Remember that episode of the Simpsons when Barney drinks the funky juice manufactured by the hippies, starts hallucinating, then drinks a beer and Pinky, his imaginary friend elephant, appears to kill off the other animal in the aforementioned hallucination? Well, if you do, you might have an inkling of what Mr. Whirly is about. Mr. Whirly is an imaginary drunken buddy of Paul Westerberg. The song itself chronicles a night of drunken debauchery in the life of Mr. Westerberg. The humdrum 'Strawberry Fields' riff that begins the song is indicative of Paul's mindset as he wanders into his favorite watering hole. As the night progresses, Paul becomes drunker, and kicks into party mode, as indicated by the shift to 'The Twist.' Then, as he reaches drunken bliss, his imaginary friend Mr. Whirly appears in the more relaxed 'Oh My Darling' section. He wants Mr. Whirly to be there, but he feels like he's too drunk at this point in time and feels like he will only be a disappointment in his company. He insists that he's alright, that Whirly doesn't have to 'follow [him] home,' but clearly Paul is drunk to the point of seeing his imaginary friend that only appears in this intoxicated state.
Remember that episode of the Simpsons when Barney drinks the funky juice manufactured by the hippies, starts hallucinating, then drinks a beer and Pinky, his imaginary friend elephant, appears to kill off the other animal in the aforementioned hallucination? Well, if you do, you might have an inkling of what Mr. Whirly is about. Mr. Whirly is an imaginary drunken buddy of Paul Westerberg. The song itself chronicles a night of drunken debauchery in the life of Mr. Westerberg. The humdrum 'Strawberry Fields' riff that begins the song is indicative of Paul's mindset as he wanders into his favorite watering hole. As the night progresses, Paul becomes drunker, and kicks into party mode, as indicated by the shift to 'The Twist.' Then, as he reaches drunken bliss, his imaginary friend Mr. Whirly appears in the more relaxed 'Oh My Darling' section. He wants Mr. Whirly to be there, but he feels like he's too drunk at this point in time and feels like he will only be a disappointment in his company. He insists that he's alright, that Whirly doesn't have to 'follow [him] home,' but clearly Paul is drunk to the point of seeing his imaginary friend that only appears in this intoxicated state.