People have proposed that this song may be about a crisis and that it may be about loss of a wife, but in actuality I think it is about both. A man's wife dies. He sinks into a depression, and he has a crisis of faith. The evidence for the death of a spouse theory can be clearly seen in the second verse, which is describing a funeral procession. The black cars all in a row, the flowers, etc. The depression can be seen throughout the song. The man sees everything in a darker light without his wife, and verse four references him joining his now deceased wife, implying that he is suicidal. The repeated references to painting a red door black are proof of a crisis of faith. In Catholicism, a red door represents that the area beyond the door is holy and sacred.
People have proposed that this song may be about a crisis and that it may be about loss of a wife, but in actuality I think it is about both. A man's wife dies. He sinks into a depression, and he has a crisis of faith. The evidence for the death of a spouse theory can be clearly seen in the second verse, which is describing a funeral procession. The black cars all in a row, the flowers, etc. The depression can be seen throughout the song. The man sees everything in a darker light without his wife, and verse four references him joining his now deceased wife, implying that he is suicidal. The repeated references to painting a red door black are proof of a crisis of faith. In Catholicism, a red door represents that the area beyond the door is holy and sacred.