Roscoe-Midlake

I'm going to review this song for two reasons: 1, I LOVE IT. It's a really great song by a great band. 2, it relates to what we've been talking about in RTM, nostalgia for a time you never lived in. We've mainly talked about nostalgia for the '50s, like The Truman Show, Pleasantville, oh-things-were-so-simple type of thing. These guys take it one step further and reminisce about 1891. Yeah that's right. That's like 116 years ago.
Here are the lyrics:
Stonecutters made them from stones
Chosen especially for you and I,
w live inside.
The mountaineers gathered timber piled high,
in which to take along, traveling many miles
knowing they'd get here.

When they got here all exhausted
All the roof leaks had got started
And now when the rain comes, we can be thankful

When the mountaineers saw that everything fit
they were glad and so they took off

Thought we were due for
a change or two
around this place.
When they get back, they're so mixed up
with no one to stay with.

The village used to be all one really needs
Now it's filled with hundreds and hundreds of chemicals
That mostly surround you, you wish to flee
But it's not like you so listen to me listen to me

Oh, and when the morning comes
We will step outside
we will not find another man in sight
We like the newness, the newness of all
That has grown in our garden struggling for so long.

Whenever I was a child, I wondered what if my name had changed
into something more productive like Roscoe,
Born in 1891, waiting with my aunt Rosaline.

Thought we were due for
a change or two
around this place.
When they get back, they're so mixed up
with no one to stay with.

1891 they roamed around and foraged
They made their house from cedars
They made their house from stone.
Well they're a little like you
And they're a little like me
We have all we need.

Thought we were due for
a change or two
around this place
This place
This place

When they get back they're all mixed up
With no one to stay with
When they get back they're all mixed up
With no one to stay with

So, essentially he's pining for a time, "whenever" he was a child (what?!), when he might have been named Roscoe (awesome name) and gone foraging, building his house in the mountains, when the village was all we would need. When we were less mediated by chemicals which "surround you". When people were just glad to finish a job like roofing someone's shack in the mountains. I know there are a few grammatical mistakes in there, but who cares. The melody of this song doesn't repeat itself!!! It just keeps going!!
All in all, awesome song, and it was the first thing that popped into my mind when we were talking about nostalgia for times we never lived.
Here's the video for it, a little period piece which might help you in understanding what they're getting at.