It occured to me I have have been misinterpreting a song all my life.
Does the Chorus mean Reeling(“The fisherman is slowly reeling the largemouth Bass back to shore”) or Reeling(“The Boxer is really reeling after that huge uppercut”)?
Is the song talking about someone trying to pull the years back in, or trying to keep his balance as he is battered by the passing of them?
The former. Read the lyrics, it’s all about time passing faster that you realise.
BTW your post led me here, for which I thank you!
And after you’ve listened to, or read the lyrics of, any Dan song you can have a look at these lyric interpretations/shared delusions.
Someone, and I forget who, linked to this site once, for which I thank them.
That doesn’t really help my confusion though. The years passing too fast can also keep you off balance, and deperately struggling to catch a breath
“Reeling in” is a fishing term, there’s no other way to read it. If it was reeling from the years, the boxing thing would work. The fact that the next line also has a nautical theme - “stowing away the time” - also shows it’s a fishing thing.
Otherwise you have to read the lyric as meaning ‘reeling from the years,’ which doesn’t make sense.
It was me.
I love that site.
I suspect it’s both. I’m sure the double meaning of the word did not escape them.