Who do you suppose Dave wrote "Close" for?

[AlyssaJones]

My mother posed this question to me the other day when we were in the car. She likes SA now and it's kinda cool but at the same time kinda lame. Anyway, she asked me who I thought Dave wrote Close for and I automatically said, "I think he wrote it for Dan." I've always thought he wrote it for Dan, even from the very first time I heard it. She agreed with me and remarked on what a sweet tribute it is for his friend (assuming it is about Dan).

Thoughts on the subject?

[dells]

I agree with you that he probably wrote it for Dan (and Karl). It's always struck me as a song of encouragement and validation for their Soul Asylum endeavors, rather than a love song.

And Dave has stated that he's never written, nor intends to write, a love song, so if we are to believe that, then Close pretty much has to be about his friendships with Dan and Karl, and the progress they've made together as Soul Asylum, rather than about a relationship with a girlfriend. Although since music is meant to be subjective, then it can be about whatever type of relationship the listener wants to hear at any given listen.

dells

[Closer]

I always thought it was more or less a love song... I think he does write love songs, just not in the cheesy, cliche kind of way... and then this song fits that profile... but now that I'm actually giving it some thought, then yeah... it could be about a friendship and about the band.

[dells]

I think he does write love songs, just not in the cheesy, cliche kind of way...

I agree with you there. But I doubt if Dave considers them "love" songs, because his songs are so much deeper than that. He tends to write about really "deep" aspects of any given relationship, so they are more about that particular subject than about the object of the feeling or state of being that he is writing about. The man is a genious at conveying profound, complex emotions with just a few eloquent, well constructed words, and Close is probably the very best example of that. Years ago, back in the CFAS days, on the soulasylum.com community board (before it was taken down due to troll infestation) someone had posted an awesome in depth anayisis of all the complex things described in Close in simple terms, for those that couldn't quite "get" what dave is saying in the song. Although I do "get" what the song is saying & didn't need to be told, I still really enjoyed that well-written analysis and wish I had thought to save it to my own computer, since it was lost when that board was taken down.

dells

[CULater]

Either way, it sounds like a song written for somebody that just "gets" you. It's one of my favorites. And as always, it's written in that Dave-way that makes you ponder it....

[mystic_spiral_3]

My mother posed this question to me the other day when we were in the car. She likes SA now and it's kinda cool but at the same time kinda lame.

I'd see this as a good thing. I remember my first SA show, my mom insisted on going with me because she didn't want me driving on the empty dark roads back home by myself. I figured SA with mom was better than no show, but I was nervous that she would not like the show. I was relieved when she said she did like the show.

As for the song, I never considered it was about the band until you mentioned it. I like that interpretation though. I guess I assumed it was for an old friend or possibly an ex-girlfriend (not necessarily the famous one either).

[I Love Dim Light]

delete

[triumph3434]

I never even questioned that this song was about a girl untill now. I thought of it as a nice love song.

But... what about this... "If its the thought that counts, you can always count on me, I think about IT all the time"...

What is IT? What does he think about all the time?

P.S. this song is too sappy to be about the band. Im sticking with girl. Was he with Winona at that point?

[zany]

i never thought about this question before so this thread made me consider it and i think it's more friend-y than girlfriend-y.

to me it feels old-high-school-days-friend-y... like back when friendships felt even more intense.
but that's what it's about "to me" - i have no good reason to guess one way or the other about what inspired dave to write it.

(p.s. only the second half really seems to be about any kind of friendship or relationship)

[CULater]

Seems as though it would at least be about people that have - known each other forever and can complete each others thoughts - and sometimes he writes his songs years before they could appear on a CD, so who knows.

Whatever the meaning, love the song.