They meet in a store in a then unnamed city. The girl is the cashier. They start to date.
He gives her a diamond ring ("find a piece of diamond")
They get married at what appears to either by the Rio in Las Vegas or the Rio Grande at the border of the US and Mexico.
Then he says to put it in a fruit machine, which slang for a slot machine in America, suggesting Las Vegas. However, in the UK and Canada, a fruit machine is a device to test homosexuality, but that idea doesn't fit well with the song.
After that, the song becomes far less well written and less clear. It might then be hinting at some sort of open-marriage ("pick you out a number / that's our arrangement"). However, the third verse is more clear. "Dancing on the legs of a newborn pony" seems to talk about a kid being born. You know it's a son because they then call him "son." However, they teach him their bad values ("Go ahead and have her, go ahead and leave her / you only had her with you were a fever"). My only thought on fever is similar to election fever, meaning you only liked the excitement.
In sum, it's the story about two lovers who found each other in Los Vegas, married on a whim, but were unable to deal with the pressures of living as a couple, but still did have a kid, who they didn't teach any good values about how to meet someone for a long period of time. This would VERY clearly set up the rest of the album as a sort of journey of redemption, which makes sense considering the last song "Goodnight Bad Morning" is a true love song, unlike this song.
It's about a temporary, fake love story.
They meet in a store in a then unnamed city. The girl is the cashier. They start to date.
He gives her a diamond ring ("find a piece of diamond") They get married at what appears to either by the Rio in Las Vegas or the Rio Grande at the border of the US and Mexico. Then he says to put it in a fruit machine, which slang for a slot machine in America, suggesting Las Vegas. However, in the UK and Canada, a fruit machine is a device to test homosexuality, but that idea doesn't fit well with the song.
After that, the song becomes far less well written and less clear. It might then be hinting at some sort of open-marriage ("pick you out a number / that's our arrangement"). However, the third verse is more clear. "Dancing on the legs of a newborn pony" seems to talk about a kid being born. You know it's a son because they then call him "son." However, they teach him their bad values ("Go ahead and have her, go ahead and leave her / you only had her with you were a fever"). My only thought on fever is similar to election fever, meaning you only liked the excitement.
In sum, it's the story about two lovers who found each other in Los Vegas, married on a whim, but were unable to deal with the pressures of living as a couple, but still did have a kid, who they didn't teach any good values about how to meet someone for a long period of time. This would VERY clearly set up the rest of the album as a sort of journey of redemption, which makes sense considering the last song "Goodnight Bad Morning" is a true love song, unlike this song.