This song is so beautiful. It's sung in such a fragile way, (although you could say that about many of Samson's songs) which links up perfectly with the regretful, nervous narrator. He's holding a garage sale, he says, to pay his "HEART'S outstanding bills". This, just like the first couple lines in the next track, "Aside", essentially set up the action in the proceeding lines. All of this clutter has accumulated "sentimental value", a phrase I think holds a similar double entendre to the one presented here. It isn't just STUFF- everything has significance beyond what's implied in a physical description of it (even human beings, who have all of this beautiful internal detail at their command, who have beliefs, memories, etc.). So, "A cracked up compass and a pocket watch" suggests a directionless, wandering state and wasted time. The compass is broken and he is giving up his old timepiece, the latter's it's outmoded form- meaning, it's not a watch or even a clock- especially underscoring it's uselessness. Additionally, I think, his desire to get rid of his "pocket watch" expresses a desire for change, to literally live within the hours and minutes of a new life. "Some plastic daffodils" is one that impresses me as being very subtle. While daffodils represent beauty, they are inorganic, they are not real and pretty tacky. I think these represent our tendency to fall in love with things that we regret loving later on in life- women, art, or tacky decorative "plastic daffodils". By selling off "Cutlery and coffee cups (he) stole from all-night restaurants", he is at once suggesting a state of poverty, of impermanence (if you don't buy nice things, you are just using them temporarily- you aren't home-making), and ALSO, by pointing to the "ALL-NIGHT restaurants", hinting at lonely nights spent drinking coffee and brooding ("All-night restaurant North Kildonan/ lukewarm coffee tastes like soap/ I trace your outline in spilled sugar/ killing time and killing hope" - "None of the Above" from "Fallow"). God damn. I could go on forever but it would belabor the point. Just wanted to point out the double entendre upon which the whole song is based, and that, by selling these things that have basically come to symbolize his life, he is looking for acceptance, for "a place where akward belongs", and "a sign recovery comes to the broken ones". He's willing to let them go because, he reasons, if people will buy his possessions despite their shoddy quality, then maybe someone will love him. JKS is the most underrated songwriter today- how can anyone not be moved to tears by this? And this isn't even the best song on this album. Hope this helps some people.
This song is so beautiful. It's sung in such a fragile way, (although you could say that about many of Samson's songs) which links up perfectly with the regretful, nervous narrator. He's holding a garage sale, he says, to pay his "HEART'S outstanding bills". This, just like the first couple lines in the next track, "Aside", essentially set up the action in the proceeding lines. All of this clutter has accumulated "sentimental value", a phrase I think holds a similar double entendre to the one presented here. It isn't just STUFF- everything has significance beyond what's implied in a physical description of it (even human beings, who have all of this beautiful internal detail at their command, who have beliefs, memories, etc.). So, "A cracked up compass and a pocket watch" suggests a directionless, wandering state and wasted time. The compass is broken and he is giving up his old timepiece, the latter's it's outmoded form- meaning, it's not a watch or even a clock- especially underscoring it's uselessness. Additionally, I think, his desire to get rid of his "pocket watch" expresses a desire for change, to literally live within the hours and minutes of a new life. "Some plastic daffodils" is one that impresses me as being very subtle. While daffodils represent beauty, they are inorganic, they are not real and pretty tacky. I think these represent our tendency to fall in love with things that we regret loving later on in life- women, art, or tacky decorative "plastic daffodils". By selling off "Cutlery and coffee cups (he) stole from all-night restaurants", he is at once suggesting a state of poverty, of impermanence (if you don't buy nice things, you are just using them temporarily- you aren't home-making), and ALSO, by pointing to the "ALL-NIGHT restaurants", hinting at lonely nights spent drinking coffee and brooding ("All-night restaurant North Kildonan/ lukewarm coffee tastes like soap/ I trace your outline in spilled sugar/ killing time and killing hope" - "None of the Above" from "Fallow"). God damn. I could go on forever but it would belabor the point. Just wanted to point out the double entendre upon which the whole song is based, and that, by selling these things that have basically come to symbolize his life, he is looking for acceptance, for "a place where akward belongs", and "a sign recovery comes to the broken ones". He's willing to let them go because, he reasons, if people will buy his possessions despite their shoddy quality, then maybe someone will love him. JKS is the most underrated songwriter today- how can anyone not be moved to tears by this? And this isn't even the best song on this album. Hope this helps some people.