I do indeed know what Rivers said about this song, so I guess that being that he wrote this song, he is the ultimate "song analyzer" but I still love to analyze this song. I think it is really about mental illness, or at least someone trying to hide their mental illness. The sweater is their comfort object, and it keeps the rest of the world from knowing about the mental illness of the character in the song. And people gradually remove bits and pieces of his sweater until it is fully gone and everyone recognizes it, or the character himself takes it apart by his mental illness gradually getting worse. And the sweater is fully gone when he gets diagnosed. Dig?
And the parts like "I don't want to destroy your tank top" or the "Superman skivvies" line shows that while some people are clinging on to a "thread" and not going insane from the pressures of day to day life, they aren't letting anybody destroy their comfort object, and aren't destroying it themselves by revealing their near-insanity. The main character recognizes that these people have problems as well and doesn't want to destroy their comfort object because he realizes how painful it is when people do that to him.
@coolstorybro123 If he is trying to hide the metal illness, then why does it seem like he's given up on his sweater, "If you want to destroy my sweater / Hold this thread as I walk away"? It doesn't say he's cared before, but it's obvious he doesn't care now.
@coolstorybro123 If he is trying to hide the metal illness, then why does it seem like he's given up on his sweater, "If you want to destroy my sweater / Hold this thread as I walk away"? It doesn't say he's cared before, but it's obvious he doesn't care now.
I do indeed know what Rivers said about this song, so I guess that being that he wrote this song, he is the ultimate "song analyzer" but I still love to analyze this song. I think it is really about mental illness, or at least someone trying to hide their mental illness. The sweater is their comfort object, and it keeps the rest of the world from knowing about the mental illness of the character in the song. And people gradually remove bits and pieces of his sweater until it is fully gone and everyone recognizes it, or the character himself takes it apart by his mental illness gradually getting worse. And the sweater is fully gone when he gets diagnosed. Dig? And the parts like "I don't want to destroy your tank top" or the "Superman skivvies" line shows that while some people are clinging on to a "thread" and not going insane from the pressures of day to day life, they aren't letting anybody destroy their comfort object, and aren't destroying it themselves by revealing their near-insanity. The main character recognizes that these people have problems as well and doesn't want to destroy their comfort object because he realizes how painful it is when people do that to him.
@coolstorybro123 If he is trying to hide the metal illness, then why does it seem like he's given up on his sweater, "If you want to destroy my sweater / Hold this thread as I walk away"? It doesn't say he's cared before, but it's obvious he doesn't care now.
@coolstorybro123 If he is trying to hide the metal illness, then why does it seem like he's given up on his sweater, "If you want to destroy my sweater / Hold this thread as I walk away"? It doesn't say he's cared before, but it's obvious he doesn't care now.