Having already served successful tours in the Northwest punk bands Thrillhammer, Hazel (two albums on Sub Pop records) and the rambunctious bluegrass band Golden Delicious, Pete Krebs has emerged as one of the most consistently engaging contemporary singer-songwriters. Much like his friend and collaborator Elliott Smith, Krebs uses his more rock-oriented roots to drive his intensely introspective songs. Both Krebs and Smith have passed through early periods of extremely stripped down solo recordings to tackling grander ambitions with more sonically dense collaborative works.
Debuting as a solo musician in 1995 on Cavity Search Records, Krebs' starkly acoustic Brigadier immediately established him as one of the more impressive voices in the crowded singer-songwriter idiom.
Truman
Pete Krebs Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
On a hot day out of Truman
Great Salt Lake to Arizona
I awoke to find she'd gone
She left a letter
On my dashboard
"I'm leaving you dear,
I've had enough
And your troubles.
I've burned out on sour luck."
So tape me to your dashboard
My picture will see you home
Just remember that I love you
Always always because
Well I'm flying down the highway
The burning road never touches
Me
Leaving everything I had
Behind me as far as I could see
So will you remember
In Philadelphia
Or wherever the hell you're
Going to
Not just the hard times or the troubles
But my heart that still belongs
To you
The lyrics of Pete Krebs's song "Truman" tell the story of a woman who decided to leave her partner. She left a letter explaining that she is tired of the sad life and the troubles. The singer is clearly hurt by this, unable to understand what went wrong. He wakes up to find her gone and the letter on his dashboard. He regrets not being able to make her stay, but he doesn't give up on their love. He asks her to remember his love even if she is leaving everything behind.
The singer seems to be deeply troubled by the woman's departure. He tries to come to terms with her decision and begs her to remember him even in her new and unknown destination. The metaphor of "taping" the singer to her dashboard shows how desperate he is to keep the connection alive. In a way, he is asking her to take him with her, even though he knows that their relationship has come to an end.
The overall message of the song seems to be the power of love, even in the face of difficulties and loss. The singer tries to hold on to the hope that love can transcend time and distance, that it can continue to exist even when everything else falls apart.
Line by Line Meaning
She was leaving in the morning
She had made the decision to leave the next day
On a hot day out of Truman
She had planned to leave Truman on a day with a hot weather
Great Salt Lake to Arizona
She intended to travel from Great Salt Lake to Arizona
I awoke to find she'd gone
He discovered that she had already left when he woke up
She left a letter
She left him a letter
On my dashboard
The letter was left on the dashboard of his car
"I'm leaving you dear,
The letter contained the message that she was leaving him
I've had enough
She had reached the limit of her patience with the situation
Of the sad life
She was unhappy with the way things were going
And your troubles.
She was tired of dealing with his problems
I've burned out on sour luck."
She had had enough of things not going well for them
So tape me to your dashboard
He wants her to keep his picture with her
My picture will see you home
He hopes that his picture will provide her some comfort
Just remember that I love you
He wants her to know that he still loves her
Always always because
He will always love her
Well I'm flying down the highway
He has started driving down the highway
The burning road never touches
He is driving too fast to feel the heat of the road
Me
He is not affected by the act of leaving
Leaving everything I had
He is leaving behind everything he had, including her
Behind me as far as I could see
He cannot see any of what he left behind in the rearview mirror
So will you remember
He hopes that she will remember
In Philadelphia
He is unsure of where she is headed
Or wherever the hell you're going to
He is not aware of her destination
Not just the hard times or the troubles
He wants her to remember the good times they shared
But my heart that still belongs to you
He still loves her and hopes she knows it
Contributed by Jeremiah D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.