Ramona Was A Waitress

I think conceptually this song is about robots and the future, the conversation with a robot in a bar or whatever Paul Dempsey himself said. That said, I think there is a more personal theme running through the song, certain lines make me think he's referring to the "feeling" of having a long distance relationship via webcam.

1. "There's a way you've always known her; Telephone between her cheek and her shoulder" -- using a phone to talk while you see each other on a webcam.
2. "Ramona was a waitress; All but made of information" -- you could interpret this a 2nd way, maybe he's saying the relationship was all in his head, the relationship was "all but made of information" because it only existed on the internet.
3. "...what if it's only worth; The bundle of nerves it's written on?" -- same thing, what if the relationship isn't really there when they meet in person? He's thinking about whether a relationship can exist "on the internet", outside of our bodies, then he's wondering "what if relationships are only really inside our heads"?.
4. "I don't need these arms anymore" -- might be a cheeky reference to how your arms aren't usually visible on a webcam, just your head and torso normally. Like, he's spent so long looking at his own head and torso on a screen that it starts to feel like an abstract picture and it doesn't really feel like him anymore, so he says "i don't need this skin and bone", you know, he's become disassociated from his own image.

I think this is the emotional root of the song, the robots and stuff about the future and mortality were possibly added later to make the lyrics richer and the themes more complex; in my view it's a beautiful song about a fleeting long-distance relationship.

The last chorus lyrics are wrong!! When i won't need these arms anymore When i won't need this heart now to love I won't need this skin and bones

I think the song is about dying and going to heaven. Living forever, the future....

I interpret it as about a stranger, Ramona, who committed suicide.

My favourite part;

"The waking life, stitched together in your head Well, what if it's only worth the bundle of nerves it's written on?"

Love this song. <3

Isn't this song about robots? Or a conversation with a robot about the meaning of life or something? Regardless, wicked song, not usually a fan but this song is way to good not to like

It's about a guy having an argument with a robot about immortality. The 'Ramona' comes from an actual artificial intelligence project by the same name aimed at making a robot near human and reaching consciousness. Very weird topic, really like the song a lot though, especially the line 'but she don't recognise the song'

lawl.

i was pretty off then.

but regardless, it's a good song.

I saw him in concert, and before he sang this he said that its dedicated to a special girl who will remain young forever...

I think this is a beautiful song. Not sure what its about, the robot theory makes sense though.

From the mouth of Mr Dempsey from a Jmag interview: "So this guy walks into a bar... and he sits down to have a stiff drink and he gets locked in conversation with this waitress who is actually like a 'human version 2.0' or something like that, and they start talking about love and life and death and all sorts of serious crap, except the conversation kinda starts to fall apart a bit because he's really neurotic and worried about mortality and the meaning of life etc. and she just isn't really on the same wavelength because she's like a semi-artifical intelligence in a semi-biological body and she just kinda 'upgrades' and never really has to die and... I don't know what it means but it feels right to me."

First of all i think Ramona is dead. And i believ she's a specific person he met but representative of many people like her who live a life of struggles. She works at a late night bar/diner, always talks about all her thousands of future dreams but is really a scarred person who dies a waitress in a crappy bar. It's pessimistic but that was my interpretation.