Originally Posted By: Guitarhacker
Quote:
When Bill sent me the lyric, I had no problem understanding the point.
I'm surprised that anyone would. But I will explain.

but he went off to sin at the holiday inn

That means he was going to the Holiday Inn to have sex with another woman.
Or a man. We don't know that much about Buford.
Either way, he was cheating on her.

where he died an embarrassing death

If you were at the Holiday Inn in your small North Carolina town cheating on your wife and you died of a heart attack (for example), then that would likely be very embarrassing for your family...

Which sets up the rest of the story.
The police return his belongings - which include his keys.
The wife immediately goes to unlock the shed to find out what Buford has been doing out there. She thinks he has been preparing to run off with someone else.
Turns out he was getting ready for the both of them to survive some apocalypse.

I know Bill would likely not explain a lyric. He generally just puts it out there and let's it stand.



Yeah I did kinda get that from it, but what puzzled me, as someone else also mentioned.... he seems to love his wife but he's off cheating on her. Yeah, it is what it is.... just thought it didn't fit the rest of the song..... maybe he could have died from a heart attack while driving his truck or something.... more in line with what the rest of the song paints him to be...a guy who loves his wife and makes preparation for them to survive the zombie apocalypse without her knowledge of what he's doing in the shed.


I don't think that Bill's storyline - a guy who cheats on his wife yet cares about her and would want her with him during the apocalypse - is any less valid. There are a lot of imperfect people in the world. There are a lot of guys who cheat on their wives but would never want to leave them - and still care for them - and would still protect them above all others. The guy who is stockpiling twinkies for the end of the world is not necessarily playing with the same deck as the rest of us. You are projecting a different story on it. Not the story that Bill chose to tell.