Less Than You Think

[eddiedillon839]

i was just curious but is there a deeper mean to the song?

[TCP]

Jeff's migraines, I reckon.

[gogo]

It's not exactly about the inspiration so much as the meaning, but when that album first came out, Bridget started a thread about that song, that had some really great stuff in it: Less Than You Think thread, from the archives.

[cash]

To me this song is all about simplicity. I think a lot of times we can get caught up in thought, and we sit, and think, and sit, and think some more, and in our thought we manage not to simplify things, but to complicate them further. What Tweedy is trying to say here is that the situation doesn't need more any more thought, it needs to be let go, because, " There's so much less/To this than you think."

 

I think in most cases there is a lot less to the situation than we think. As individuals we tend to make a bigger deal of bad situations as the rear their ugly heads. We forget about the long run, and worry about what lies immediately ahead. The truth of the matter is that the next morning you'll wake up the same person, eat three meals, and go to bed the next night. To me, Less Than You Think is a poetic, lyrical way of saying calm down.

 

Obviously there is some religious element to the song:

"A fist so clear and climbing

Punches a hole

In the sky

So you can see

For yourself

If you don't believe me"

 

I interpret to mean: "There is no God, let me show you." Later in the song Tweedy writes, "In a cup God lifts/To toast the lightning" which appears to be sort of counter productive to my theory. I think that line sort of falls in the same category with "The Ruling Class." It takes this praised and holy religious figure and "humanizes" him, whether it be toasting the lightning or just trying to get down.

 

There's my two cents.

 

/end over analyzing

 

It's not exactly about the inspiration so much as the meaning, but when that album first came out, Bridget started a thread about that song, that had some really great stuff in it: Less Than You Think thread, from the archives.

 

there's a lot of great stuff in that thread

 

on April 16 2004, 10:55 AM somebody wrote about in an interpretation of LTYT: "that life goes on either way"

...weird

 

EDIT: Tweedy is very existential at times, now that I think about it.

[eddiedillon839]

thanks for the input

[giraffo]

The Ruling Class was about somone Tweedy met in rehab.

[TheMaker]

I think it's about life. Pretty open and shut.

[MattZ]

It's about everything. And nothing.