The truly beautiful thing about this song is the imagery. Even though we have an image to accompany it (the Hopper painting), the lyrics themselves paint wonderful pictures. I also believe this song is about a close friend, probably from childhood, who has died in the war.
“In the stick count for the song / of knowing you’re gone.”
I believe the narrator is taking a night walk, missing his friend, and either listening to music, or creating one (this one in his head). Therefore the song becomes the song of “knowing you’re gone.”
“I see you suddenly alive / and nearly smiling. / I stop and hold my breath / and watch the way you used to be. / The full moon makes / our faces shine / like over-ironed polyester, / then disappears behind the clouds / and leaves me under empty rows / of night windows.”
I believe the moonlight creates a shadow in the window of his old home, which is not inhabited by others. He thinks for a second that it could be his friend, he could still be there, and he watches. However, when the light changes, it all goes away and he’s simply there beneath night windows.
“We could walk to where these streets / get pulled together, / blinking, lined with gravel / shoulder squared towards an end. / Where the radio resounds / from Doppling traffic, / where the power lines /steal esses from the hourly news.”
This is where the imagery gets really lovely. It also slides perfectly into the news, assuming that’s where he heard his friend died.
“De-pluralize our casualties, / drown the generals out in static. / We turn and watch our city sprawl / and send us signals in the glow / of night windows.”
I believe this is a contrast of the war to how they live. The information about the war gets lost in people’s daily lives, lights on at night.
“(But you’re not coming home again / and I won’t ever get to say…) / remember how… / I’m sorry that… / I miss the way… / could we…?”
A very sad end, admittance that the person is dead and little daily phrases won’t be able to be used anymore in conversation, just like night windows can never exist as a simple human thing. They are so much more than that.
The truly beautiful thing about this song is the imagery. Even though we have an image to accompany it (the Hopper painting), the lyrics themselves paint wonderful pictures. I also believe this song is about a close friend, probably from childhood, who has died in the war.
“In the stick count for the song / of knowing you’re gone.”
I believe the narrator is taking a night walk, missing his friend, and either listening to music, or creating one (this one in his head). Therefore the song becomes the song of “knowing you’re gone.”
“I see you suddenly alive / and nearly smiling. / I stop and hold my breath / and watch the way you used to be. / The full moon makes / our faces shine / like over-ironed polyester, / then disappears behind the clouds / and leaves me under empty rows / of night windows.”
I believe the moonlight creates a shadow in the window of his old home, which is not inhabited by others. He thinks for a second that it could be his friend, he could still be there, and he watches. However, when the light changes, it all goes away and he’s simply there beneath night windows.
“We could walk to where these streets / get pulled together, / blinking, lined with gravel / shoulder squared towards an end. / Where the radio resounds / from Doppling traffic, / where the power lines /steal esses from the hourly news.”
This is where the imagery gets really lovely. It also slides perfectly into the news, assuming that’s where he heard his friend died.
“De-pluralize our casualties, / drown the generals out in static. / We turn and watch our city sprawl / and send us signals in the glow / of night windows.”
I believe this is a contrast of the war to how they live. The information about the war gets lost in people’s daily lives, lights on at night.
“(But you’re not coming home again / and I won’t ever get to say…) / remember how… / I’m sorry that… / I miss the way… / could we…?”
A very sad end, admittance that the person is dead and little daily phrases won’t be able to be used anymore in conversation, just like night windows can never exist as a simple human thing. They are so much more than that.