I think this is a song about a Son who is frustrated and wants to go out into to the world to make his dreams come true. The first verse is the father's advice to his son before he heads off into the world.
His father, gives him typical parental advice to keep his dreams simple, and be careful. The advice to find a girl and settle down" along with, " I am old but I'm happy" are an attempt to convince his son into a conservative path. He knows the son lacks experience and may do something stupid and impulsive with the lines, "there's so much you don't know" and the awesome poetic line, "Take your time, think alot, think of everything you got, for you will still be here tomorow but your dreams may not". The words emphesize the love the father has for his son and his desire to see his son happy and not broken by the world.
The son answers back with the typical response of a frustrated youth, that being, that his father's love for him is limiting his potential and holding him back. This frustration is depicted in one of my favorite lines of all time, "from the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen". The line, "If they were right I'd agree but it's them you know not me" suggests that it may be a response to other people like the son who the father knew and who had failed at great loss. The story of these people, maybe friends of the father in his younger days, may have been told to the son in order to dissuade him from following his dreams and loosing everything. None-the-less at the end of the song the son states that he must satisfy his desire to venture out with the line, "I have to go". It seems that the son heeds his father's warnings and will keep them in mind but also must find out for himself what he is capable of.
I think this is a song about a Son who is frustrated and wants to go out into to the world to make his dreams come true. The first verse is the father's advice to his son before he heads off into the world. His father, gives him typical parental advice to keep his dreams simple, and be careful. The advice to find a girl and settle down" along with, " I am old but I'm happy" are an attempt to convince his son into a conservative path. He knows the son lacks experience and may do something stupid and impulsive with the lines, "there's so much you don't know" and the awesome poetic line, "Take your time, think alot, think of everything you got, for you will still be here tomorow but your dreams may not". The words emphesize the love the father has for his son and his desire to see his son happy and not broken by the world. The son answers back with the typical response of a frustrated youth, that being, that his father's love for him is limiting his potential and holding him back. This frustration is depicted in one of my favorite lines of all time, "from the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen". The line, "If they were right I'd agree but it's them you know not me" suggests that it may be a response to other people like the son who the father knew and who had failed at great loss. The story of these people, maybe friends of the father in his younger days, may have been told to the son in order to dissuade him from following his dreams and loosing everything. None-the-less at the end of the song the son states that he must satisfy his desire to venture out with the line, "I have to go". It seems that the son heeds his father's warnings and will keep them in mind but also must find out for himself what he is capable of.