This song is directed towards Suzanne's divorce from Mitchell Froom. [Ed.]

"I tried to put the truth of what I had been experiencing into a song, but not make it too sentimental. I wanted the ideas to be clear in it, you know, the idea of the woman washing things and setting things in order, and kind of cleaning up what had gone before."
[...]
"Yeah, I was thinking of Ruby, and she noticed that. She was listening to the song one day and she looked at me and said, "Am I your little kite in the song?" And I told her, yes she was. And she was fine about it. She didn't seem to think it was so terribly sad. And I was glad about that. I think she thought it was interesting."
Interview with Steve Rosenfeld, Playback, February, March 2002 (http://www.ascap.com/playback/2002/march/radar-vega.html)

"In "Soap And Water," "Daddy's a dark riddle" is describing a situation. It's not saying, "I hate you," or "You're an idiot," or anything like that. It's just saying that Daddy's a dark riddle, which he is, and I think he would probably agree if he heard the song."
Interview in The Onion Av Club, November 21, 2001, Volume 37, Issue 42 (http://www.theonionavclub.com/avclub3742/avfeature_3742.html)