Quoth Andy Friedman <noise@nando.net>:

This song has got to be hitler in remorse from losing world war ii. He's heading back to Berlin after his loss and getting all depressed. Perhaps he had to sneak out the Bourbon because they outlawed drinking (and hitler's doing it himself--how naziesque). They were once "so close to heaven", close to their victory, that "Peter came out and gave (them) medals", everyone was congratulating him, "proclaiming us the nicest of the damned." Although everyone hated him, they still had to love him. That's how I interpret Road Movie to Berlin.

Quoth Matt Keeley <mrme@eskimo.com>:

While I like the Hitler/Holocaust thing, I think the song's about the people on the other side of the coin, the victims. "Can't drive out the way we drove in" was referring to how they all came in via train car (mostly) and, well came out, er... a worse way. Those that actually survived also came out a different, although more pleasant, way, with the Allied soldiers... The St. Peter line has to do with the massive deaths of the victims...

(For the hidden non-sung verse, it is referring to how in WWI and up to the beginnings of WWII, everyone was for Germany, thus calling the german heirarchy "sire", and, everyone can see, hopefully, how they've been decieved.)

Time won't find the lost
It'll sweep up our skeleton bones:

"Time won't..." They're all dead, and we can't get them back, no matter how long and hard we try.

"It'll sweep up..." Refers to how some will forget after time (Why does a certain Pat Buchanan pop into my mind...?) what happened.

Rather sad song, I'd say...

Quoth Johnnie Odom <JLODOM@amherst.edu>:

The major reference here is to all the "road movies" that Bing Crosby and Bob Hope were in. The title of the movie was always "Road to [Insert name of exotic destination here]" and it followed a basic formula of the two guys getting near their destination and running into various comic situations, many of them involving beautiful women. Substitute John and John for Bing and Bob and you begin to get the picture.

I believe that like "The End of the Tour" (for which I have also submitted an interp) this song reflects the Johns fatigue towards the end of one of their tours. You might even call it a "practice sketch" for the masterpiece "The End of the Tour."

I don't know what the Bourbon really refers to. Maybe one of the Johns enjoys a drink now and then (see another guy's interp of "Cabbagetown" for more on this...). The reference to St. Peter calling them "The Nicest of the Damned" refers to the basis of TMBG's music, that is "Whimsy with a dark side" as one reviewer put it. They're nice (whimsical) but that can't change the fact that essentially they're damned (have a strong dark side). Or the "damned" part could just refer to the fact that they are rock musicians who are considered an influence of Satan by certain church groups or who have "sold their soul" to a record company (Elektra?).

"Time won't find the lost/ It'll sweep up our skeleton bones/ So take the wheel and I will take the pedals" This again refers to John and John touring. They're a partnership (you take the wheel, I'll take the pedals) and the tour is going to weear them out and kill them with its length and strain.

As for Berlin...it sounds nice lyrically, is not a city one would normally think of being in a "Road To...." movie, and with its high art but tragic destruction in WWII sounds like the kind of place TMBG's music would fit right in (I'm not in any way referring to Nazism here, just the irony of high culture combined with ultimate destruction of the city...)

Giantisms:

• The nicest of the damned?