If you are one of the people who likes The Sunset Tree because you, like me, lived in an abusive household, a thing happens when your abuser dies that's like an egg breaking open and all of the good stuff coming out. And you shouldn't- not you shouldn't. You don't want to say, "oh, I'm so glad that guy died." Because you're not. It's a complex situation. But at the same time, there's a freedom that comes for you. It comes stealing up on you like a great shadow, and a really warm and enveloping shadow that's a great place. (Up the Wolves)

This is a song about the loving times between a person and his or her partner — it’s not really gender specific, everyone can have a relationship go to total hell overnight. When that moment comes, I want you to remember that we're all one under the skin. That's not usually the first thing that you think when you wake up and your life is upside down, you know. But that should be when you realize that we're all in a big family; a large and terrible family that mistreats one another terribly daily and never learns any lessons from any of it ever. (No Children)