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May 6th 2021!⃝I’m an American, a Mormon, from the desert, my family lives in Vegas, and I’m close to the same age as Brandon, so I will take a crack at it.
It’s a picturesque description of his parents when they first met. When I look at my dad’s old pictures, with his hair shiny and slick, he sort of looks like a slick, chrome American prince too. His dad was a typical, blue jean wearing, working class man from the desert. Moon River was a popular song that came out in the early 1960s, made famous by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
His father converted to the faith of his mom when he was a young child. His mom was holding out for it and knew he would eventually come around.
“The decades disappear like sinking ships, but we persevere, God gives us hope, but we still fear what we don’t know. Her mind is poison”
This is Brandon coming to the realization that even though he was raised with the belief that families can be together forever, and that there is more than this life, it is still scary to face. His mom was diagnosed with brain cancer (in the 1950s they used to take entire classes of schoolchildren to go watch the atom bombs go off in the desert, they didn’t know the long term effects). That is where the metaphor “her mind is poison” comes in.
“Castles in the sky stand stranded, vandalized. Drawbridge is closing. Now Cinderella don’t you go to sleep, it’s such a bitter form of refuge. The kingdom’s under seige, everybody needs you”
The fairy tale is not having the happy ending they all hoped for. The castle is falling apart, the princess is slipping away. As his mom’s cancer was winning the battle, it was devastating to face the reality that they would lose her, because she was the backbone of the family. I feel a personal connection to this, my sister slipped into a coma and died the same year as Brandon’s mother. I know exactly the sentiment of not wanting the princess to fall asleep, it is such a bitter form of refuge, especially when we all needed her here.
“The devil’s wrapping up his hands, he’s getting ready for the showdown. I saw the ending when they turned the page, I put my money on a pawn tonight”
I interpret this as an acknowledgment and a hope of things unseen. As Latter Day Saints, we know that death is not the end, that isn’t how the story ends. We know how the final showdown turns out and the story ends. He is placing his bets on that.
You can hear it in the triumphant coda. The twist of this song is that the dustland fairytale is does indeed have a happy ending once and for all.
