This is a song about optimism vs. despair, and how does the singer know what's real? ("my eyes play tricks on me"). Is the fleeting smile on his lover's face real? How about his life together with her and the family they create? Must there be an end to it which results in heartbreak?
There's a wonderful bit of foreshadowing in the first stanza where the singer's life is remembered through the houses he's lived in. It seems kind of odd that he chooses smoke, rather than some happy smell, to call up his memories, but the smoke must have been lying in wait all along, to appear when his house goes up in flames.
The singer ultimately chooses optimism ("I avoid the shore 'til it calls out my name").
This is a song about optimism vs. despair, and how does the singer know what's real? ("my eyes play tricks on me"). Is the fleeting smile on his lover's face real? How about his life together with her and the family they create? Must there be an end to it which results in heartbreak?
There's a wonderful bit of foreshadowing in the first stanza where the singer's life is remembered through the houses he's lived in. It seems kind of odd that he chooses smoke, rather than some happy smell, to call up his memories, but the smoke must have been lying in wait all along, to appear when his house goes up in flames.
The singer ultimately chooses optimism ("I avoid the shore 'til it calls out my name").