"I'm jealous of the moon for how it moves the waves"

Jason, one of my best friends from home, and I had a very long discussion once about what this song means. It provoked such thought that he called me the next day, taking back everything he had said, and left a 5-minute voicemail with another theory. What can I say, Matt Nathanson songs have that effect on people. (Also it just occurred to me that I keep saying I'm going to analyze a happy song, but so far, each song has been sadder than the one before it...oh well!)

"Wedding Dress" Music and Lyrics by Matt Nathanson

So we lie here in the dark;
All the wrong things on fire.
In sickness and in health,
To be with you, just to be with you.

Ok, I really believe the song is about a guy in love with a girl...only problem is, the girl is engaged to be married. When analyzing it, Jason didn't agree with me at first, but then he eventually came around :) In fact, he compared it to Jim and Pam, circa-second season "The Office," when Jim Halpert is love with the engaged Pam Beesly. Anyway, the first verse gives it away with, "all the wrong things on fire." I think he's talking about his heart being "on fire," or in other words, in lust with this engaged woman. I personally think its clever the way he weaves the traditional words for wedding vows into a song about infidelity!

In your wedding dress,
To have and to hold.
Cause even at my best,
I wanna let go...

This is the chorus that repeats several times, and here it becomes clear to me that he's in love with someone that he wishes he could marry, but she' s committed to someone else. He's trying to be a good person and let go of his feelings, but he is too in love, and he can't.

And you hold me in your arms;
And all that I can see
Is my future in your hands.
And all that I can feel,
Is how long ever after is.
It's all that I can do,
To be with you, just to be with you.

This the the verse that really gets me, because he's imagining how wonderful his future could be with her if he was the one she was marrying. And I think the essence of the song lies in the lines, "It's all that I can do just to be with you." The way I explained it to Jason, the guy in the song is realizing that he has two options: he can be heartsick and force himself never to see the girl again, or be heartsick and choose to be something that hurts him just to think about- her friend. For some guys, it's worse to be friends. Like on "The Office," in season 3, when Jim leaves the Scranton branch because he can't bear to be friends with Pam after she is married to Roy. But I think in the song, the guy is saying it would be worse to never see the girl again. This verse is basically about that extremely difficult choice.

(Chorus)

Thought I'd lost you...
Thought I'd lost you,
I gave you away.
Thought I'd lost you...
I'm jealous of the moon
For how it moves the waves.

I think this part of the song is called the bridge? Maybe? In any case, this has my favorite line, and the title of this post, "I'm jealous of the moon for how it moves the waves." I think this is talking about control, and the guy wishes he has the ability to control something that is bigger, bigger than him- his fate.

(Chorus)

And I wanna be somebody else now
And I wanna thicken my skin
And I wanna wish it all
Just wish it all away again

This last verse is barely whispered at the end of the song, and I think it's really powerful. He's accepted his fate, and the fact that someone he loves is marrying someone else. Here he drops to complicated allusions that he makes earlier in the song, and reverts to just very simple, clear thoughts- he just wishes none of this situation had ever happened.

So there are my thoughts on the song. It might be totally off base, but I really love it, so I think that my theory may have some value. But if anything, it inspires discussion, which should be the goal of any great song.

Matt Nathanson, gifted comedian

Because I'm going to one of Matt Nathanson's concerts in two weeks (March 19 in Cleveland, can't wait), I figured I would profile him today and analyze one of his songs next week.

Matt Nathanson is in a similar category as Ari Hest, since he is mostly a solo acoustic performer with a band occasionally behind him, but he is arguably more well-known. He has the gift of being a truly amazing live performer, in addition to a hilarious personality, and he has developed an extremely loyal fan base and following. All of Matt's shows are peppered with a ton of witty banter between him and audience. As much as I love his music, while at one of his concerts, I almost look forward more to when the guitar stops and he talks with the crowd.

I have been lucky enough to see him live three times, and I even got to interview him once for the campus entertainment magazine. One of my favorite memories of his shows was this past October at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. He started randomly talking about the World Series, and was joking that although he hails from Boston, he couldn't care less about the Red Sox because "I spent my childhood in the basement with my guitar, not caring about sports." He then asked about D.C.'s baseball team, to which someone yelled, "Go Nationals!" Clearly having no idea what the person was talking about, Matt replied, "Oh, they're in the National League?" Finally, when enough people started yelling so that he understood the team name was actually the Nationals, and he incredulously said, "Seriously? Guys, no one has EVER heard of your team." Everyone started cracking up, and it was a classic Matt Nathanson moment. The rest of the night, between almost every song, he managed to make a reference to the Nationals- "the greatest hockey team of all time!"

In any case, I can't wait to see his show in Cleveland, and I'm also excited to analyze one of his songs, because he is also a brilliant lyricist. And honestly, when I'm singing out loud in the car (because who doesn't do that?) his songs are some of my favorite to belt out.