I think this song is almost definitely about a girl, about some sort of failed relationship, as many people have already described. However, part of me lately has been entertaining the idea that this song is actually about his mom. Elliott has written about her (seemingly) in the past, and I feel as though a lot of his issues revolved around his early life with her and his step father Charlie that eventually led up to him leaving to live with his father. I get this feeling that even though he knew the crappy situation with his step father wasn't his fault, that he sort of blamed himself for leaving his mom. Hence "I never really had a problem because of leaving, but everything reminds me of her this evening." The only line I can't really reconcile with this interpretation is "Just because you came across it and lost it." Again, most likely about a failed relationship, but I figured this interpretation was an interesting take on things.
I think this song is almost definitely about a girl, about some sort of failed relationship, as many people have already described. However, part of me lately has been entertaining the idea that this song is actually about his mom. Elliott has written about her (seemingly) in the past, and I feel as though a lot of his issues revolved around his early life with her and his step father Charlie that eventually led up to him leaving to live with his father. I get this feeling that even though he knew the crappy situation with his step father wasn't his fault, that he sort of blamed himself for leaving his mom. Hence "I never really had a problem because of leaving, but everything reminds me of her this evening." The only line I can't really reconcile with this interpretation is "Just because you came across it and lost it." Again, most likely about a failed relationship, but I figured this interpretation was an interesting take on things.