This song is the reason I do
not read
musicians'
interviews.
First, some personal info: our family moved away from our ancestral home
For many reasons; my parents claimed that they wanted to be closer
to their jobs. I never belived that, since my father had commuted
around 30 miles to one job for over 30 years. The real reason, was to escape numerous
problems we had living in that area - I do not want to get into detail,
but lets just say it involved certain members of our family abusing
numerous interesting chemicals.
Anyway, While other members of my family were having trouble in the old
community, I could not adjust to the new one. Besides going from rural
society (where, like it or not, everyone is familiar with you) to an
urban community (where people are more 'clique'y; as the # of people
to socialize with increases, the % of those people who want to socialize
with you decreases.) On top of that, I am just a bit eccentric. I always
have to do something different. (you should see my ekw theme.) I never
did fit in, became depressed and a loner. (I was very extroverted prior
to the move; I started 'watching the floor' less than a year after the
move, and grew man boobs from overeating a few years later.)
When I got the album 'August and Everything After' on cassette for my
birthday (I now have a CD: I played that poor cassette to death) I
listened to it and liked it quite a bit; it had its low points (perfect
blue buildings) but most of the songs were great. Standing above this
crowd, however, was 'Sullivan street'. As far as I cared, Adam Duritz
was singing about me. Even though there was no 'Sullivan street' in my
home town. My interpretation of the lyrics went something like this:
Take the way home that leads back to Sullivan St.
Cross the water and home through the town
Past the shadows that fall down wherever we meet
Pretty soon I won't come around
(Drive home, passing over a bridge near my home, through my hometown,
but then stop to visit places I knew and remember happily; I wish I
could return, but as the saying goes, you can never go home again)
I'm almost drowning in her sea
She's nearly fallen to her knees
( Remembering a girl I loved, she is no longer as important to me as
she should be )
Take the way home that leads back to Sullivan St.
Where all the bodies hang on the air
If she remembers, she hides it whenever we meet
Either way now, I don't really care
'cause i'm gone from there*
( Images of people I knew no longer match the people today;
I meet that girl I loved, she does not recognize me, or
pretends not to, but it does not matter now, that is the
past. )
I'm almost drowning in her sea
She's nearly crawling on her knees
She's down on her knees
( Now I hate her for not recognizing me )
Take the way home that leads back to Sullivan St.
I'm just another rider burned to the ground
( They matter to me, but I do not matter to them;
they have moved on, I am still stuck in the past )
I'm almost drowning in her sea
She's nearly crawling on her knees
It's almost everything I need
I'm down on my knees
I'm down on my knees
( Since I no longer 'belong' here, all I have is
my fantasy of belonging here, but that is all I need )
What does All this have to do with Musician interviews?
I read an interview of Adam Duritz. He said the song was
about a girlfriend. Not about my problems, or even anything
resembling my problems, just a song about a girlfriend.
My interpretation was 'wrong'. That upset me quite a bit,
even though my loneliest and worst days were behind me.
But then I realized that, as the listener, the only
interpretation that mattered was mine. Who cares if he
created this wonderful song for a girlfriend? He created
it to be listened to, and that creation, not the motive,
or the material, is what matters.