Another Travelin' Song

I think the line about the "prostituted child touching an old man" is a veiled put-down of teenage girls usually dating older men and trying to be something they're not. I suspect Conor was standing in a line to order and saw this and it stuck with him. I could be wrong however.

I always felt the lines "I dreamed a ship was sinking [. . .] it was a pop song and it was playing loud" is meant to separate Bright Eyes' music from what normally gets heard on the radio (or the media or whatever). Basically, he won't sing what people expect just to be on the top 40/Clear Channel/mass market radio stations.