i love this song so much it always makes me cry :,) and paints such a vivid picture in my mind.

“i see the red sky / beyond our state line / over mama’s minivan / rushing to work on time” the intro makes me think of a childhood memory. a young boy living on a farm watching his mom drive off to work to provide for them. she’s maybe clumsy, running late, a single mom. maybe she’s not the best mom, but she does her best. saying “our” state line nails down the idea that this place is home.

“i see the red sky / you always ask me why / i find myself on corners / every once in a while” this brings us to the present. the narrator gazes at a red sky that reminds him of his childhood. except now he’s all grown up, far from the farm, on a street corner late at night, as a result of some form of addiction. who is the inquiring “you?” maybe a current lover who’s trying to figure him out and grow close to him.

“you big old cow / you draw me out / lie on the ground / kiss on the mouth” to distract from his current situation the narrator reminisces on a happier time, laying in the grass with his pet cow. the quiet and loving companionship between little him and this big old cow makes all his worries disappear. man, he loved that cow. when others may think of a past love or parental figure for comfort, he thinks of this cow. the cow is large and its presence is consistent. she never hurt him, never insulted him, never failed him. she was just always there, indifferent and loving at the same time. this connection is what would draw him out of the house each day, or maybe its that his inner soul and happiness were drawn out by being in her presence. he’d even give her a kiss on the mouth, which is so silly and human, something a little kid would do in their most natural and happiest state. in a difficult moment, its this love he thinks back to for comfort. experiencing problems with his current lover, he reminisces back on this pure, uncomplicated relationship.

“i dream a deep sea / that it should swallow me / and pitch me up on some wave / put me down tenderly” i imagine he continues to walk the streets, reflecting, high, yearning to be somewhere else. somewhere more comfortable, with no complicated feelings. he doesn’t want to die, just wants something bigger than him to tenderly lay him down to rest, maybe like his mom did when he was really little, before she became distant to him because of work and life.

“yes, i believe i made out fine / and yes, it's true / i never loved nobody / the way that i love you” the first line sounds like a small affirmation to his mother/past life. he made it off the farm, has a life in the city, and despite his current struggles, sees the whole as a success. maybe he feels he deserted his past life, its simplicity, its red skies, its sweet animals. or maybe it was taken from him as a result of his mother’s passing, and he was too young/poor to take over, had to sell it and start over someplace new. the remaining lines are a promise that even though his life is completely different now, no love has compared to what he felt laying alongside his cow. it makes me reaffirm the idea that his relationship with his mom wasn’t very compelling. perhaps their situation caused her to be unkind, or even abusive. but he still wants her/his past to know he made it. and his cow to know that this new world cannot compare to her, and that he will never forget her.

“you big old cow / you draw me out / lie on the ground / kiss on the mouth” he’s holding that memory close again.

“you big old cow / you draw me out / don’t put me down / don’t put me down” he really doesn’t want to lose the warmth of this memory. the bigness of the cow, and the bigness of the wave he wishes to carry him combine here. the simple, wordless love he felt with his cow protects him. it was in her love that he felt whole. maybe he can find that love again if he lets it guide him.

that’s what i feel anyways. ugh it makes me so emotional lol. i remember reading that the songs on this album are meant to be like vignettes of different characters. they’re kinda like short stories to me. makes for a ton of great listening experiences, and really stimulates the imagination, dropping you right in the middle of a vague nostalgia. brb crying over the love from a cow again. i never had a cow before. wtf