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Smeared black ink
Your palms are sweaty
And I'm barely listening
To last demands
I'm staring at the asphalt wondering
What's buried underneath where I am
I'll wear my badge
A vinyl sticker with big block letters
Adherent to my chest
That tells your new friends
I am a visitor here: I am not permanent
And the only thing keeping me dry is where I am
You seem so out of context
In this gaudy apartment complex
A stranger with your door key
Explaining that I am just visiting
And I am finally seeing
Why I was the one worth leaving
D.C. sleeps alone tonight
You seem so out of context
In this gaudy apartment complex
A stranger with your door key
Explaining that I am just visiting
And I finally seeing
Why I was the one worth leaving
The district sleeps alone tonight
After the bars turn out their lights
And send the autos swerving
Into the loneliest evening
And I am finally seeing
Why I was the one worth leaving
Your palms are sweaty
And I'm barely listening
To last demands
I'm staring at the asphalt wondering
What's buried underneath where I am
I'll wear my badge
A vinyl sticker with big block letters
Adherent to my chest
That tells your new friends
I am a visitor here: I am not permanent
And the only thing keeping me dry is where I am
You seem so out of context
In this gaudy apartment complex
A stranger with your door key
Explaining that I am just visiting
And I am finally seeing
Why I was the one worth leaving
D.C. sleeps alone tonight
You seem so out of context
In this gaudy apartment complex
A stranger with your door key
Explaining that I am just visiting
And I finally seeing
Why I was the one worth leaving
The district sleeps alone tonight
After the bars turn out their lights
And send the autos swerving
Into the loneliest evening
And I am finally seeing
Why I was the one worth leaving
Lyrics submitted by rjbucs28
Track duration: 04:44
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When he visits her he has to wear a name tag because he doesn't know any of her DC friends and it needs to be explained to every one of them that he is "a visitor" and "not permanent" and worst of all, why she decided to leave him on the other side of the country in the first place.
She seems "out of context" in the new apartment complex because it doesn't match with his memories of her home. But the truth is, she's not the one out of place. It's him. Her life has continued on even without him which is why she's now "a stranger with (her) door key." In a nut shell, she's got a whole life going on without his being part of it.
She seems to have had a very good reason for going to DC. Maybe school or an important life changing job opportunity. From the upbeat tone of the end of the song I imagine what Ben's saying is that after the visit he understands why it was important for her to leave him even though they are both lonely. He understands, but he still feels like he's been abandoned. Or he's being sarcastic, but he doesn't strike me as the sarcastic type.
I wonder if they broke up. Long distance relationships are hard :(
The beginning of the song seems like the last days of their relationship, where she tries to salvage the relationship through an ultimatum (last demands), and he's just totally apathetic (not paying attention, thinking about the asphalt and whatnot). It doesn't work out, and its sort of mutually thought to be his fault (because he's so goddam apathetic?)
The rest of the song is present-day, as he visits her. He has the visitor's "My name is..." (his vinyl sticker). Her new friends are the staff and co-inhabitants. A staff member (the stranger with the door key) brings him to visit her, and reminds him he's just a visitor.
He eventually realizes that he shouldn't be feeling so sorry for himself about losing her. Like he discovers some self-worth he wasn't too aware of or concerned about in their relationship. I don't think he saw how shitty her life is and then was like "Im clearly better than you", I think he was sort of discovering it all before visiting her, but seeing the girl that made him feel pathetic in such a low place showed him that she wasn't perfect. And that he really shouldn't see her as this person who just couldn't fix him and had to move on to better things. I'm sure if someone you cared about left you because you didn't have your shit together, you'd feel pretty shitty about yourself. Feel like a failure, pathetic excuse for a human, etc. While he may have been the greatest boyfriend, I think he decides to shake off the self-pity and just kinda go from there.
Now the "main" line: "Now I'm finally seeing how I was the one worth leaving". A more obvious interpretation is that he feels the new self-worth and sees the break up as a good thing for too him, not just her. I also take it to mean, however, that she was addicted to drugs during the relationship. Addiction changes people, and makes them unrecognizable sometimes. I feel like she changed from the girl he knew, which partially lead to the spiraling of their relationship. She eventually left him, not the drugs. He feels like since she didn't have her shit together, the breaking up sort of freed him from a broken relationship. Essentially he feels like, yeah she could have left the drugs and stayed with him maybe, but he was worth more than that. He was worth getting away from the situation entirely and finding someone better.
I know it's not perfect and doesn't explain everything. For instance, I'm not sure why a drug addict would be the one issuing ultimatums in a relationship, and set off for a better life in spite of losing something they care about. But whatever. Right?
At least that's one possible interpretation.