as a native west virginia that now lives in new york city i have to say i feel for this song a lot.
some of the imagery is just so familiar. i am going to have to go with Northernlion that the 4th line is in fact "the same old sheep" not only because it sounds like that is what he is saying, but because WV is filled with sheep.
The idea of "yellow country teeth" is just so point on because so many people in WV just have poor dental hygiene for a number of reasons, especially in the more rural areas of the state (which is where the imagery that alec gives us seems to take place).
I really like the idea of getting far away from WV and 'trying new york city' because that is exactly what i wanted to do for a good 18 years of my life and when the chance to get out arose, i grabbed it like a hunter would grab a shotgun.
that said, the city is so big that it is easy to get lost and lonely here, especially in contrast to WV where everyone seems to know everyone. So i think that is what he is getting at in the last part of the song when he is asking to be taken to a party, because while there certainly is a hell of a lot more to do in the city, if you don't know where to go, you can find yourself in the same problem you had back home where there was NOTHING to do, except that back there at least you know there are no options, whereas the city has so many it can be daunting.
one more thing, the line about how the sky holds you in seems to hold a duality between WV where the sky is endless and can be seen for miles thus holding you in its absolute expansiveness, in contrast to the city where you can see the sky except for when you look directly up, because there are so many builidings blocking it that at times you can feel like you are in a box.
those are just my thoughts, though i think we can all agree the song is amazing.
as a native west virginia that now lives in new york city i have to say i feel for this song a lot. some of the imagery is just so familiar. i am going to have to go with Northernlion that the 4th line is in fact "the same old sheep" not only because it sounds like that is what he is saying, but because WV is filled with sheep. The idea of "yellow country teeth" is just so point on because so many people in WV just have poor dental hygiene for a number of reasons, especially in the more rural areas of the state (which is where the imagery that alec gives us seems to take place). I really like the idea of getting far away from WV and 'trying new york city' because that is exactly what i wanted to do for a good 18 years of my life and when the chance to get out arose, i grabbed it like a hunter would grab a shotgun. that said, the city is so big that it is easy to get lost and lonely here, especially in contrast to WV where everyone seems to know everyone. So i think that is what he is getting at in the last part of the song when he is asking to be taken to a party, because while there certainly is a hell of a lot more to do in the city, if you don't know where to go, you can find yourself in the same problem you had back home where there was NOTHING to do, except that back there at least you know there are no options, whereas the city has so many it can be daunting.
one more thing, the line about how the sky holds you in seems to hold a duality between WV where the sky is endless and can be seen for miles thus holding you in its absolute expansiveness, in contrast to the city where you can see the sky except for when you look directly up, because there are so many builidings blocking it that at times you can feel like you are in a box.
those are just my thoughts, though i think we can all agree the song is amazing.