why *i* believe all the songs on tantamount to treason are connected- a very Very long thread

also i would really like to apologize in advance for how long this thread is, i really got carried away

Storyline: basically mike falls in love but soon realizes he has to leave that relationship to follow his dreams. after her, he has an affair with a close friends wife which also doesn’t work out. he then meets Another girl who he thinks is the one but she leaves him high and dry

The Title: first off the title of this album is “tantamount to treason”. tantamount means equal to or the same as and treason means betrayal. so the title literally translates to “the same as betrayal” and when i think of betrayal i think of cheating,,,

Mama Rocker: in this song a guy meets this “lazy lady” and he says “got my attention but she never made a move.” he also says “and I wanted to go with her but something told me, “no!“ in spite anyway, he does go with her and hence the next song being titled “lazy lady”

Lazy Lady: in this song it shows that things went downhill w/ the lazy lady. the guy is reminiscing on the time when he finally said goodbye to her even though he says “still it breaks my heart to have to walk away.” he says he still wants to comfort her, offer her his coat, but+

knows it’s best for him to leave. he also admits that he wants her “to see comfort from the things you know are real“ meaning that he knew that him and his love were fake and wouldn’t last.

You are my one: although this song is just him saying “you are my one” the whole time, the music is more of a dreamy type feel, with the lyrics floating from left to right. this could be what he’s thinking or a time change to what he felt with his lazy lady.

In the afternoon: (imo one of the most important songs) this song is pretty much the “why” for him. why he left her, why he felt the love shouldn’t last, realizing he’s doing what’s best. he says “in dreams we keep fastening down, dreams that to live must be free, to touch each++

mans destiny” meaning that when he was with her she was the one holding him back. by leaving her he “runs to the arms of his youth and the truth” which may be the same for him, maybe he feels when he was young it was honest and he knew better. at the end of the song he could++

have possibly reached his youth since we hear horses and a more country atmosphere.

Highway 99 with melange: to put this the simplest way possible, he falls for his friends wife. at the very beginning of this song we hear the changing of a radio, but he even states that he has no radio in his car so the sounds going on are in his mind. the sounds we do hear are+

excerpts from lazy lady, mama rocker and you are my one which are all about his previous love, but then eventually they all cut to the song starting. this could mean she was still running through his mind on and off but he then forgets about her. he’s on his way to berkeley++

possibly to get away from his past to follow his dreams that were fastened down. he says “it probably has to do with the fact I don’t have one (a woman) myself“ meaning he’s forgotten his lazy lady and has officially moved on. then at the very end it is mentioned that he needs a+

new “transmission” but it is obviously not about a transmission at all but his friends wife,, just read the lyrics with that in mind

Wax minute: this song is him realizing how complicated the affair has gotten and that it shouldn’t go on. him saying “just the thought of how it’s always been concealed“ makes it obvious enough that this is about an affair. he then goes on to say “where is my heart love? as only+

you can heal“ in the song “in the afternoon” he says “that hides all the heartbreak and rust“ meaning that he felt this woman was the one who could heal him. he also says “memories speak kindly now, but what can I do?“ and then lazy lady he says “the tenderness inside, that++

memories of you will make me feel” meaning he’s thinking back to his previous love and how he felt then which he might be feeling the same way now. he also says “Will make me feel” meaning he could’ve known that she would still linger in his mind after all this time. at the++

and he says “miles which make me say, i won’t be seeing you“ which tells us it didn’t work out in the end.

Bonapartes retreat: all there really is to this song is that he falls for another girl, nothing else to it.

Talking to the wall: in this song, the girl he fell for cheated on him. he quite possibly thought she was “the one” since he said “i have told you many times love is not a game” he could have felt used by her since he says “that was many years ago, when I was just a boy, a toy++

that you could take up, when you felt the urge“ the lines “as the sun goes down in the midnight shadows fall”
could connect to the lines “sunlight fading in the afternoon, shadows crawl across the land” from “in the afternoon.” since he uses similar imagery, this could be his++

realization for this relationship like “in the afternoon“ was for him and his lazy lady

She thinks i still care: pretty much this song is just about him still caring about the girl but is deep in denial about it, that’s all

also if you read all of this bless you i love you, you really didn’t have to read it