The lyric author's interpretation is just one aspect of the song's meaning... for every person who heard the song but never read or was told that "it's about his son", each one of them has their own thoughts on the song's meaning. Generally there's one or two or three main groups of interpretations, depending on how obvious the song is, but I don't see this song as very obvious at all, so I'd question the idea of diffidently and imperiously proclaiming its meaning to be described completely by the four words "written for his son". I think it could most certainly be for a brother (in fact, that interpretation makes more sense to me than the son interpretation).
My own first thoughts on hearing this song (my first time hearing it was a few years ago) is this:
It seems to me a song about frustration, hope, striving, uncertainty, the perspective of age versus youth. A man feeling pent-up, driven to extremes, overwhelmed by life, keenly aware of the constant trickling passage of time, emotionally wrought at every turn, reaching for simplicity and a certain purity in life in hopes of finding a way through the chaos...
Of course, that's just me. Everyone (including Mr. Votolato himself) will have their own interpretation.
The lyric author's interpretation is just one aspect of the song's meaning... for every person who heard the song but never read or was told that "it's about his son", each one of them has their own thoughts on the song's meaning. Generally there's one or two or three main groups of interpretations, depending on how obvious the song is, but I don't see this song as very obvious at all, so I'd question the idea of diffidently and imperiously proclaiming its meaning to be described completely by the four words "written for his son". I think it could most certainly be for a brother (in fact, that interpretation makes more sense to me than the son interpretation).
My own first thoughts on hearing this song (my first time hearing it was a few years ago) is this:
It seems to me a song about frustration, hope, striving, uncertainty, the perspective of age versus youth. A man feeling pent-up, driven to extremes, overwhelmed by life, keenly aware of the constant trickling passage of time, emotionally wrought at every turn, reaching for simplicity and a certain purity in life in hopes of finding a way through the chaos...
Of course, that's just me. Everyone (including Mr. Votolato himself) will have their own interpretation.