Neko Case – I Wish I Was the Moon

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  Song Meaning:In an interview Neko said that this song was written about her father whom she described as a 'sad and lonely man' who hated his life and let them know about it every day. Her mother and father emigrated from the Ukraine, when it was still part of the communist Soviet Union. The line "god bless me I'm a free man" refers to that, but they were very poor which gives us the line "with nowhere free to go". He worked for the US Air Force which meant moving around a lot and why they wound up in Tacoma Washington as there is an Air Force Base there. It's truly one of her sadder songs.

  Flag ginintonicon August 16, 2011   Link

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    That should be 'with no place free to go'.

    Flag ginintonicon August 18, 2011  
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  General Comment:Every word of this song reminds me of my Dad in the last years of his life. He was sick, he suffered, he was isolated, lonely and afraid, but he still kept his heart on his sleeve, and he never forgot the years he lived, whether they be good or bad. Sometimes when I listen to this song, it makes my heart ache to see him one more time.

  Flag shoesofpinkon August 03, 2011   Link

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    In an interview Neko said that this song was written about her father whom she described as a 'sad and lonely man' who hated his life and let them know abou it every day. He and her mother emigrated from the Ukraine, when it was part of the communist Soviet Union. The line "god bless me I'm a free man" refers to that, but they were very poor which gives us the line "with nowhere free to go". He worked for the US Air Force which meant moving around a lot and why they wound up in Tacoma Washington as there is an Air Force Base there. It's truly one of her sadder songs.

    Flag ginintonicon August 14, 2011  
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  General Comment:I agree this song is stunningly gorgeous. I've always taken it from a man's perspective. "Collared tight" seems to be a reference to the business world that men live in. Sort of automatons to the machine of business where they lose their identities. Also,the line of "I sold my soul, but I woke just the same" seem to go that route too as well as "I'm a free man with no place free to go". He can't get out of the rut of the world that's set up for men. He's afraid he will be stuck there forever never having love in his life (again?). Just a worker bee making it through like a good society man should. Maybe unable to know how he feels anymore and unable to show it. He remembers being young, in love and thought he still had time for it again perhaps, but suddenly he was old and running out of time with the "thought that I was young". Or, he never has had and he thought he'd find it and it's getting too late for it. Still, he's hopeful at the end!
  
  Whatever it totally means, it's one of my favorite Neko songs as well.

  Flag MsAdaleeon July 13, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:"Thought that I was young
  Now I've freezing hands and bloodless veins
  As numb as I've become"
  MAYBE I TRY TO MAKE SONGS ABOUT DRUGS BUT . THIS MAKES ME THINK OF OLD ADDICTS STILL CHASING THAT FIRST HIGH AND NEVER FINDING FREEDOM WITH IT. IN TURN UPSETTING LOVERS >>> LEAVING THEM ABLAZE.....
  " God bless me I'm a free man
  With no place free to go
  Paralyzed and collared tight
  No pills for what I fear

  Flag arthamaybeon January 09, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:In Neko Case's concert at Disney Hall on 16 November 2007 broadcast by NPR she says that she wrote the sing for her dad because he was a very strange and lonely man.

  Flag Acexnzon March 13, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:I think that "chimney falls and lovers blaze" is a reflection on the memory of knocking boots so hard that the chimney on top of the house actually crumbles from the force - it's a reference to the passion of youth. It's followed by: "Now I've freezing hands and bloodless veins As numb as I've become" - which represents the melancholy of the subject's present life - growing old and longing for past love.

  Flag ghosttrainhoboon October 22, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:"god blessed me, I'm a free man" implies the (free) will that we all have, our ability to choose, but "with no place free to go" suggests that we are also bound by our choices... it implies the power of choice to bind us in the feelings and consequences that follow our action... these lyrics could mean several different things, but my guess is that the song is about a person who thought they wanted something, and prostituted themselves ("I sold myself")... now they are racked with hunger, regret and loneliness ("but I woke just the same")... and maybe this person is afraid of becoming an outcast if others knew what they did ("no free place to go")... they feel trapped, but they feel they cannot relate their feelings to any person... the heart is not in their chest; rather, it is outside, on watch ("in my lap")... faith in love's redemption is leaving the person as they try to figure themselves out ... but the spirit tries to hold on... and so Neko has us turned to Nature, to the moon...
  
  this sort of reminds me of "Fear and Love" when Skye Edwards sings "love can stop our fear / fear can stop you loving, but it's not always that clear"..

  Flag laughing_manon June 18, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:"chimney falls and lovers blaze" brings to my mind the image of the two lovers falling out of the lightning-struck tower often found in tarot decks... the tense of "falls" could be pointing to that moment, the low-point, when the speaker realizes that he (or maybe she) is "lost" after having "sold" themselves, and the flood of loneliness accompanying this realization... the entire song is steeped in a kind of loneliness, but it's a beautiful solitude (amplified, of course, by neko's vocals and the guitar/string work here), much like the image of the wolf or coyote on the ledge, looking up at the moon... here, it is neko "howling" that primal feeling, the knowledge that one is always alone ("thought that I was young"), the innocence that always has been lost..

  Flag laughing_manon June 18, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:
  "God Blessed Me I'm a Free Man With No Place Free to Go"
  
  What do you think she means by this?

  Flag kathymae19on March 27, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:such a good song

  Flag person22on March 27, 2008   Link

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