For some reason, I’ve always loved analyzing this song. It’s one of the more interesting songs I’ve come upon in quite some time. At first listen, I thought that the verse was just to dragging and repetitive, "I am not worried", "I’ve done this sort of thing before" and the like are mentioned over and over again. And it just takes too long before you get to the chorus w/c is just so beautiful.

Anyway, this is how I see it, and the more I think about it, the more sense this song makes. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out at least the idea about the song. The guy in the song (Adam, as he likes writing about himself) is basically falling for this person and is considering going "deeper" into this relationship of theirs, not an overnight one second decision….so basically there are doubts over this would be the right thing to do, if he should do it. The song is a continuos battle going on in the guys head, to be more accurate, between his head and his heart.

You know, when you’re trying to make a decision, you look at the pros and cons. Well that’s basically what the verses are going on, mostly cons, the logical side of the argument. Obviously most times, this is the road we least take concerning matters of love, it’s the heart that rules. The heart sees no wrong, just beauty. This is when the chorus comes in when he thinks about Anna, she "begins" to change his mind and all those logical arguments you raised against her are just battered down by the mere thought of her.

The contrast is so strong, why the verses are so monotonous, well, rationality often is that, cold and calculating, while the chorus, it just seems to lift you up. And it’s not just in the words and voice. AB is a great "song" in all aspects, Adam Duritz keeps stressing that although the lyrics are about him, the band also relates to them and draws similar experiences from it. This is a whole band playing emoting one unified and focused feeling of confusion, frustration, and peace. No distortion here, it’s not needed at all, the bareness of the verses w/c are mostly just the drums and the bass with an occasional guitar riff provide an almost hypnotic trance-like atmosphere , dry and sharp. Then the piano, w/c is also barely in the verses only in cold single notes, comes in at full power in the chorus which just seems to make the song into something new….something more beautiful and soothing.

The climax comes in the last chorus when the heart goes on non stop in really describing how "every little thing she does is magic"….and the logical side is just overwhelmed until the abrupt break and everything just comes crashing down and realty slams in…."I’m not ready for this sort of thing…."