after thinking about it a long time I have decided I think it is about his daughter and their divorce. “The boss” is his ex wife but he disguises it as a man, “the devil”. the daughter comes to visit him, perhaps from an abusive relationship and he is singing the song to her. he has many mansions from being rich and famous and she is free to stay any one of them in order not to have to deal with the “hell” of the ex wife who is bossy and greedy and wanted it all “a whole man not just a half” instead of just half in the divorce. or to escape the hell of the daughter’s current abusive relationship if there is one. one would think his ex’s greed and vanity would get the best of her but she ended up making out like a bandit. perhaps as a child the daughter had crawled across cut glass in order to try to save her parents’ marriage somehow. the line about patriotism are just fatherly advice about what to expect in society and what his mind is preoccupied with.
after thinking about it a long time I have decided I think it is about his daughter and their divorce. “The boss” is his ex wife but he disguises it as a man, “the devil”. the daughter comes to visit him, perhaps from an abusive relationship and he is singing the song to her. he has many mansions from being rich and famous and she is free to stay any one of them in order not to have to deal with the “hell” of the ex wife who is bossy and greedy and wanted it all “a whole man not just a half” instead of just half in the divorce. or to escape the hell of the daughter’s current abusive relationship if there is one. one would think his ex’s greed and vanity would get the best of her but she ended up making out like a bandit. perhaps as a child the daughter had crawled across cut glass in order to try to save her parents’ marriage somehow. the line about patriotism are just fatherly advice about what to expect in society and what his mind is preoccupied with.