I always took mamma as being his girl. He's telling her not to take his kodachrome, metaphorically his good thoughts of her. As he states in the 2nd verse, he knows once things go sour, he'll never look back at her as fondly as he looks at her now. The first verse seems to me to be saying something more like, "hey i might not be a genius, but i think i can see when things are going to shit". IMO he basically equates kodachrome to love or the though of being in love. When you're in love, it makes you think all the world is a sunny day. He wants to take a picture to try to capture that moment and those good feelings.
I always took mamma as being his girl. He's telling her not to take his kodachrome, metaphorically his good thoughts of her. As he states in the 2nd verse, he knows once things go sour, he'll never look back at her as fondly as he looks at her now. The first verse seems to me to be saying something more like, "hey i might not be a genius, but i think i can see when things are going to shit". IMO he basically equates kodachrome to love or the though of being in love. When you're in love, it makes you think all the world is a sunny day. He wants to take a picture to try to capture that moment and those good feelings.