correct me if im wrong but....Daniel Johnston, the writer of the song, has been in love with a girl named laura all his life but he is not with her. She was a very old friend that he never had the chance to be in a real relationship with. Most of his songs are about her but she has declined to be with him. He doesnt and hasnt had contact with her in a looong time. Many of his songs about love are about laura and are written hopelessly long after the fact. It helps to know this to understand the lyrics. Both versions of the song strike a deep chord in me. It portrays a deep everlasting love for someone, long after the hope of being with them is gone. The picture the song describes is arguably the last image the speaker has in his/her head of the one they love and lost (like the last time they saw them). The love the speaker has is still so strong, even long after the fact, that the picture is still as bright and clear and on the same spot on his/her wall as it always has been. Time and hopelessness have not degraded the love at all. The tragic irony is that it isnt the love BETWEEN the people that lasts a long time, but the speakers own unrequited feelings. It ironically and sadly clashes against the cliche of mutual love lasting a long time. Ah, its really beyond words, it is just so purely true and tragic.

The lyrics are pretty simple, but still meaningful. I feel like I don't understand the entire meaning of "red is strong, blue is true," maybe someone has some insight on that? This makes me think of one of my best friends who lives halfway across the country--we're so close even though we don't see each other all the time, but we know that "some things last a long time," and our friendship is one of them. Also, I feel like the music just augments the lyrics; without that beautiful melody it just wouldn't be as meaningful.

infinitely better than johnston's.

let's face it, that dude's voice is awful. and the original is entirely too long.

It's on the album "1990"

I couldn't find Johnston's version.. but I found Built to Spill's version made in 1996. Crazy

It's a Daniel Johnston cover.

i agree. it's almost too bad it's so short, because it has some of the best instrumentation of the record. its the most different instrumentation out of the whole cd. it's pretty dark. i love it.

I don't know any other band that has made so few words sound so complete.