I've looked at this song in two ways in my life however in both, the only difference is the metaphorical meaning of the Rivers and Roads. I hear the first four lines as the artist emotional preparing for change. The artist telling himself that time is short and in only a year life will take friendships and other relationship away. But, to keep himself sane, he assures himself that "they're going to better places." After the first four lines, I feel the artist is fast forwarding to the opposite end of "a year from now. I hear the pain of his voice of hating that life pried his friendships away. Now in the lasting parts of his "non-refrain" lyrics, he pleads of how powerless he is in keeping important people in his life. The last two of those lines is, however, his way of seeing who really is important. He's saying that if you (his friend) cannot relate or understand his pain, than he can no longer relate with you.
Now my two interpretations of the refrain:
The first was how I viewed the song in my final year of high school. The rivers and roads were close to literal. To reach the people you graduated with, your friends and your family you lived with and moved "out of state" away from, you would have to travel over rivers and roads to be with them. But sometimes it isn't just rivers and roads; It's oceans and highways and borders. But to make those people seem closer the artist only refers to the distance between them as small things, rivers and roads.
My more recent view on the refrain is motivated by losing a friendship not because of distance but conflict. The damage of "a year ago" has past and now he only wishes to get the friendship back. But, to do this he would have to cross rivers, or the low points in the relationship that became filled with water that only keep the low points low. By crossing, he would have to self reflect and overcome those low points. But to get from river to river to eventual the friendship, he would have to travel the roads, or the process of going through talking as acquaintances evolving into the relationship that was held before. But what he cannot see is the other friend (the female voice) struggling trying to achieve that same thing. But he does not now her travels to him.
In both views, if both people try to see or make up with the other, if the both make the effort to "travel" the rivers and roads are not as far away.
I've looked at this song in two ways in my life however in both, the only difference is the metaphorical meaning of the Rivers and Roads. I hear the first four lines as the artist emotional preparing for change. The artist telling himself that time is short and in only a year life will take friendships and other relationship away. But, to keep himself sane, he assures himself that "they're going to better places." After the first four lines, I feel the artist is fast forwarding to the opposite end of "a year from now. I hear the pain of his voice of hating that life pried his friendships away. Now in the lasting parts of his "non-refrain" lyrics, he pleads of how powerless he is in keeping important people in his life. The last two of those lines is, however, his way of seeing who really is important. He's saying that if you (his friend) cannot relate or understand his pain, than he can no longer relate with you.
Now my two interpretations of the refrain:
The first was how I viewed the song in my final year of high school. The rivers and roads were close to literal. To reach the people you graduated with, your friends and your family you lived with and moved "out of state" away from, you would have to travel over rivers and roads to be with them. But sometimes it isn't just rivers and roads; It's oceans and highways and borders. But to make those people seem closer the artist only refers to the distance between them as small things, rivers and roads.
My more recent view on the refrain is motivated by losing a friendship not because of distance but conflict. The damage of "a year ago" has past and now he only wishes to get the friendship back. But, to do this he would have to cross rivers, or the low points in the relationship that became filled with water that only keep the low points low. By crossing, he would have to self reflect and overcome those low points. But to get from river to river to eventual the friendship, he would have to travel the roads, or the process of going through talking as acquaintances evolving into the relationship that was held before. But what he cannot see is the other friend (the female voice) struggling trying to achieve that same thing. But he does not now her travels to him.
In both views, if both people try to see or make up with the other, if the both make the effort to "travel" the rivers and roads are not as far away.