Indefinitely

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a picture of a relationship caught in a strange limbo, a moment of arrested development despite the passage of time. The opening scene, a "Mediterranean" room, immediately feels a bit out of place, hinting at a manufactured or borrowed atmosphere. The narrator and their partner, already adults, are caught by the mother, a classic image of being treated like children. This sets up a tension between their age and their situation, underscored by the odd, almost illicit-feeling "pictures wrapped in cellophane." The core of the song seems to be about a stalled future and a hesitant present. The partner's graduation is in absentia, a ceremony they missed, mirroring a broader sense of being out of sync with life's milestones. Even natural imagery like "redwoods and the oak trees" and man-made structures like "double yellow lines," though presented in "perfect symmetry," are described as keeping "imperfect time." This suggests a fundamental disharmony, a feeling that things should align but don't. The chorus, with its insistent repetition of "I don't mean no, I don't mean maybe / I'm in definitely, I'm indefinitely," is the emotional anchor. It’s a declaration of commitment that feels paradoxically vague. The speaker is *in* the situation, committed, but the phrasing suggests a lack of clear intention or direction, a state of being stuck rather than purposefully moving forward. This ambiguity is further highlighted by the image of a car following "almost out of view" on "Highway One," a symbol of something significant but elusive, like a "future perfect kiss." Ultimately, the lyrics resonate because they capture that disorienting feeling of being deeply involved with someone but unsure of where it's heading. The narrator's desire to "set her free" from a "frightened girl inside" suggests a hope for genuine forward movement, but the persistent "imperfect time" and the "indefinitely" committed state imply that true resolution remains just out of reach, leaving the listener with a sense of unresolved longing.