In my humble opinion, Tweedy wrote this while on a European tour with Wilco - and it’s a heady time for him. It’s “impossible” they’re playing shows in Germany and even more “unlikely” they’re headed to Japan next - this milestone, to have a real foreign audience, is “important” to him - as an artist and person. He’s trying to express this to over the phone to his wife - who is back home in the states. He’s trying “to say what this means to me” but they’re separated, by time/space/headspace/etc and she can’t appreciate how happy and proud he is at the moment. She not listening. The song is about how hard it is to share your successes, even with those who love you most. Tweedy understands why this is, saying if having his music this well received “was still new to me I wouldn’t understand.” But it’s not new, so he does. He goes one step further, saying this lack of communication is not a flaw in their relationship but in fact its core. “This is what love is for.” It not just the emotions and experiences you share with your partner that make your bond so strong, but also the ones that are impossible to. Just to know someone is listening, even if they can’t understand what you’re expressing - there’s nothing more important than that.
In my humble opinion, Tweedy wrote this while on a European tour with Wilco - and it’s a heady time for him. It’s “impossible” they’re playing shows in Germany and even more “unlikely” they’re headed to Japan next - this milestone, to have a real foreign audience, is “important” to him - as an artist and person. He’s trying to express this to over the phone to his wife - who is back home in the states. He’s trying “to say what this means to me” but they’re separated, by time/space/headspace/etc and she can’t appreciate how happy and proud he is at the moment. She not listening. The song is about how hard it is to share your successes, even with those who love you most. Tweedy understands why this is, saying if having his music this well received “was still new to me I wouldn’t understand.” But it’s not new, so he does. He goes one step further, saying this lack of communication is not a flaw in their relationship but in fact its core. “This is what love is for.” It not just the emotions and experiences you share with your partner that make your bond so strong, but also the ones that are impossible to. Just to know someone is listening, even if they can’t understand what you’re expressing - there’s nothing more important than that.