If I had to guess, he thinks he's not in a sufficiently objective or analytical mindset to make so serious a decision. This is what might give that away:
"How dare I feel this and do naught but sit on my hands.
I say, 'Fever.'"
If those two lines actually are sequential in the story, his explanation for his own inaction is fever, presumably as in a feverish emotion that needs to be tempered by a long wait:
"Hold my heart like a hot potato,
push the clock for an hour later."
He's not going to make a decision until his heart calms down and, one thinks, lets his rational brain take over. But of course this is a disastrous strategy, especially when the cool-down period is FIVE YEARS. As for the ploughman/piper thing, well...damned if I know. The best I can come up with is that he wants to locate the ploughman in himself - the grinder, the hard worker, the blue-collar thinker - and expel the piper - the flighty, energetic, irresponsible thinker. It's a bit of a stretch, granted, but it's all I got.
You've hit the nail on the head, by the way, about oppressive social circumstances. This guy is obviously fenced in on all sides by self-appointed experts who in reality don't know jack. It would've been one thing, I think, if the object of his desire hadn't put herself in the same camp, but it's just not realistic to think you can singlehandedly reshape somebody else's thought process when that person has the weight of common knowledge behind them. Add that to this person's seeming inexperience (naivete, one might even say) and he basically never had a shot.
I believe that both of you are correct. He waits five years because he feels slighted from the girl he is in love with. I think that this song is an interpretation of the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations. If you read the book you can find many parallels not only in the lyrics but also in the video. If you really want a deep take on this song I highly recommend you read the book.
I believe that both of you are correct. He waits five years because he feels slighted from the girl he is in love with. I think that this song is an interpretation of the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations. If you read the book you can find many parallels not only in the lyrics but also in the video. If you really want a deep take on this song I highly recommend you read the book.
"So what's the reason for this ridiculous delay?"
If I had to guess, he thinks he's not in a sufficiently objective or analytical mindset to make so serious a decision. This is what might give that away:
"How dare I feel this and do naught but sit on my hands.
I say, 'Fever.'"
If those two lines actually are sequential in the story, his explanation for his own inaction is fever, presumably as in a feverish emotion that needs to be tempered by a long wait:
"Hold my heart like a hot potato, push the clock for an hour later."
He's not going to make a decision until his heart calms down and, one thinks, lets his rational brain take over. But of course this is a disastrous strategy, especially when the cool-down period is FIVE YEARS. As for the ploughman/piper thing, well...damned if I know. The best I can come up with is that he wants to locate the ploughman in himself - the grinder, the hard worker, the blue-collar thinker - and expel the piper - the flighty, energetic, irresponsible thinker. It's a bit of a stretch, granted, but it's all I got.
You've hit the nail on the head, by the way, about oppressive social circumstances. This guy is obviously fenced in on all sides by self-appointed experts who in reality don't know jack. It would've been one thing, I think, if the object of his desire hadn't put herself in the same camp, but it's just not realistic to think you can singlehandedly reshape somebody else's thought process when that person has the weight of common knowledge behind them. Add that to this person's seeming inexperience (naivete, one might even say) and he basically never had a shot.
I believe that both of you are correct. He waits five years because he feels slighted from the girl he is in love with. I think that this song is an interpretation of the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations. If you read the book you can find many parallels not only in the lyrics but also in the video. If you really want a deep take on this song I highly recommend you read the book.
I believe that both of you are correct. He waits five years because he feels slighted from the girl he is in love with. I think that this song is an interpretation of the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations. If you read the book you can find many parallels not only in the lyrics but also in the video. If you really want a deep take on this song I highly recommend you read the book.