeper.)
It's a testament to the new post Gen-Y descriptor as the "Me Generation" - morally ambiguous [unbridled] selfishness in everything we do. Having the physical capability to change, but being so emotionally incapable and lazy that you just give up and use the excuse of "I could've, but I changed my mind." Even "I'll be yours if you'll be mine" is a barter, to pass the responsibility off on another. Everything else here is just a painting of banality. It's the theme for the whole album.
I'm a little surprised that no one has suggested this yet (and I'd also like to put a vote in for 'wheels of PROmotion', which is what he clearly sings), but this song is certainly not a positive "everything will be all right" message.
The premise, as in most of the songs from this album, (and, really, most every FoW song in general) is of suburban desperation. It's the same idea as Hackensack, Fire Island, Bright Future in Sales, and even Stacy's Mom.
The most important thing to realize is that you have an untrustworthy narrator here. Listen to what he's saying in the chorus: "I tried to change but I changed my mind." When you put that together with "The sun still shines in the summertime / I'll be yours if you'll be mine" you've got a pretty solid presentation of the societal ills associated with the wealthy, suburban upper-middle class in America. (Specifically the New York metropolitan area, if you'd like. Long Island, if you wanna go deeper.)
It's a testament to the new post Gen-Y descriptor as the "Me Generation" - morally ambiguous [unbridled] selfishness in everything we do. Having the physical capability to change, but being so emotionally incapable and lazy that you just give up and use the excuse of "I could've, but I changed my mind." Even "I'll be yours if you'll be mine" is a barter, to pass the responsibility off on another. Everything else here is just a painting of banality. It's the theme for the whole album.