This is one of my favorite songs of Elliott's. I don't know why people think this about a relationship, I just can't see that. It actually is about Elliott's childhood pet, his dog, Luke. Luke ran away when he was thirteen, and a rudimentary version of this song was the first song he ever wrote. If you listen to it carefully you can easily hear why. He makes allusions to dogs/dog owning with such lines as "got a choke chain made out of night train..." (that line in particularly is very clever). Also he recalls searching for the dog with lines like "Walked through thick mud... thinking I heard your name" He threw in the line "looking for new blood" to throw off listeners, because the subject of Luke was just too painful for him.
This is one of my favorite songs of Elliott's. I don't know why people think this about a relationship, I just can't see that. It actually is about Elliott's childhood pet, his dog, Luke. Luke ran away when he was thirteen, and a rudimentary version of this song was the first song he ever wrote. If you listen to it carefully you can easily hear why. He makes allusions to dogs/dog owning with such lines as "got a choke chain made out of night train..." (that line in particularly is very clever). Also he recalls searching for the dog with lines like "Walked through thick mud... thinking I heard your name" He threw in the line "looking for new blood" to throw off listeners, because the subject of Luke was just too painful for him.