I watched "Death of A Salesman" yesterday, and I think Brett got some inspiration from this movie. The movie is about a salesman (Willy) who gets fired "after 34 years of toil".
He desperately tries to hang on to his job, working for commission. The reason he does this, is because he is obsessed with this idea of being rich and liked by everyone, just like his brother and father was. He wants to live up to them and their impression of successful.
He also has a mortgage and bills to pay. I will come back to this later.
He tells himself and his family all these little lies everyday, like how everybody knows his name/likes him and how rich and successful he and his sons is/will be. Even though he knows deep inside that he's not liked or successful, and maybe that he wasn't meant to be a salesman. He's afraid to face reality, so he clings onto this idea/false hope and job of being a salesman. Everything else is out of the question.
His wife and one of his sons plays along with this "dream" of his, because they're too afraid to tell him the actual truth. Afraid of his reactions, because he's been contemplating suicide, so that his family will get the insurance money. So they keep on telling him that everything's gonna be alright and that he's one hell of a salesman. In one scene, Willy says: "It's so strange, your worth more to your family dead, than alive", or something like that.
I'm finally getting to the point...In one scene Willy is visiting his only friend at his office. He's there to borrow money. Even though his friend has offered him a job, Willy's to proud to "work under him", so he declines. In the same scene, the son to Willy's friend says to Willy: "Sometimes, it's better to just walk away". Willy replies: "Walk away? But what if you can't walk away?".
Willy knows that he has "something old to pay", that being mortgage and bills. And on top of that, this absurd obsession of being a successful businessman and the pressure he's put upon himself of living up to his father and brother. Which makes it too hard for him to walk away.
In the movie Willy shows his skills as a handyman. Building a stair outside of the house. His family says that he put more of his soul into that stair, than anything else in his life. Implying that Willy wasn't really meant to be a business man. That wasn't he's real dream. But "after 34/40 years of toil", it's too late to turn back and start living/chasing your real dream...
That's what I think this song is about. Sometimes people get stuck in jobs they don't really like or something else that is far from their dreams. But because of factors from outside (mortgage, kids, wife etc.), they have to keep going back to this job/situation.
And when Brett writes that "he'll sure take some time to burn all the bridges that I'm leaving behind",
I believe that he's implying that people who find themselves in those jobs/situations, are a bit too afraid to burn all the bridges because they might have to come back again.
Sorry for the long post. I think everybody who likes this song, should see this movie. You'll definitely see the parallels.
I watched "Death of A Salesman" yesterday, and I think Brett got some inspiration from this movie. The movie is about a salesman (Willy) who gets fired "after 34 years of toil".
He desperately tries to hang on to his job, working for commission. The reason he does this, is because he is obsessed with this idea of being rich and liked by everyone, just like his brother and father was. He wants to live up to them and their impression of successful. He also has a mortgage and bills to pay. I will come back to this later.
He tells himself and his family all these little lies everyday, like how everybody knows his name/likes him and how rich and successful he and his sons is/will be. Even though he knows deep inside that he's not liked or successful, and maybe that he wasn't meant to be a salesman. He's afraid to face reality, so he clings onto this idea/false hope and job of being a salesman. Everything else is out of the question.
His wife and one of his sons plays along with this "dream" of his, because they're too afraid to tell him the actual truth. Afraid of his reactions, because he's been contemplating suicide, so that his family will get the insurance money. So they keep on telling him that everything's gonna be alright and that he's one hell of a salesman. In one scene, Willy says: "It's so strange, your worth more to your family dead, than alive", or something like that.
I'm finally getting to the point...In one scene Willy is visiting his only friend at his office. He's there to borrow money. Even though his friend has offered him a job, Willy's to proud to "work under him", so he declines. In the same scene, the son to Willy's friend says to Willy: "Sometimes, it's better to just walk away". Willy replies: "Walk away? But what if you can't walk away?".
Willy knows that he has "something old to pay", that being mortgage and bills. And on top of that, this absurd obsession of being a successful businessman and the pressure he's put upon himself of living up to his father and brother. Which makes it too hard for him to walk away.
In the movie Willy shows his skills as a handyman. Building a stair outside of the house. His family says that he put more of his soul into that stair, than anything else in his life. Implying that Willy wasn't really meant to be a business man. That wasn't he's real dream. But "after 34/40 years of toil", it's too late to turn back and start living/chasing your real dream...
That's what I think this song is about. Sometimes people get stuck in jobs they don't really like or something else that is far from their dreams. But because of factors from outside (mortgage, kids, wife etc.), they have to keep going back to this job/situation.
And when Brett writes that "he'll sure take some time to burn all the bridges that I'm leaving behind", I believe that he's implying that people who find themselves in those jobs/situations, are a bit too afraid to burn all the bridges because they might have to come back again.
Sorry for the long post. I think everybody who likes this song, should see this movie. You'll definitely see the parallels.