I think it's about an artist out touring, performing shows, out on "miracle's highway." And in the first verse, he's brought his long-time love along with him, perhaps as a way of re-connecting or maintaining their bond while his career has him out traveling - but it doesn't "open up her soul" the way he thought it would. They just end up feeling quiet and lonely.
In the second verse, when he's "off the clock" and back home again, she's waiting for him, upset. "With her back up against the wall" she doesn't have a choice anymore but to acknowledge that this thoughtless man she's with - this "straw man" - is just a dream she's been holding on to. She's finally acknowledging that the man she hoped he would be just doesn't exist.
In the third verse, the artist is "let loose," his lover finally having had enough. His "quest for fame" and his devotion to his performing "reduced his dreams" meaning that when he lost his lover, he lost an important part of all the important things that he wanted in his life. For solace, he turns to his work once again, seemingly "feeling no pain" which upsets the lover, feeding her belief that she's unimportant to him. "Blue turns to black. Time takes back the slack she had when just seventeen." Her sadness eventually fades to nothingness. She realizes that she doesn't have a wide open future, as much time, as she did when they first fell in love all those years ago.
In the last verse, he's on his way home, realizing what he's lost. "Living life alone" isn't what he wants for himself or for her. He's come back to mend what's been broken between them, but he's not sure how "much she'll bend" to seeing things his way. He realizes it won't be easy for her.
I think the chorus, and the way it is sung throughout the song, shows that no matter what was going on between them, he always loved her. Even while he was out performing on "miracle's highway," she was still on his mind. He calls himself a "straw man" because he feels foolish for putting his career above her love. She makes his world sweeter - the "lavender and wintergreen." She makes his world better and he knows they belong side by side.
I think it's about an artist out touring, performing shows, out on "miracle's highway." And in the first verse, he's brought his long-time love along with him, perhaps as a way of re-connecting or maintaining their bond while his career has him out traveling - but it doesn't "open up her soul" the way he thought it would. They just end up feeling quiet and lonely.
In the second verse, when he's "off the clock" and back home again, she's waiting for him, upset. "With her back up against the wall" she doesn't have a choice anymore but to acknowledge that this thoughtless man she's with - this "straw man" - is just a dream she's been holding on to. She's finally acknowledging that the man she hoped he would be just doesn't exist.
In the third verse, the artist is "let loose," his lover finally having had enough. His "quest for fame" and his devotion to his performing "reduced his dreams" meaning that when he lost his lover, he lost an important part of all the important things that he wanted in his life. For solace, he turns to his work once again, seemingly "feeling no pain" which upsets the lover, feeding her belief that she's unimportant to him. "Blue turns to black. Time takes back the slack she had when just seventeen." Her sadness eventually fades to nothingness. She realizes that she doesn't have a wide open future, as much time, as she did when they first fell in love all those years ago.
In the last verse, he's on his way home, realizing what he's lost. "Living life alone" isn't what he wants for himself or for her. He's come back to mend what's been broken between them, but he's not sure how "much she'll bend" to seeing things his way. He realizes it won't be easy for her.
I think the chorus, and the way it is sung throughout the song, shows that no matter what was going on between them, he always loved her. Even while he was out performing on "miracle's highway," she was still on his mind. He calls himself a "straw man" because he feels foolish for putting his career above her love. She makes his world sweeter - the "lavender and wintergreen." She makes his world better and he knows they belong side by side.