Can't say I have completely understood the situation that the song describes. A couple seems to be forced to meet at little motels or hotels, because he is forced to wander from place to place... but that "brother" will not fit with this. It seems clear that a man and a woman speak the Mark and Ruth parts?
I was indeed thinking about personal song ideas yesterday. A deep love song with Ruth Moody singing the female part makes me think about .. well..
Kitty (don't laugh at me) and what she might think about it.
So maybe it is not just about love, but more meant the way that "All The Roadrunning"
was meant or "This Is Us"?
A REAL personal song from my point of view is for example "Basil", because a young copy boy that meets Basil Bunting is so specific, so it has to be Mark himself. This is a song that has the young Mark as a protagonist, no doubt, there is no applicability in this song for other levels/persons/ideas as Mark wants to achieve in many of his other songs. I find that remarkable. Only knowing what he himself said about "Laugh & Jokes and Drinks & Smokes", it seems it is another song on this same personal level.
How many other songs have Mark K. himself as a protagonist? Can't remember too many..
LE