When I’ve thought about ‘is this song particularly about Mary Boone the person, her life, her journey, whatever?’ Not really. The song is addressed to Mary Boone. I mean, I think I like the fact that she came from small-town Pennsylvania and came to New York, she’s a daughter of Egyptian immigrants… obviously became a huge deal in the New York art world, but I like the idea that this is about the next generation, maybe. When I picture these words, the opening is “Painted white/new in town/you weren’t hiring/but I was looking,” it’s like, what is a big city like New York? It’s wave after wave of ambitious people in various industries coming to make a name for themselves and over and over again the tide, the waves keep crashing, new people… I like the idea of the person who’s trying to get her attention.
-Ezra Koenig, Time Crisis #211