“Long Day” seems to be premised on the age-old adage that ‘you can escape from anyone except yourself’. The narrator is someone whom we can define as being regularly depressed. Indeed the term “long day”, as you probably already know, alludes to the idea of a day not only being frustration but also adding to the displeasure seemingly endless. And what the singer is saying is that he feels like this “always”. Moreover in the first verse, hints are dropped which can be interpreted as the source of his depression being an experience akin to getting dumped by the woman he loves.
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Now who this addressee is exactly is not specified. But considering that the singer seems to refer to him as a “man” in the third verse, we can presume he is someone like a male friend. In fact according to the second verse, this person would actually be the narrator’s closest friend, as in the one he vents to when he’s feeling down. And going back to what was discussed earlier, he does feel downtrodden quite often.
Conclusion
So conclusively, this song can easily be classified as being based primarily on the vocalist’s depression. But perhaps more accurately, it can be considered to be an ode to friendship. For even though the singer never really goes as far as to say anything positive, he still makes it pretty clear that the addressee, i.e. his close friend, plays an invaluable role in his life.
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This is the first single which Matchbox Twenty ever released. And accordingly it is featured on their maiden album, “Yourself or Someone Like You”. The song itself was released via Atlantic Records on 1 January 1996.
Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas wrote “Long Day”. And the track was produced by someone he went on to develop a close working relationship with, Matt Serletic.
The director behind the music video to this song is Roger Pistole.
“Long Day” charted in Australia, Canada and the US. And in terms of the latter it peaked at number eight on Billboard’s Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks.
