I concur with the previous posts about the mental hospital visit. Even before learning that Ben based this protagonist on a real friend, I pictured a sort of fallen, dissociative man in a hospital....almost like a war veteran who's not himself anymore after some kind of breakdown. I can just picture the setting...a long-term care place with lame activities for the residents who are treated almost a bit like children: "put the nametag on your smock" etc. Anyway, the song suggests that Eddie is basically a broken man. One line that I think is important is "you never had a reason to cry." There are two main reasons that people cry.....happiness and sadness. If Eddie never had a reason to cry, it's not just because he missed out on the great things life has to offer....it's also because he won't get to experience all of life's sadness either. It's like Eddie's mental breakdown led him to live in this emotional vacuum where the range of beauty of the world (including both the best and worst of times) are now beyond his grasp. And that makes the song even more bittersweet. I really identify with this song even though I'm not institutionalized. :)
I concur with the previous posts about the mental hospital visit. Even before learning that Ben based this protagonist on a real friend, I pictured a sort of fallen, dissociative man in a hospital....almost like a war veteran who's not himself anymore after some kind of breakdown. I can just picture the setting...a long-term care place with lame activities for the residents who are treated almost a bit like children: "put the nametag on your smock" etc. Anyway, the song suggests that Eddie is basically a broken man. One line that I think is important is "you never had a reason to cry." There are two main reasons that people cry.....happiness and sadness. If Eddie never had a reason to cry, it's not just because he missed out on the great things life has to offer....it's also because he won't get to experience all of life's sadness either. It's like Eddie's mental breakdown led him to live in this emotional vacuum where the range of beauty of the world (including both the best and worst of times) are now beyond his grasp. And that makes the song even more bittersweet. I really identify with this song even though I'm not institutionalized. :)