while i agree that a lot of the song is based in memories of working like the narrator, i think the key to this song are in the chorus and their being in the present tense: "what's my line/i'm happy cleaning windows" and "i'm a working man in my prime." to me this song is about what might have happened if he had never become "van morrison"--if he had remained somebody who cleaned windows, who "took his time," who "blew saxophone on the weekends." there are several lines suggesting caution, holding back--"curiosity killed the cat," "take my time." From this perspective the present-day van is more like the music the narrator listens to--in this way, the person who left home to follow their curiosity. At least, I think this accounts for the combination of happiness and wistfulness I hear in it.
while i agree that a lot of the song is based in memories of working like the narrator, i think the key to this song are in the chorus and their being in the present tense: "what's my line/i'm happy cleaning windows" and "i'm a working man in my prime." to me this song is about what might have happened if he had never become "van morrison"--if he had remained somebody who cleaned windows, who "took his time," who "blew saxophone on the weekends." there are several lines suggesting caution, holding back--"curiosity killed the cat," "take my time." From this perspective the present-day van is more like the music the narrator listens to--in this way, the person who left home to follow their curiosity. At least, I think this accounts for the combination of happiness and wistfulness I hear in it.