Haven't heard too much of the new album yet, but this song immediately grabbed my attention and I figured I'd throw in my two cents!
First off, to me it sounds a bit more like "Were it up to me, you'd know why" at the end of the second verse, and the third verse sounds a bit more like
"I, I called through the air that night
The false walls looming in sight
Was it infantile, that which we desired?
Were it up to me, pull the wool from your eyes"
Not sure about it, but there's definitely a clump of words between "Were it up to me" and "your eyes".
Anyways!
I can't help but think of someone on a small boat in the middle of a quiet, dark ocean singing this to themselves/to someone they've left behind (or possibly someone who's died) even though they know the person it's intended for will never hear it. It sounds like it's addressed to someone the singer took for granted, someone who the singer abandoned even though the person was always there to help the singer when he needed it. It's an apology without begging for forgiveness - the singer recognizes what he's done, expresses remorse and asks for patience, while hinting that he would like to reconnect in the future.
It starts out with a bit of a "hello, how are you"-style greeting after not seeing someone for a long time. It's not a very convincing "it's been fine", which is the first hint that something has been bothering him for a while. Imagine if someone you hadn't seen in years said "All in all, it's been fine" when you asked how they were - that would raise a few questions, or at least it would for me.
There's a lot of deception implied in the first verses, with the "were it up to me, you'd know why", the "false walls looming in sight" or "faults swarming inside", saying that the subject of the song has wool over their eyes, and that he's kept his "thoughts buried inside." Maybe the singer was prevented from giving real reasons for going "out to sea," (as shown by the repeated "were it up to me" bits) maybe he intentionally gave different ones to avoid conflict or take the easy way out at the time but would now like to make amends. It's implied that he can't, though, so maybe the subject doesn't want to hear it, is out of his life or has maybe even died in the time since he left.
With the line about desires being infantile, I can only think that he may have expressed that about whatever plans he had with whoever it was and he's now doubting his reasoning or realizing he was just creating problems.
With the repeated "And you, you had hope for me now/I danced all around it somehow" that just brings to mind that someone had well-intentioned hopes/desires for him or his future, but instead of talking to the person and working out whatever issues he had with their hopes/desires for his future, he smiled and nodded and kept going. I think of this as part of the apology/recognition as well, because it must've hurt the subject when he smiled, nodded, and then sailed away and did something completely different without giving any in-depth reasons.
He gets nostalgic by the end of the song, thinking about sharing gin and filling their heart with pride. Maybe the pride was because he told them he was sailing away for a better reason than the real one, maybe it was because they thought he was going out to do what they hoped he would do.
He asks for patience throughout the song with the "be fair to me, I may drift a while" (my favorite line), where he recognizes that he doesn't really know what he's doing. At the end of the song it's like he wants to be friends again - he tests the water by asking if the other person would be glad to hear that he's doing well/has figured things out ("If there's a plan for me/Would it make you smile?").
The last line that I can make out before Zach starts singing over the music is the "No, don't want to be there for no one" - the singer realizes that it's a lot to ask that the person he's wronged wait for him to come back, that the person he's wronged be there one more time for him (calling himself "no one" in this case).
It all ties in to the title - according to good old wikipedia, a port of call is an intermediate stop for a ship on its sailing itinerary, which may include up to half a dozen ports. At these ports, a cargo ship may take on supplies or fuel, as well as unloading and loading cargo. The singer has come to the subject often for all kinds of help, maybe sometimes returning the favor, but the subject has always been the more significant one in the relationship and the singer left one day without giving good reasons. He returned the kindness with deception and drifted away.
Or at least that's how I understand it. There's a pretty hefty dose of projecting myself into the interpretation, as I've been coming to terms with the fact that I've recently done this exact thing to someone, so take it all with a grain of salt. Or a fistful, either one.
Haven't heard too much of the new album yet, but this song immediately grabbed my attention and I figured I'd throw in my two cents!
First off, to me it sounds a bit more like "Were it up to me, you'd know why" at the end of the second verse, and the third verse sounds a bit more like "I, I called through the air that night The false walls looming in sight Was it infantile, that which we desired? Were it up to me, pull the wool from your eyes"
Not sure about it, but there's definitely a clump of words between "Were it up to me" and "your eyes".
Anyways!
I can't help but think of someone on a small boat in the middle of a quiet, dark ocean singing this to themselves/to someone they've left behind (or possibly someone who's died) even though they know the person it's intended for will never hear it. It sounds like it's addressed to someone the singer took for granted, someone who the singer abandoned even though the person was always there to help the singer when he needed it. It's an apology without begging for forgiveness - the singer recognizes what he's done, expresses remorse and asks for patience, while hinting that he would like to reconnect in the future.
It starts out with a bit of a "hello, how are you"-style greeting after not seeing someone for a long time. It's not a very convincing "it's been fine", which is the first hint that something has been bothering him for a while. Imagine if someone you hadn't seen in years said "All in all, it's been fine" when you asked how they were - that would raise a few questions, or at least it would for me.
There's a lot of deception implied in the first verses, with the "were it up to me, you'd know why", the "false walls looming in sight" or "faults swarming inside", saying that the subject of the song has wool over their eyes, and that he's kept his "thoughts buried inside." Maybe the singer was prevented from giving real reasons for going "out to sea," (as shown by the repeated "were it up to me" bits) maybe he intentionally gave different ones to avoid conflict or take the easy way out at the time but would now like to make amends. It's implied that he can't, though, so maybe the subject doesn't want to hear it, is out of his life or has maybe even died in the time since he left.
With the line about desires being infantile, I can only think that he may have expressed that about whatever plans he had with whoever it was and he's now doubting his reasoning or realizing he was just creating problems.
With the repeated "And you, you had hope for me now/I danced all around it somehow" that just brings to mind that someone had well-intentioned hopes/desires for him or his future, but instead of talking to the person and working out whatever issues he had with their hopes/desires for his future, he smiled and nodded and kept going. I think of this as part of the apology/recognition as well, because it must've hurt the subject when he smiled, nodded, and then sailed away and did something completely different without giving any in-depth reasons.
He gets nostalgic by the end of the song, thinking about sharing gin and filling their heart with pride. Maybe the pride was because he told them he was sailing away for a better reason than the real one, maybe it was because they thought he was going out to do what they hoped he would do.
He asks for patience throughout the song with the "be fair to me, I may drift a while" (my favorite line), where he recognizes that he doesn't really know what he's doing. At the end of the song it's like he wants to be friends again - he tests the water by asking if the other person would be glad to hear that he's doing well/has figured things out ("If there's a plan for me/Would it make you smile?").
The last line that I can make out before Zach starts singing over the music is the "No, don't want to be there for no one" - the singer realizes that it's a lot to ask that the person he's wronged wait for him to come back, that the person he's wronged be there one more time for him (calling himself "no one" in this case).
It all ties in to the title - according to good old wikipedia, a port of call is an intermediate stop for a ship on its sailing itinerary, which may include up to half a dozen ports. At these ports, a cargo ship may take on supplies or fuel, as well as unloading and loading cargo. The singer has come to the subject often for all kinds of help, maybe sometimes returning the favor, but the subject has always been the more significant one in the relationship and the singer left one day without giving good reasons. He returned the kindness with deception and drifted away.
Or at least that's how I understand it. There's a pretty hefty dose of projecting myself into the interpretation, as I've been coming to terms with the fact that I've recently done this exact thing to someone, so take it all with a grain of salt. Or a fistful, either one.
tl;dr version: beautiful song