On Time Travel

Rhett Miller’s use of age as a marker in the Old 97s song “Streets Where I’m From” always allows a gap for admittance. In the line “I recall when I was twenty-three, wondering how anyone could fall in love with me,” works in reverse. Rather than have the listener look back as Miller does, the line suggests the future or some adolescent longing of alienation. Likewise, the following line, “Now I’m well past 25, I can’t seem to fall in love no matter how I try.” strikes me in the same way as it did the first time I heard it. The line “well past twenty-five,” has an ageless quality that no matter what age the listener is, it always seems to be the age Miller is evoking.