Interpretations:Tractor

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The Animal Lover

The subject of this song is your archetypal "cool and stoic" type with no time for romance, either with women (in the first verse) or men (in the second verse). They make it a point of pride to have "the heart of a tractor", and so on. In fact, the third verse reveals the only one they love in any conventional sense is their cat, a kindred spirit who's even more aloof than they are ("In spite of all the words of love you want to say / She'll never answer, she just turns her face away / She's got the heart of a tractor") --FriendlyLocalGeek (talk) 10:36, 11 April 2018 (EDT)

Beyond mere metaphor

I think all the lyrics to this song are utterly literal. Most prominently, I think the chorus points to a not-so-distant combative future where the most eligible of bachelors will be able to harvest and incorporate into their bodies the hearts of tractors, the stomachs of arachnids, and spines of vending machines. It's a very sexy battlefield. Perhaps this future is already on the horizon, but God help you if you get smitten. Who knows what awaits if you should approach the tractor to shake the paw of destiny. ~ magbatz 14:51, 15 July 2018 (EDT)

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Narcissus

The lyrics pretty clearly mirror the tale of Narcissus, with the cat being the water spirit. --ColorOfInfinity (talk) 18:16, 10 September 2019 (EDT)

Attractor

A song about a battle between two supremely attractive people, who are accustomed to conquering through their sheer attractiveness. Who will win? She does, remaining cold & turning her head away - a self-sufficient kitten. He loses when he's smitten - one must never fall into the trap of having sincere feelings in this arena. The spoils: she is admitted to the jet set she's spent years scheming - with exercise programs (the treadmill), beauty treatments, and titanium resolve - to join. Linnell is a simple country boy, viscerally disgusted by the mating rituals of the premier class. He follows the black widow motif straight down her digestive tract to watch her victim dissolve in the acids. --Nehushtan (talk) 09:56, 5 October 2019 (EDT)

Figures of speech

I think this song plays with the idea that a lot of figures of speech and metaphors are often seemingly nonsensical when you stop to look at them. Phrases such as "the apple of my eye" and "it's raining cats and dogs" are just as meaningless as the phrases created here, "the stomach of an arachnid", "the spine of a vending machine" and the titular "heart of a tractor". Besides the story that is present, it's just John having fun with making up new idioms that have no real meaning besides what you give them.