Goodbye Mr. Blue Analysis

i have a newfound love for Father John Misty so i thought i would share it through this analysis of one of my favorites of his right now. this is pasted from a word document from a couple days ago.

goodbye mr. blue

In Goodbye Mr. Blue, Joshua (Father John Misty) writes about a past relationship in which him and his partner owned a cat together. The song is essentially a recap of the time following the breakup of said relationship in which he feels defeated and unmotivated.

Joshua starts the song with, “This may be the last time, the last time I put on my shoes”. The long pause following this line is symbolic of his feelings of not wanting to continue in life without his ex. He then continues on to say, “Go down to the corner and buy the damn cat the expensive food”. I interpreted this as saying that the cat may be nearing the end of its life as cats’ diets tend to change with age, as this is “the last time” he is doing this. This could also be a reference to how long the relationship could have gone on for. Joshua is somewhat complaining that he has to deal with the upkeep of the cat but also complaining because now, since the end of the relationship, the cat is a reminder of his ex-partner. The first verse carries on saying that the “Turkish Angora” is the only thing left of their relationship. Then claiming that the cat speaks to him saying, “Don’t the last time come too soon?”. Joshua is feeling like he took the relationship for granted and feels though the last time they spent together came far too soon and he did not cherish it enough. The cat then continues, “One down, eight to go, but it’s no less true, Don’t the last time come too soon?”. This is in direct reference to the myth that cats have nine lives. Because the cat is almost dead, Joshua is essentially saying that now that one of the cats lives is passed, he hopes that he can also have another life in which he rekindles his relationship with his partner.

In the second chorus he repeats the same premise, “This may be the last time, last time I get out of bed”. Once again, the pause after this line is symbolic in which he feels he may never have the capacity to get out of bed ever again and therefore, his death. The next lines into the second verse describe times him and his partner used to have, early in the relationship, drinking coffee together and poking fun at people who worked 9-5 jobs. The audience can infer this as hinting at the reason of the end of the relationship. Over the course of the relationship, his partner’s views on work changed. He is no longer seen as carefree in the relationship to them; he is seen as lazy with no goals. This can also be seen evidently in the last life of the chorus in which he quotes his partner telling him to “show some initiative”. In the third verse he says, “Well, what’s wasting time if not throwing it away on work, When the last time comes so soon?”. He is pointing out that while working is culturally seen at what you are meant to do, it is actually a waste of time when you could be spending the time with those you love. The last line of this verse finally addresses the death of their cat who we know now is named Mr. Blue.

Joshua then sings a pre-chorus verse, “Love's always gonna leave ya, No matter what they say, You only know what it is once it's gone away.” Once again, the reoccurring theme that he misses the relationship, no matter the ending it may have had. The last chorus repeats the same idea that it is the last time he will be doing these things. This time he is reunited with his ex-partner in the event of Mr. Blue’s death. They are able to connect over the death but it is merely only that, though he wishes that the relationship could go on. The last chorus goes, “This may be the last time, The last time I lay here with you, Do you swear it's not the cat?, You don't have to answer that, I'll just make do.” Their relationship is now officially over. He hopes that it is only ending because Mr. Blue has died, but in the end, he knows this is not the case.

In the last verse, he takes a morbid twist on the death of Mr. Blue, saying, “But maybe if he’d gone sooner, Could’ve brought us back together last June.” Not only is this darkly comedic, but it is also ironic that he seems to not care much about the “damn cat”, yet he knows it may have been the only thing holding their relationship together. He finishes the song repeating different variations of, “the last time comes too soon”. In hindsight, he wishes he could have told his ex to also cherish their last time together because now it is over indefinitely.

Thanks for reading, don’t know for sure if I will do something like this again I just really love this song! Give it a listen!