I think there may be an allusion to alcoholism in the lyrics.
The parent/narrator is sitting with the newly returned son at a table with booze on it, on a Sunday morning.
There might be a drinking problem passing from one generation to the next one, and the parent defeatedly realizes that the son's "too high a price" explanation fails to acknowledge the apparent truth - that he failed because he couldn't get his act together.
As an aside, I love the way Mark builds this entire song around what is essentially an unmoving tableau, just the snapshot of a moment. He describes a single scene and lets the listener fill in the background, both in the visual and chronological sense. That's top-notch storytelling skills right there, from a guy who gets most of his accolades as a guitar hero.
As an aside, I love the way Mark builds this entire song around what is essentially an unmoving tableau, just the snapshot of a moment. He describes a single scene and lets the listener fill in the background, both in the visual and chronological sense. That's top-notch storytelling skills right there, from a guy who gets most of his accolades as a guitar hero.
I think there may be an allusion to alcoholism in the lyrics.
The parent/narrator is sitting with the newly returned son at a table with booze on it, on a Sunday morning.
There might be a drinking problem passing from one generation to the next one, and the parent defeatedly realizes that the son's "too high a price" explanation fails to acknowledge the apparent truth - that he failed because he couldn't get his act together.
My two cents, anywhizz...
As an aside, I love the way Mark builds this entire song around what is essentially an unmoving tableau, just the snapshot of a moment. He describes a single scene and lets the listener fill in the background, both in the visual and chronological sense. That's top-notch storytelling skills right there, from a guy who gets most of his accolades as a guitar hero.
As an aside, I love the way Mark builds this entire song around what is essentially an unmoving tableau, just the snapshot of a moment. He describes a single scene and lets the listener fill in the background, both in the visual and chronological sense. That's top-notch storytelling skills right there, from a guy who gets most of his accolades as a guitar hero.