AAEA - Sullivan Street

sullivan street
"I'm almost drowning in her sea"

"Take the way home, that leads back to Sullivan Street…." Not one of the flashier attention grabbing numbers in August and Everything After, but definitely one of the better ones. It took me awhile to really like this song.

This song basically strikes me as one concerning change in one’s life and how they react to it. In Adam’s case, his life changed, and the song relates on how things around him weren’t able to change along with him, how the people he left behind have changed without him in their lives and how painful that can be, I’m no stranger to all this, although in my case, the roles are sort of reversed.

I’m pretty adverse to change, maybe it’s because I’m more hesitant to take the risk or whatnot I’m just not very good at it. As a result, I too have lost ties with people I’ve come to count on as my closest friends in the past, it hurts, but well, life goes on I guess. This song deals with how people do lead different lives and how some paths just go way off in another direction than others. The question is, what do we do about it?

I know I’m not correct when I just LET friendships fade away, things can be done ultimately I guess if you really want to keep a relationship, I guess in the long run though, I’m just not strong enough, or worse, willing to do so. Adam deals with uncontrollable circumstances, his contractual obligations to tour and do shows does lead him away from people he loves whether he likes it or not. Mine, aren’t. So where does that lead me?

The message I get from Sullivan Street is that yeah, people change, but that you’ve also got to stop, think and realize how much these people mean to you and will you be able to make the extra sacrifice to keep them special and close to you. In the album version of the song, it ends with "it’s almost everything I need". But in a live version, Adam corrects himself and basically stresses that no, it’s not almost everything, IT IS EVERYTHING. Hold on to those people who matter in your life, by hook or by crook, they’re everything you’ll need.