As always Tom's lyrics are very complex. He writes in this song, in my view, about several facts in his life or more generally an artist's life. Loneliness, stubbornness, the pull of and addiction to fame, its cruelty and ephemeral qualities, the prison like of such a life, and many other faces of it all wrapped in metaphors that only Tom and his wife can create. My favourite one at the end of song: the next stage (after dying) will have wheels (the hearse).
As always Tom's lyrics are very complex. He writes in this song, in my view, about several facts in his life or more generally an artist's life. Loneliness, stubbornness, the pull of and addiction to fame, its cruelty and ephemeral qualities, the prison like of such a life, and many other faces of it all wrapped in metaphors that only Tom and his wife can create. My favourite one at the end of song: the next stage (after dying) will have wheels (the hearse).