Agree that this is a beautiful song; certainly my favorite on the Iron & Wine / Calexico album... Seems a fairly straightforward song about a remembered encounter, and the way memory colors things with a brighter pallete than life really does...
From the opening line we get that this is about choices ("you asked me what I want"), both those taken and the ones we pass on...
A specific question, which doesn't much impact the meaning of the song but: "...tells me we don't talk enough..." -- Do you guys think the son is telling his father that he and the son don't talk enough, or the man and his wife (the subject of the previous line) don't talk enough. Just curious. In some ways, it makes more sense that he and his wife don't talk enough, since the song is a remniscence of a past love, and, in a way, a daydream about the path he didn't take...
Also, the use of alcohol in the track is interesting... "...neon at a liqour store" = the intoxicating promise of drink/love, contrast with "a party where I drank too much" = another subtle comment about the real deal (booze/love) being both good and bad mixed.
Maybe reading too much into this, but somehow, with this songwriter, I don't think so...
Agree that this is a beautiful song; certainly my favorite on the Iron & Wine / Calexico album... Seems a fairly straightforward song about a remembered encounter, and the way memory colors things with a brighter pallete than life really does...
From the opening line we get that this is about choices ("you asked me what I want"), both those taken and the ones we pass on...
A specific question, which doesn't much impact the meaning of the song but: "...tells me we don't talk enough..." -- Do you guys think the son is telling his father that he and the son don't talk enough, or the man and his wife (the subject of the previous line) don't talk enough. Just curious. In some ways, it makes more sense that he and his wife don't talk enough, since the song is a remniscence of a past love, and, in a way, a daydream about the path he didn't take...
Also, the use of alcohol in the track is interesting... "...neon at a liqour store" = the intoxicating promise of drink/love, contrast with "a party where I drank too much" = another subtle comment about the real deal (booze/love) being both good and bad mixed.
Maybe reading too much into this, but somehow, with this songwriter, I don't think so...