I think this song is about how he comes to a conclusion about someone after a night of drinking ("I am an American aquarium drinker"). And he loved her before but now that they're back together it's not working out the way he planned. Now he's trying to hurt her just because he can ("I am trying to break your heart").

Sent by Lauren | 5:24 PM ET | 06-06-2008

to me it's all about the riskiness of a genuine relationship.

we're all liabilities to each other, but that doesn't it make it not worth the risk.

weakness makes us try even harder to seem invulnerable, which isn't going to help

it's just about all the stuff that makes us broken, yet still loving and lovable

(i absolutely cherish this song...and i can't stand the people who think it's just tweedy throwing words together trying to seem poetic/deep/sophisticated...if you really think about what the words he chooses mean, then you get a very see the coherence in the emotions being expressed. 'she's a jar' is much the same way, imo.)

Sent by newbornghost | 5:57 PM ET | 06-06-2008

I don't think it's actually supposed to be very literal, but rather use word and phrase juxtopositions to evoke an overall feeling. In this case there seems to be a sense of longing, regret and an inner battle with a self-destructive urge. But like everyone with a self-destructive streak, the damage isn't limited only to themselves.

Sent by Ken Kinsley | 6:02 PM ET | 06-06-2008

This song always makes me think of that aching, longing, almost enjoyable melancholy of love that's fallen apart; past the thrill of discovery, realizing that it's not going to last, but still as powerful as a strong river's currents.

Sent by Geoff | 6:27 PM ET | 06-06-2008

This is a brilliant song that conveys the human impulse to want to hurt the people we love. Expressing anything worthwhile isn't so simple and could never be summed up as simply as this, which is why Jeff Tweedy probably had to write this song.

Sent by Lee | 7:00 PM ET | 06-06-2008

It is great poetry and great self indulgence.

It looks like most current popular music is not at all but the music of sad powerlessness. Reminds me of why I hate country music. Any day give me the Clash or the Sex Pistols or even the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' -- at least the music lives as political, existential, or DADA rebellion.

Sent by bwise | 7:23 PM ET | 06-06-2008

To me it's about this guy who lost the love of a girl he didn't know he loved at first. Now, he's mostly drinking trying to break her heart with pity, and they probably got back together. It just doesn't work for him anymore so keeps drinking because the damage is done.

Wilco is awesome.

Sent by Efren | 7:25 PM ET | 06-06-2008

Revenge, regret, loss. I just love the melody, and this new game!

Sent by Tyler Riley | 7:27 PM ET | 06-06-2008

he can't make any more sense of the end of love than we can make out of this song.

Sent by Catherine Stifter | 7:39 PM ET | 06-06-2008

I think it's about how he's lonely in an American city, like a fish in an aquarium, and is trying to reach out to someone who he left behind, possibly callously, when he moved to that city, in order to have a connection. he's trying to break her heart, meaning he's trying to at least make her feel how he's feeling, alone, just to have a connection with her.

Sent by James | 8:48 PM ET | 06-06-2008

I think the character in the song, be it Tweedy himself or not, is attempting to "hide out" or run away from the ghost of a dead relationship.

He wants to hurt someone, but there's no one to hurt anymore. He wants to physically and figuratively move on, but drinking keeps pulling him back under.

Like all of us, he's got a darkness in his past that drives him to anonymously brood down the city streets.

But, like Ken Kinsley has already said, it's about a vague impression, feeling, style, and power.

Sent by Jessica May | 9:48 PM ET | 06-06-2008

A colleague wrote this to me about the song, which I thought was a great analysis:

"I always felt that it was a critique of American excess and violent irresponsibility; a warning to think more carefully about the repercussions of our actions. I picture the "American aquarium drinker," out for another mindless night on the town, guzzling bottomless fishbowl margaritas in some TV-strewn sports bar, where the music is too loud to carry on a real conversation. Why is the protagonist drinking to excess? To fill the void, perhaps, that our empty culture leaves? Because there's nothing better to do when locked in postmodern ennui? But when he leaves the bar, the Aquarium Drinker swaggers to his car, hops in and drives off drunk and reckless (I "assassin down the avenue") without regard for what havoc he might wreak on some innocent bystander. If there's anyone innocent left out there, of course."

Sent by Clint | 12:27 AM ET | 06-07-2008

I've loved this song since I first heard it. For me it's the exact state of being I felt immediately after my first serious relationship broke up; a schizophrenic flip between intense longing for all the great moments from the past and an almost vengeful desire to inflict an equal if not greater amount of emotional damage on the girl, who I felt at the time, had wrecked my life. It's the amazing writing of songs like this one, that I think are far better than any conventional therapy.

Sent by Matt Hocker | 3:44 AM ET | 06-07-2008

The reference to the aquarium at the start of the song seems to refer to being on the outside looking in, as if the relationship that he describes is something he really wants to be a part of rather than something he has been a part of. He describes all he envisions were he in the relationship with the object of his affection: the joy, the pain, the vulnerability, and the bitter desire to break her heart. If he "drinks" from the aquarium, he will allow himself to experience all of this, but as long as he stays on the outside looking it, he is safe from the risks of relationships.

Sent by Barb | 10:27 AM ET | 06-07-2008

I think its about someone who he let go, someone who he doesn't care about the same way anymore. He wished he could capture that first feeling of their relationship again, instead of running all the past experiences in his head.

Sent by kristine | 12:41 PM ET | 06-07-2008

Art S Revolutionary quote fits, "If you don't want to communicate to your audience, why write in English?"
These lyrics mean to me that this is yet another musician that hasn't learned the craft of songwriting, and shouldn't press his amateur work on the public.

Sent by Tom Hendricks | 11:58 PM ET | 06-07-2008

To paraphrase: "I can make cool songs and set a mood, and my band kicks ass."

Sent by Chris Gauth | 10:33 AM ET | 06-08-2008

Things always seem more clear and prettier in retrospect. The thought of love lost is almost always melancholy and bittersweet, but when you're drunk and lonely these thoughts create regret and wonder. I think that this song tries to capture that desire to combine all the good things in life, in relationships, in cities, in love and make one perfect little world, but the realization that all you really have is what's in front of you.

Sent by Jessie | 10:14 AM ET | 06-09-2008

He's admitting to be the less-secure member of a long-term relationship.

She is much more capable of tearing his heart out and he knows it.

Sent by Norm H. | 11:46 AM ET | 06-09-2008

It's about a failing relationship, where the other half is blaming narrator for the problems in the relationship. The narrator disparately wants to fix the situation, but has been put down so much by the other half to feel like an assassin. The narrator is so beat down, all he wants is to go back to the point where they first met, cross-eyed strangers. "I am trying to break your heart" is not the narrators own feelings, it's the feeling the other half has put on the narrator.

Sent by Dave Szabo | 1:16 PM ET | 06-09-2008

The first time you see an ex since they've become an ex, you want to look your best. The protagonist here fails miserably. He's drunk and probably saying things to her that are just affirming why she broke up with him. "I am trying to break your heart" is the statement of a man who is heartbroken, and desperately wants to return the favor.

By the way, this game rocks. Especially the way everyone sees something different in the lyrics.

Sent by David W. | 1:18 PM ET | 06-09-2008

The idea behind this post sounds very close to what they do everyday on sweethomenashville.com

But it's interesting to afford music under such angles. I like it.

Sent by Charles Lapier | 9:58 AM ET | 06-10-2008

I think it's about fall...the turning of leaves, memories of father...

Sent by Thomas | 10:57 AM ET | 06-10-2008

If I remember right, this song developed from a poetry exercise, hence the adjective-noun with lots of alliteration that dominates the first lines of most stanzas:

American Aquarium Drinker
Tounge-Tied Lightning
Bible Black Pre-dawn

etc.

All of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is about a breakdown of communication, and, at least the way I see it, it's both personal communication, and communication of ideas (for example, in "Ashes of American Flags," Tweedy recalls a trip to the ATM and convenience store - is that a meaningless event, or is that the communication of what has become American ideas?).

I think this song reflects a more personal communication problem, through the extended "drunk" metaphor. The speaker's had a few too many, and "assassined down the avenue" (by far the best euphemism for drunk driving I've heard) - that is all in the past. But his contemplation about how to communicate with this other person is confused; sex (undress like cross eyed strangers?)? control (held you tightly)? or just a longing look into her "brown eyes dreaming?"

The point of the song, I think, is that it's speaker is like a drunk, certain of what he wants to say, but without the means to say it. Again, it's all about communication - which way is best? and do they all fail in the end?

Thank you for this post. It makes me hear this song in a different way

Bob

Sent by John Michael Cassetta | 12:52 AM ET | 06-11-2008

I think this song is about an alcoholic who had a great relationship with a woman which eventually ended because of his indulgent and destructive habit. After a spell, he realizes what he lost, he attempts to get back together with her, coaxing her into letting him back in. She does and he soon after resorts to his alcoholic ways, thus breaking her heart again. It is not easy for him to break her heart because one part of him loves her, but he is powreless over the addiction and does it anyway.

Sent by Speculator | 1:37 PM ET | 06-11-2008

To me this song expresses the difficulties we all face in our relationships, and how hard it is o communicate without saying or doing the wrong thing. Currently in my life this song and several others by this amazing songwriter helps me take a deep breath as I go trodding along a very difficult transitionary period.

Sent by Brian Dyer | 2:13 PM ET | 06-11-2008

I understand that, occasionally, Tweedy will take the lines/words to a song he's written, cut them into pieces, put them all in a hat and draw them out in a blind. Then he arranges only enough to keep the rhymes and, bingo, the song is done.

Given that, this song makes perfect sense.....it's nonsensical

Sent by Smartattack | 12:52 PM ET | 06-12-2008

I'd love to propose a candidate for the next song:

"Lake Marie" by John Prine, 1995
Album - "Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings"

12 years and I still can't figure out the story.

And, please get Prine to explain it after we've all had fun guessing.

Sent by Smartattack | 12:58 PM ET | 06-12-2008

When I first heard this song for the first time...I thought it was written about me. How did Jeff Tweedy know how I was feeling?
The first verse I used to sing out loud at my local bar while I was on my upteenth drink. And for the rest of the song...I would just sit there and think how many times men would come in and out of life just like that. When I got drunk..I would go back to past boyfriends thinking that everything would be like how it was in the beginning and realizing later that you can't go back (hence the line..what was I thinking when I said hello). I wanted to get lost and forget the reasons why we broke up in the first place. But then I would wake up the next morning and realize I shouldn't of gone there (hence the line..what was I thinking when I let you back in).

Sent by Cynthia | 9:32 PM ET | 06-12-2008

To me, it is about a man torn between desperately wanting to keep the woman he loves and is deeply connected to, but he is compelled to push her away. His self-loathing destroys all.

It is one of the saddest songs I have ever heard. It is also one of the best.

Sent by Marianne S. | 12:58 AM ET | 06-15-2008

In the midst of a difficult break-up my ex told me this song described how he was feeling. So, needless to say, I've thought about this song quite a bit. To me, perhaps because thats what I needed to think at that time, I thought it conveyed confusion about feelings,still wanting and loving someone yet loathing someone or one's life with someone at the same time- the complexity of feelings that comprise the ending of a relationship. I also think he is feeling like he needs to break her heart to make it finally- unable to reversed.

Sent by anonymous | 2:59 PM ET | 06-16-2008

The first time I heard this song, a boy I was completely infatuated with played it for me. To my ears, it sounded like a secret love letter where he was trying to tell me how he wanted to glide through MY brown eyes dreaming.

Incidentally, I was wrong.

Sent by Jen | 10:30 PM ET | 06-20-2008

This song is about a man who is in love with a girl who he recently split with. He is either an alcoholic or has been driven to drink by the split. the only verse i don't understand at all is
"I want to hold you in the Bible-black predawn
You're quite a quiet, domino, bury me now
Take off your Band-Aid 'cause I don't believe in touchdowns
What was I thinking when we said hello"

What is a quiet domino? take off your band-aid because i don't believe in touchdowns? THis is a great song that is beautifully crafted however. Tweedy is one of the great song witers of my generation.

Sent by Mike | 3:40 PM ET | 06-25-2008

The song is about someone who has roken up with the love of their life and is trying to "drink the pain away." However the girl still wants to be friends, which he agreed to ("What was I thinking when I said it didn't hurt"), and this reckless behavior is hurting her and he knows it but is in a sense trying to get back at her for leaving him. Hence, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.

Sent by JO | 1:00 PM ET | 06-26-2008

It's hard not to love this song, and the lyrics are obviously fairly personal. I like the way he goes from an 'aquarium drinker' to a 'dixie-cup drinker', which basically means he's scaled it right back. There's a nice explanation on thishereboogie.com - http://thishereboogie.com/i-am-trying-to-break-your-heart-wilco-2002/

Sent by Tre | 8:00 AM ET | 06-27-2008

Aimee Mann, Smilers, is my #1. Why isn't it on your list???

Sent by nonlocal variable | 12:08 PM ET | 07-04-2008

I can accept this being a breakup song, however not in the fashion that most have depicted it.
To me the most illuminating lines of the song are the repition of "I am trying to break your heart" and then, almost on the sly, the insertion of "Still I'd be lying if I said it wasn't easy". This insertion says everything. I see the singer as a fabrication, a perception of a "scornful" lover created by the "scorned" mind, who believes the singer actually has intentions to hurt them. Noone enters a relationship with intentions to damage, however many scorned lovers will attribute this intention to their ex. Through this lens, the main character of the song switches away from "I" in the song, to the unmentioned "You".
This is supported through several lines where the "You" is displayed as a heroic, desirable victim (just how many want to visual themselves) and the "I" is displayed as an emotionally volatile, drunk, malintention antagonist (and unrealistic character).
But, heck, I don't know. Thats the best part about ambiguity, we can all create our own beliefs.

Sent by skisbosco | 4:59 PM ET | 07-12-2008