To me, this song is about someone either working there or just around the time the place was big.. and is clearly an alcoholic of some sort. The song seems like typical Aimee Mann with wry and clever lyrics- her and Sean Hayes are listing out reasons for him being an alcohol or wallowing his pain in drinking. She's playfully saying 'it must be hard', as if humouring him, making it seem like his excuses for drinking are worth it. He's like most Aimee character- downtrodden and lost. He's 'ringing the bells of doors that don't swing wide anymore', 'watching the fellows gloat'. He's depressed 'seeing the same old crowd pass you by in the street'.
"You cut off everyone you know
Boy you told `em all where to go
Now it must be hard getting the same revoke
Ballantines"
The bridge there is showing him cutting himself off from everyone, being alone due to his own failures.
The last two verses are a continuation and directly addresses his drowning his sorrows in beer- 'sprung for every drink you downed'. I think the (?) part is 'if what you got just might be coming around..'
I also think it's 'Them fat cats" instead of 'fat cows"- here she's sympathizing with him sort of, and showing the characters reserve for the people who he is isolated from.
To me, this song is amazing and one of the best I've heard from her. It reminds me of 'Way Back When' and is a wonderful song that's upbeat and lovely tone is constrated greatly by the subject matter- typical Aimee Mann characters, sad and alone and full of regret and disillusionment. The tone and duet makes it a type of knowledgable song- the narrator is as aware of the problems of the character as the character himself is, sympathizing but also presenting him with the obvious problems in his life and it works as a sort of anthem for anyone who is not only an alcoholic, but lost, alone. etc.
'Ballantines' is the name of a beer brewery in America, famous for their Ballantine Ale.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballantine_%28brewery%29
To me, this song is about someone either working there or just around the time the place was big.. and is clearly an alcoholic of some sort. The song seems like typical Aimee Mann with wry and clever lyrics- her and Sean Hayes are listing out reasons for him being an alcohol or wallowing his pain in drinking. She's playfully saying 'it must be hard', as if humouring him, making it seem like his excuses for drinking are worth it. He's like most Aimee character- downtrodden and lost. He's 'ringing the bells of doors that don't swing wide anymore', 'watching the fellows gloat'. He's depressed 'seeing the same old crowd pass you by in the street'.
"You cut off everyone you know Boy you told `em all where to go Now it must be hard getting the same revoke Ballantines"
The bridge there is showing him cutting himself off from everyone, being alone due to his own failures.
The last two verses are a continuation and directly addresses his drowning his sorrows in beer- 'sprung for every drink you downed'. I think the (?) part is 'if what you got just might be coming around..'
I also think it's 'Them fat cats" instead of 'fat cows"- here she's sympathizing with him sort of, and showing the characters reserve for the people who he is isolated from.
To me, this song is amazing and one of the best I've heard from her. It reminds me of 'Way Back When' and is a wonderful song that's upbeat and lovely tone is constrated greatly by the subject matter- typical Aimee Mann characters, sad and alone and full of regret and disillusionment. The tone and duet makes it a type of knowledgable song- the narrator is as aware of the problems of the character as the character himself is, sympathizing but also presenting him with the obvious problems in his life and it works as a sort of anthem for anyone who is not only an alcoholic, but lost, alone. etc.