This song is definitely about Gideon and how his gang activity got him in trouble, and how he works odd jobs around the country. In response to the earlier poster, I'm not sure that Holly and Gideon were together.
I think Charlemagne and Holly were together at one point, considering the line "do you want me to tell it like boy meets girl and the rest is history? or do you want it like a murder mystery?" (from Charlemagne in Sweatpants).
Then the relationship went bad....
"while he was down in lowertown. she was feeling out the 530 folk mass. and the night that she got born again. he was getting with her little hoodrat friend."
We also know "Holly was a hoodrat". So its safe to assume that Charlemagne hooked up with one of Holly's friends while she was at church.
The breakup is also referred to in Curves and Nerves, as posted above: " he didn't fit the plans she made. these hoodrat chicks are like razor blades. they're pretty cheap but they'll cut you deep."
I disagree that Charlemagne is dead. The shallow grave line is a metaphor. The "say something vague" line refers to him in jail, because he was "another lover lost, to the restaurant raids." In other words, a drug bust.
Plus, on "First Night", we get an update on all the characters. Holly is in the hospital, "Charlemagne pulls street corner scams", and Gideon is still a drug addict, because he has a "pipe made from a Pringle's can".
This song is definitely about Gideon and how his gang activity got him in trouble, and how he works odd jobs around the country. In response to the earlier poster, I'm not sure that Holly and Gideon were together.
I think Charlemagne and Holly were together at one point, considering the line "do you want me to tell it like boy meets girl and the rest is history? or do you want it like a murder mystery?" (from Charlemagne in Sweatpants).
Then the relationship went bad.... "while he was down in lowertown. she was feeling out the 530 folk mass. and the night that she got born again. he was getting with her little hoodrat friend."
We also know "Holly was a hoodrat". So its safe to assume that Charlemagne hooked up with one of Holly's friends while she was at church.
The breakup is also referred to in Curves and Nerves, as posted above: " he didn't fit the plans she made. these hoodrat chicks are like razor blades. they're pretty cheap but they'll cut you deep."
I disagree that Charlemagne is dead. The shallow grave line is a metaphor. The "say something vague" line refers to him in jail, because he was "another lover lost, to the restaurant raids." In other words, a drug bust.
Plus, on "First Night", we get an update on all the characters. Holly is in the hospital, "Charlemagne pulls street corner scams", and Gideon is still a drug addict, because he has a "pipe made from a Pringle's can".