1930

the sigh right after "if i just keep breathing" is perfect.

I've read that this is about Brian Fallon's grandmother's battle with Alzheimers, which is quite clear from the lyrics really.

But i always interpreted it as a letter to an ex-girlfriend, from a relationship which had a painful break up as she was still hung up on her ex and how the narrator is explaining though he has found someone else, he now understands where she was coming from as he too is still hung up on her and will always love her but he knows it is too complicated to go back and they must move on.

The entire song is about his grandma dying. I think the whole time he's only talking to her but makes reference to his new love. For example, in the chorus:

"But I, I wish you knew her now, She's the better side of me now."

This part is him telling his grandma that he wishes she knew his wife because now his wife is the better side of hiim.

"And I'm doing the best I can, it's what you wanted. " Self explanatory

"And I see it like you were there, And I know just how you'd smile. Mary, you look just like it was 1930 that night."

This part is about his wedding night. He can imagine her being there and smiling because she's happy with his choice of a mate and who he has become and that she would have looked so beautiful at his wedding that it makes him think of 1930 when she was young and how beautiful she would have looked then.

That's my take on the comments people have about it maybe being for two people. The song in my opinion is only for his grandma but with reference to his wife.

It seems to me that he's singing to two different people throughout the song- one is his current lover and the other is some person whom he no longer has contact with but was very close to a long time ago.. This could be his dead grandmother, a deceased or long lost lover, or a woman he has divorced as he refers to in countless other songs such as great expectations...

I think the first verse he's singing to a lover about his dead grandmother (yeah a bit wierd..)or some other passed away person who he was close to and that he is really distraught about said person's death which is backed up by the line "i'm a burning up the night she died" (although "she died" could be metaphorical if they were divorced or split up) as if he can't get it out of his head but hes gonna make one last ditch attempt to do so...

It seems that she died quite a long time ago though

But I think the chorus is sung to this deceased person about his lover and how he wished that the two could have met and that said person would have approved of/really liked his lover.. Then again I think the last two lines of the chorus "Mary you look just like, it was 1930 that night" are sang to the lover and that is why he is so upset.. the way that his lover is looking, lovely as she may be, is reminding him of this other person which is why he is so distraught...

The second verse could have been to either...

And the last bit could be quoting either as well.. perhaps both..

Epic song though... Best on the album?

I think it's "And you said you were satisfied / And that this body's just waiting to die"... and I'd thought it was "But your name is what scares me tonight," but you might be right on that.

Regardless, thanks so much, VoiT, for posting all of these.

I just read on a message board that this song is about the singer's grandma dying of Alzheimer's disease. Not sure if it's true, given the source, but it certainly makes a lot of sense, and makes the song that much sadder to me.

i thought the same originally , it being about a grandma, because of the 1930 thing but i'm pretty sure its a love song for someone he's lost. 'nobody does it like you anymore?' for example

"Like a tattoo that hides the shame."

What does he mean by this? I dont understand how a tattoo would hide any shame.

the song is about his grandmother dying.

like the line about staying still in the pain, and it taking her from him.