Meaning - it seems simple to me, but my mind and John's seem to share some similar thoughts. I also know a little about him. But the repeating lines, such as those describing the dogs and whatnot, are loose depictions of his home in Alaska. The rest goes on to talk about a recurring theme in a lot of his music, which is related to the way the "system" works in this world. It describes toiling away and basically giving all of your time to banks and those with money just to try and be able to get a piece of land / life / peace of mind for yourself. The lyrics continue by saying it's futile. Which I don't particularly like, myself. The PNW, and Alaska, are somewhat unique in that people are much more interested in really carving out a piece of life for themselves - land is a little more open and people are a little more of the homesteading type. I also find it amusing, though I don't wish to badmouth him in any way, but the way John talks about that stuff. The guy was working construction until a chance to sing for a friend's band came up, and granted he paid some dues in getting Portugal up and running to the point they came to with all the success, but he often refers to back breaking labor and unwarranted work, though his family is blue collar and he would have been had he not gotten into music like he did. And while he works hard at the music thing, a lot of it is sitting around with friends. Just ironic to me... Not to say he wouldn't understand, but maybe then it's just me fighting with the depressing nature of the lyrics - trust the NW to be depressed about shit.
Meaning - it seems simple to me, but my mind and John's seem to share some similar thoughts. I also know a little about him. But the repeating lines, such as those describing the dogs and whatnot, are loose depictions of his home in Alaska. The rest goes on to talk about a recurring theme in a lot of his music, which is related to the way the "system" works in this world. It describes toiling away and basically giving all of your time to banks and those with money just to try and be able to get a piece of land / life / peace of mind for yourself. The lyrics continue by saying it's futile. Which I don't particularly like, myself. The PNW, and Alaska, are somewhat unique in that people are much more interested in really carving out a piece of life for themselves - land is a little more open and people are a little more of the homesteading type. I also find it amusing, though I don't wish to badmouth him in any way, but the way John talks about that stuff. The guy was working construction until a chance to sing for a friend's band came up, and granted he paid some dues in getting Portugal up and running to the point they came to with all the success, but he often refers to back breaking labor and unwarranted work, though his family is blue collar and he would have been had he not gotten into music like he did. And while he works hard at the music thing, a lot of it is sitting around with friends. Just ironic to me... Not to say he wouldn't understand, but maybe then it's just me fighting with the depressing nature of the lyrics - trust the NW to be depressed about shit.