Impossible Germany

standing next to a friend (my gemany) the other night, listening to wilco play this song live, the message of the song that i get kept coming home. listened to the song for months, hearing of a struggle between two people, trying to communicate, always separated -- like Germany and Japan, two countries so foreign to each other but together for a period. this notion of "i'm trying to tell you but you're not listening or can't hear me" is to me about a person who's very close and yet unreachable. that reaching out, trying to help the other who misses that "this is what love is for/to be out of place", is in vain, the other can't hear. at the end, i hear that other person turning, listening. it's hope that i hear. i think the two guitars at the end are sort of the extension of the lyric, that enough was said about the struggle, the emotion of two guitars is that push past words, just expression.

I love, love the dueling guitars at the end of this song.

@delenda I feel that the guitars represent pushing past the words as well, but i believe they represent action taking over. Maybe the lesson taught is that actions speak louder than words.

Impossible Germany. Unlikely Japan. Maybe Korea? Thoughts of a Frenchman buying a new car.

I think this is about straight up unrequited love.

"Impossible Germany Unlikely Japan Wherever you go Wherever you land"

He is pining for someone who he doesn't know very well. I think she flits in and out of his life. He is wondering where she is headed, figuratively and literally speaking.

"I'll say what this means to me I'll do what I can Impossible Germany Unlikely Japan"

He is determined to be honest about his feelings and telling her is as much as he can do to try to control the situation and he is hoping she will reciprocate those feelings.

"(The) fundamental problem (We) all need to face This is important But I know you're not listening No I know you're not listening"

He is frustated because she is ignoring or disregarding his confession. It is seemingly meaningless to her.

"(If) this was still new to me I wouldn't understand Impossible Germany Unlikely Japan"

Either he has been through this before with other people or this is just the latest in a series of pleas to her.

"This is what love is for To be out of place Gorgeous and alone Face to face"

They may be individuals who don't fit in and he relates to her in that way. If she would just give him a chance, she would see that they were meant to be.

"With no larger problems That need to be erased Nothing more important Than to know someone's listening Now I know you'll be listening"

He longs for a new start with this girl. It is fresh and free of problems and fights-nothing to apologize for (yet). It's his dream scenario that she will hear him and want to be with him too.

"It is hinting around where you start to see where it ceases to be impossible when you think about what a country or a place can become. And when does it stop being something unbelieveable and something you can act upon to try and change when you realize that there's something inside of yourself you need to fix. Basically, when do you wake up from denial?"

Its about a nation drifting towards the same situations in Japan and Germany in the second world war. There is nothing bad in the German or Japanese psyche that would make them more likely to instigate this. A warning that nothing is impossible and we should always question the power that people and counties adopt and accept as rightfully theirs. If it can happen to countries a unlikely as these, what chance do other countries have. Its asking you to wake up and change before its too late. The fact that Jeff writes it as a love song to his country makes it all the more poignant. A devastatingly intelligent song.

In my humble opinion, Tweedy wrote this while on a European tour with Wilco - and it’s a heady time for him. It’s “impossible” they’re playing shows in Germany and even more “unlikely” they’re headed to Japan next - this milestone, to have a real foreign audience, is “important” to him - as an artist and person. He’s trying to express this to over the phone to his wife - who is back home in the states. He’s trying “to say what this means to me” but they’re separated, by time/space/headspace/etc and she can’t appreciate how happy and proud he is at the moment. She not listening. The song is about how hard it is to share your successes, even with those who love you most. Tweedy understands why this is, saying if having his music this well received “was still new to me I wouldn’t understand.” But it’s not new, so he does. He goes one step further, saying this lack of communication is not a flaw in their relationship but in fact its core. “This is what love is for.” It not just the emotions and experiences you share with your partner that make your bond so strong, but also the ones that are impossible to. Just to know someone is listening, even if they can’t understand what you’re expressing - there’s nothing more important than that.

i asked for the lyrics to be revised since Grendelbomb based them off the early version played live during the kicking television tour... now they are in line with the album

Germany and Japan were allies during WWII. It is a metaphor for two lovers. The "impossible" and "unlikely" show the defunct nature of the two parties involved. Obviously, there is a problem in the relationship and it's not being solved because the other person isnt listening.

The problem disappears when they realize that love is "to be out of place." After that, the "Impossible Germany, Unlikely Japan" line disappears and the narrator knows that the other is now listening.

the solo. =o its really good. its a very wilco-y song, one of my favorites from the new album.