It's funny. Back when I was an enraged teenager, I thought this song could be a description of my own father, who had problems "inherited" from my grandfather (who died when he was a teenager). It seemed to me like it was a cycle of parental failure, which I saw regarding him and me, and his father and him. We all sulked and bawled, caught in a rage, crashing against walls of problems. Yeah, teenagers can be cruel to parents, can't they?
Ironically, I saw the same "inheritance" in myself later, so I thought the song could apply to me AND my father as well! I don't think that way anymore, but it led me to give a possible interpretation of the "just like your dad" metaphor.
The song itself seems to talk about dealing with someone with big problems, who complains about them but can't solve them (bites the big wall, the big wall bites back) and suffers. The narrator is clearly angry with him/her and on the last verse tries to get away from it all, because each time (the problem) comes, it eats him alive, it bothers him up to the point of outrage. So he gets by declaring a holiday (i.e. giving a truce, stopping talking about it). The chorus uses the "dad" metaphor as a way to reinforce that it's impossible for the person to change. The person could be a friend, a lover, a relative, his parent (hehe) or the narrator himself.
Musically, I love it. The aforementioned tumbling guitar is simple yet moving (check that harmonizing on the second verse!), and when everything goes one step up and Thom bellows out those high notes on the last chorus, it always sends chills down my spine. One of the best and most underrated songs in The Bends.
It's funny. Back when I was an enraged teenager, I thought this song could be a description of my own father, who had problems "inherited" from my grandfather (who died when he was a teenager). It seemed to me like it was a cycle of parental failure, which I saw regarding him and me, and his father and him. We all sulked and bawled, caught in a rage, crashing against walls of problems. Yeah, teenagers can be cruel to parents, can't they?
Ironically, I saw the same "inheritance" in myself later, so I thought the song could apply to me AND my father as well! I don't think that way anymore, but it led me to give a possible interpretation of the "just like your dad" metaphor.
The song itself seems to talk about dealing with someone with big problems, who complains about them but can't solve them (bites the big wall, the big wall bites back) and suffers. The narrator is clearly angry with him/her and on the last verse tries to get away from it all, because each time (the problem) comes, it eats him alive, it bothers him up to the point of outrage. So he gets by declaring a holiday (i.e. giving a truce, stopping talking about it). The chorus uses the "dad" metaphor as a way to reinforce that it's impossible for the person to change. The person could be a friend, a lover, a relative, his parent (hehe) or the narrator himself.
Musically, I love it. The aforementioned tumbling guitar is simple yet moving (check that harmonizing on the second verse!), and when everything goes one step up and Thom bellows out those high notes on the last chorus, it always sends chills down my spine. One of the best and most underrated songs in The Bends.