Eagle on a Pole

This song, without a doubt is about a drug relapse. This is not to say that it is Conor specifically, but it could be.

Heres why:

1.)I followed the fence line thin Back where the yard begins My woman, she stood crying like a man Said, "where have you been Where have you been?" I thought you said that all of that was done

• he is walking back from a place where he has been using, literally describing the fence which lines the yard. "I thought you said that all of that was done" Could it be anymore obvious?

2.)El Cielo es azul - "the sky is blue"

• This is an obvious statement of fact. Oberst is saying that the relapse is as obvious as the sky is blue, but just don't go telling everyone. And it helps that the phrase sounds pretty in spanish (the album was recorded in Mexico).

3.)Thought the kettle was a train Thought that Monday was a door frame I tried so hard to finally settle down Heard the fire pop and snap Like a tack piano rag I never could get used to happy sounds

• The lines about the train and door frame are clearly hallucinations. Further, he says "I never could get used to happy sounds". I believe this is a refrence to the last bright eyes album cassadega which Conor was 100% clean on. Much of the music on Cassadega is lighter, and much more hopeful (aka "happier sounds").

4.)But I hope the world's exposed A cruel and elaborate hoax That convinces me to walk without a cane

• This is the line that really shows what the song is about. "convinces me to walk without a cane" The cane are drugs, he needs the drugs to cope with a world that is an elaborate hoax, and if the world is revealed as being such he will no longer need his cane (drugs).

One of the best songs on the album.