Interpretations:The Spine Surfs Alone

• Song
• Lyrics
• Interpretations
• Credits
• Guitar Tab
• Bass Tab
• Chronology

Back pains

This is pretty funny/random, but I remember reading some Linnell interview and several times he brought up how he has back problems. Maybe the Spine stuff is all about how they're getting old and having back pains.

Yeah, he has said that he has chronic back pain. I think he said that in a UGO interview, actually.

If you'd like a link that provides a copy of the interview in question, click here. --MisterMe (talk) 15:33, 20 December 2019 (EST)

Remedies

The recitation of ineffective medications makes me laugh - an inventory of the bathroom cabinet of any mid-century American WASP mother, all of them over-the-counter ointments she would apply to minor scrapes and bites. --Nehushtan (talk) 17:55, 26 November 2019 (EST)

Aging

In a pretty oblique way, it's about aging. As parts of your body (in the example, your back/spine) get creakier, and start to develop aches and pains, you become much more aware of them. That's what I think the here it comes line is getting at - of course, you've had the spine all along, but it's only now that it's causing you trouble that it seems like it's somehow sneaking up on you. The aforementioned trouble it's causing isn't just physical, either - it's a constant reminder of the unstoppable hands of time, the irreversible effects of aging. The song's narrator briefly recalls good times before returning to focus the issue at hand: the pain (both mental and physical) that comes with aging and could perhaps be preventing him from enjoying the good times in the same way he did when he was younger. As it was written, it will be - getting older is an inevitability we all have to face up to, no matter how much we might want to try and slow the process (I think this is what the lines listing off pretty useless products could be alluding to: the endless products and methods people use in futile attempts to delay or reverse the effects of aging).

I will say, this is just my direct reading of the song! It's super thought-provoking but a pretty bleak view of aging, which can often be a really beautiful thing. Unsuspectingprey (talk) 10:25, 18 February 2024 (EST)