This is a beautiful song. I wonder if this song has thematic links Sufjan's "Predatory Wasp of the Palisades." Both songs speak of a relationship with a friend that seems emotional or romantic (with the friend and him kissing), in which the friend "runs away."
The friend in "Palisades" seems male, and I can't find anything in this song suggesting otherwise (nothing is overtly female about the friend). It may be that the "friend" who kissed him in this song the same "father friend" he mentions a few lines before (kinda unsettling, but who knows). Or maybe he's referring to a number of different characters as friends?
I suppose the dog he left out in the snow could be the friend as well. It may seem silly, but I've seen similar interpretations that "Palisades" was about a dog (c.f. "I can tell you, we swaggered and swayed").
I think you're right about the dog, aylamarax. I thought this when I first heard it - kind of a conversation between him and the dog. Then I learned that he did in fact lose a dog, who was run over by a snow plow. To me the song is about grief, and it's one of the saddest and most beautiful songs I've ever heard. But wonderful, because the dog still lives in the words and the music.
I think you're right about the dog, aylamarax. I thought this when I first heard it - kind of a conversation between him and the dog. Then I learned that he did in fact lose a dog, who was run over by a snow plow. To me the song is about grief, and it's one of the saddest and most beautiful songs I've ever heard. But wonderful, because the dog still lives in the words and the music.
I really like your take on it. I just don't think the dog is the friend, and I think that it's very intentional that Sufjan would say the dog is a she, maybe exactly so we know the dog is not a friend, since the friend is male. This would also give sense to the line when the friend tickles him, and his mother looks away with her hands on her face
I really like your take on it. I just don't think the dog is the friend, and I think that it's very intentional that Sufjan would say the dog is a she, maybe exactly so we know the dog is not a friend, since the friend is male. This would also give sense to the line when the friend tickles him, and his mother looks away with her hands on her face
This is a beautiful song. I wonder if this song has thematic links Sufjan's "Predatory Wasp of the Palisades." Both songs speak of a relationship with a friend that seems emotional or romantic (with the friend and him kissing), in which the friend "runs away."
The friend in "Palisades" seems male, and I can't find anything in this song suggesting otherwise (nothing is overtly female about the friend). It may be that the "friend" who kissed him in this song the same "father friend" he mentions a few lines before (kinda unsettling, but who knows). Or maybe he's referring to a number of different characters as friends?
I suppose the dog he left out in the snow could be the friend as well. It may seem silly, but I've seen similar interpretations that "Palisades" was about a dog (c.f. "I can tell you, we swaggered and swayed").
I think you're right about the dog, aylamarax. I thought this when I first heard it - kind of a conversation between him and the dog. Then I learned that he did in fact lose a dog, who was run over by a snow plow. To me the song is about grief, and it's one of the saddest and most beautiful songs I've ever heard. But wonderful, because the dog still lives in the words and the music.
I think you're right about the dog, aylamarax. I thought this when I first heard it - kind of a conversation between him and the dog. Then I learned that he did in fact lose a dog, who was run over by a snow plow. To me the song is about grief, and it's one of the saddest and most beautiful songs I've ever heard. But wonderful, because the dog still lives in the words and the music.
I really like your take on it. I just don't think the dog is the friend, and I think that it's very intentional that Sufjan would say the dog is a she, maybe exactly so we know the dog is not a friend, since the friend is male. This would also give sense to the line when the friend tickles him, and his mother looks away with her hands on her face
I really like your take on it. I just don't think the dog is the friend, and I think that it's very intentional that Sufjan would say the dog is a she, maybe exactly so we know the dog is not a friend, since the friend is male. This would also give sense to the line when the friend tickles him, and his mother looks away with her hands on her face