I'm with you on the superb track, but not the unrequited.
He's clearly in love, but he's old and cynical and damaged and scared.
She knows all this but loves him anyway.
"I sat you down and told you how
the truest love that's ever found
Is for oneself
You pulled apart my theory
With a weary and disinterested sigh"
The last line "Darling is this love?" is about how when you're older love isn't that all powerful gut-wrenching thing from your teens, the stuff of a million love songs. So in a way it's about Elbow writing a love song for a jaded older generation (you know, older then 30).
I've often asked when someone like Ben Folds will admit he's balding and can't really pull of songs about high-school any more, this is Elbow answering addressing that dilemma.
I'm with you on the superb track, but not the unrequited.
He's clearly in love, but he's old and cynical and damaged and scared. She knows all this but loves him anyway.
"I sat you down and told you how the truest love that's ever found Is for oneself You pulled apart my theory With a weary and disinterested sigh"
The last line "Darling is this love?" is about how when you're older love isn't that all powerful gut-wrenching thing from your teens, the stuff of a million love songs. So in a way it's about Elbow writing a love song for a jaded older generation (you know, older then 30).
I've often asked when someone like Ben Folds will admit he's balding and can't really pull of songs about high-school any more, this is Elbow answering addressing that dilemma.