This song, like many of Jeff Tweedy's songs from this period, seems to be about the disconnect between what we think love is and what it really is, and then, once we become aware of the distention, how we choose communicate that love to others.
It helps me to think of lyrics from other wilco songs when trying to understand this one:
"What would love be without wishful thinking?"
"All my lies are always wishes..."
'I'm the boy who gets excited, i'm the boy who's gonna fall apart, etc."
The speaker begins the song wondering why he's constantly heartbroken, why his love for his lovers keeps disappearing (the feeling goes) as time passes (his hair keeps growing). From there, the lyrics devolve into a kind of nonsensical, exaggerated lover's boast to someone unspecific, followed immediately by the admission that he's, "bragging" and "always in love."
This is the backbone of the song - it's a warning to his lover. He's saying, "I'm going to make some big ridiculous proclamation about how much I love you, but really I'm just caught up in the moment and I do this all the time."
The second verse starts with the speaker questioning what will happen if he gets the love of the unspecified object of his affection. These lines are coded in more over-the-top nonsense (Tweedy's way of making fun of his own romantic impulses), and the result is something impossible (catch the moon like a bird in a cage). Tweedy here is alluding again to our inability to carry out our romantic intentions into reality - love is never in life like it is in your dreams, just as a bird in a cage can't catch the moon.
Still he forgets (It's for you i swoon) and loses his train of thought (I don't get the connection...). Here the 'smoke pot' refrain might be an allusion to a Joycean 'lotus-eaters' kind of idea, as the speaker is clearly falling further and further into indulgence as the song goes on, and thus losing his grip on the main idea here - the infatuation is going to fade eventually. He then assures himself he won't forget that this is how love works, even though it's clear he will.
The last verse is the most dense with coded self-aware, self-indulgence. I believe the lyric is 'fold the coal in my jetlagged palm,' which could equate to using pressure to produce a diamond, or in this case, lasting love (his palm is jetlagged because of how many times he's been through this process already, he's worn out). The next lyrics, about soaking (again, see lotus eaters) and forgetting your family, seem to allude directly to being lost in something (here, the love affair, his infatuation). Then Tweedy again offers his original lover's boast and remembers what he swore he wouldn't forget: he's prone to falling into feelings that he doesn't have the wherewithal to carry out in a way that fits with reality.
That's why it's a 'drag' that he's always in love, and also why he's worried - he might never fix this problem because, despite all of the self-awareness displayed in the coded romantic boasts, he still keeps forgetting that this is how it works and making the same mistakes over and over.
This song, like many of Jeff Tweedy's songs from this period, seems to be about the disconnect between what we think love is and what it really is, and then, once we become aware of the distention, how we choose communicate that love to others.
It helps me to think of lyrics from other wilco songs when trying to understand this one:
The speaker begins the song wondering why he's constantly heartbroken, why his love for his lovers keeps disappearing (the feeling goes) as time passes (his hair keeps growing). From there, the lyrics devolve into a kind of nonsensical, exaggerated lover's boast to someone unspecific, followed immediately by the admission that he's, "bragging" and "always in love."
This is the backbone of the song - it's a warning to his lover. He's saying, "I'm going to make some big ridiculous proclamation about how much I love you, but really I'm just caught up in the moment and I do this all the time."
The second verse starts with the speaker questioning what will happen if he gets the love of the unspecified object of his affection. These lines are coded in more over-the-top nonsense (Tweedy's way of making fun of his own romantic impulses), and the result is something impossible (catch the moon like a bird in a cage). Tweedy here is alluding again to our inability to carry out our romantic intentions into reality - love is never in life like it is in your dreams, just as a bird in a cage can't catch the moon.
Still he forgets (It's for you i swoon) and loses his train of thought (I don't get the connection...). Here the 'smoke pot' refrain might be an allusion to a Joycean 'lotus-eaters' kind of idea, as the speaker is clearly falling further and further into indulgence as the song goes on, and thus losing his grip on the main idea here - the infatuation is going to fade eventually. He then assures himself he won't forget that this is how love works, even though it's clear he will.
The last verse is the most dense with coded self-aware, self-indulgence. I believe the lyric is 'fold the coal in my jetlagged palm,' which could equate to using pressure to produce a diamond, or in this case, lasting love (his palm is jetlagged because of how many times he's been through this process already, he's worn out). The next lyrics, about soaking (again, see lotus eaters) and forgetting your family, seem to allude directly to being lost in something (here, the love affair, his infatuation). Then Tweedy again offers his original lover's boast and remembers what he swore he wouldn't forget: he's prone to falling into feelings that he doesn't have the wherewithal to carry out in a way that fits with reality.
That's why it's a 'drag' that he's always in love, and also why he's worried - he might never fix this problem because, despite all of the self-awareness displayed in the coded romantic boasts, he still keeps forgetting that this is how it works and making the same mistakes over and over.