Although this song has been a punchline for a long time, and for good reason, I still think the original makes its own weird kind of sense. The first verse is probably about the future (it ran one step ahead) that the songwriter no longer believes in (like a striped pair of pants), the second about the past he no longer remembers (I recall the yellow cotton dress), the chorus is about these things fading into the darkness of his mind (melting in the dark) because he can't really feel them (I'll never have that recipe again), and the last part before the chorus is about seizing the things that you can feel (I will drink the wine while it is warm). Kind of unsentimental, if true.
Although this song has been a punchline for a long time, and for good reason, I still think the original makes its own weird kind of sense. The first verse is probably about the future (it ran one step ahead) that the songwriter no longer believes in (like a striped pair of pants), the second about the past he no longer remembers (I recall the yellow cotton dress), the chorus is about these things fading into the darkness of his mind (melting in the dark) because he can't really feel them (I'll never have that recipe again), and the last part before the chorus is about seizing the things that you can feel (I will drink the wine while it is warm). Kind of unsentimental, if true.