This is about Jerry feeling cut adrift from his former life as a "rock star" (the "shore"), something he'd always wanted, eventually found, but was then cut loose,"castaway" like an a boat in a storm.
He used to be on his island stage, all full of himself (ego), laughing at the audiences at his shows ("Don't you wish you were me?"), indulging in all the various excesses of that life. But now he's all alone, full stop, friends and family members are dead, things have spun out of control, and his own drug addiction has taken over his life. Making things worse are his memories of Layne, how he treated him (and never got to apologize or say goodbye), and what he had before things came to a crashing halt. There's a difference knowing that something is coming to an end and having it actually happen. Jerry was well aware (as he had said in interviews) that his band was coming to an end, and Layne was choosing slow suicide, but now that it had all actually happened, he was completely lost.
There's actually a video on YT of Jerry at some festival in California--he mentions it's the first time he'd been out and about for months, and lemme tell you--he looked TERRIBLE. Haggard, thin/gaunt, forcing a smile, coke-driven chatter, a former shell of himself. It was quite scary to see. Things had really caught up with him.
This is about Jerry feeling cut adrift from his former life as a "rock star" (the "shore"), something he'd always wanted, eventually found, but was then cut loose,"castaway" like an a boat in a storm.
He used to be on his island stage, all full of himself (ego), laughing at the audiences at his shows ("Don't you wish you were me?"), indulging in all the various excesses of that life. But now he's all alone, full stop, friends and family members are dead, things have spun out of control, and his own drug addiction has taken over his life. Making things worse are his memories of Layne, how he treated him (and never got to apologize or say goodbye), and what he had before things came to a crashing halt. There's a difference knowing that something is coming to an end and having it actually happen. Jerry was well aware (as he had said in interviews) that his band was coming to an end, and Layne was choosing slow suicide, but now that it had all actually happened, he was completely lost.
There's actually a video on YT of Jerry at some festival in California--he mentions it's the first time he'd been out and about for months, and lemme tell you--he looked TERRIBLE. Haggard, thin/gaunt, forcing a smile, coke-driven chatter, a former shell of himself. It was quite scary to see. Things had really caught up with him.