Can't get this out of my mind. Wouldn't want to. One of Elliott's most-beautiful melodies. Listening tonight, I heard--for the first time--the electric-guitar fills, all but one of which were almost too subtle for me to notice before.
Does anyone agree the song structure feels different? As if each verse has its own miniature chorus ("Got a long way to go..."), while the role more-typically played by a chorus is instead fulfilled by two "bridges," the parts in which he sings the title.
So sad; so careful to avoid anyone seeing he's hurting. The second verse would sound dismissive, if the meaning of all these apparently-reassuring words weren't dramatically altered: by leading with, "If I didn't know the difference..."
Elliott sounds as if he truly wants to believe he'd rather not "waste his breath" asking this now-absent person, don't I remember each of us saying "I love you"? For years we lived together, and now you expect me to pretend we're strangers?
He knows he's expected to leave the past behind & act as if it didn't matter. Because he tries, don't assume he's OK with it. I'd been nonplussed by the image of a nameless "dead enemy" not allowing him any peace. Then I understood. His earlier self--with this love still alive in his heart--is screaming, but he's been ordered to ignore it.
As our earliest respondent Starry already noted, these lines are devastating:
Wish I knew what you're doing
Or why you want to do it this way
Not sure whether my analysis added anything new, but it's a great song; I enjoyed doing it.
Can't get this out of my mind. Wouldn't want to. One of Elliott's most-beautiful melodies. Listening tonight, I heard--for the first time--the electric-guitar fills, all but one of which were almost too subtle for me to notice before.
Does anyone agree the song structure feels different? As if each verse has its own miniature chorus ("Got a long way to go..."), while the role more-typically played by a chorus is instead fulfilled by two "bridges," the parts in which he sings the title.
So sad; so careful to avoid anyone seeing he's hurting. The second verse would sound dismissive, if the meaning of all these apparently-reassuring words weren't dramatically altered: by leading with, "If I didn't know the difference..."
Elliott sounds as if he truly wants to believe he'd rather not "waste his breath" asking this now-absent person, don't I remember each of us saying "I love you"? For years we lived together, and now you expect me to pretend we're strangers?
He knows he's expected to leave the past behind & act as if it didn't matter. Because he tries, don't assume he's OK with it. I'd been nonplussed by the image of a nameless "dead enemy" not allowing him any peace. Then I understood. His earlier self--with this love still alive in his heart--is screaming, but he's been ordered to ignore it.
As our earliest respondent Starry already noted, these lines are devastating:
Wish I knew what you're doing Or why you want to do it this way
Not sure whether my analysis added anything new, but it's a great song; I enjoyed doing it.
@foreverdrone "...so I can/can't go the distance". Meow! The last verse means loads to me...
@foreverdrone "...so I can/can't go the distance". Meow! The last verse means loads to me...