I spend the days with my vanity

I'm lost in heaven and I'm lost to earth
Didn't give you minutes not even moments
All my life in a tower of foil
Shaded feelings, don't believe you

When you were there before my eyes
No one planned it took it for granted

I count the hours since you slipped away
I count the hours that I lie awake
I count the minutes and the seconds too
All I stole and I took from you
But Bonny don't live at home, Bonny don't live at home
Words don't hold you, broken soldiers

I count the hours since you slipped away
I count the hours that I lie awake
I count the minutes and the seconds too
All I stole and I took from you
But Bonny don't live at home, Bonny don't live at home
Words don't hold you, broken soldiers

All my silence and my strained respect
Missed chances and the same regrets
Kiss the thief and you save the rest
All my insights from retrospect
But Bonny's not coming home, Bonny don't live at home
Save your speeches, flowers are for funerals


Lyrics submitted by Bobo192, edited by mlincoln, DJDisco

Bonny Lyrics as written by Paddy Mcaloon

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Bonny song meanings
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7 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment

    No one has commented? This is perhaps one of their best and most moving songs.

    The singer seems to have had a fight or falling out with Bonny: "Shaded feelings, don't believe you"

    Now Bonny is gone and the singer is counting the time and missing him and thinking about the things he owes him, stole or maybe learned ("All I stole and took from you").

    He has no way of seeing him ever again since he no longer lives at home and can't get in touch. He misses him and regrets all the missed opportunities.

    The final shock comes at the end in that he'll never have a second chance to make up for all the lost opportunities, "Save your speeches, flowers are for funerals."

    grokslawon September 09, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    took looking through 4 websites to find the right lyrics... i guess everyone just copies and pastes.

    correct lyrics metrolyrics.com/bonny-lyrics-prefab-sprout.html

    Glaive23on September 05, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Paddy's vocals on this are stunning,full of guilt and hurt.But the song is more sophisticated than a simple lost love song of 'baby come back, I screwed up' There is so much delibarate ambiguity in the lyrics. Bonny could be a noun or a verb in the context of the song.

    nusoundson May 03, 2015   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    Without doubt a song all about self recrimination. The subject matter could be any one of several things. A very moving song.

    Cliff3225on July 23, 2014   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Timeless song.

    Baconpieon June 26, 2020   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning

    From the Guardian. Bonny was written around the same time. People think it’s about my father’s death, but he wasn’t dead then – I imagined grief. Goodbye Lucille #1 started out as a 50s doo-wop parody – “Ooh, Johnny Johnny Johnny” – in waltz time, but turned into something serious. Most breakup songs were sad or accusatory, but I straddled the viewpoints of both the intense guy and the girl breaking up with him (“She’s a person too”).

    campbellbxon January 20, 2022   Link
  • -1
    My Interpretation

    This song is about losing someone close, of family member or partner, possibly to mental health, and dealing the uncomfortable, almost unbearable situations where denial and avoidance of emotional participation led to guilt and overwhelm.

    At the time, you went against your gut to do more, and then continued down your selfish path.

    Then you regret it once they've passed or been institutionalized perminently, because the clarity release has afforded you is showing you things about yourself that you wish you could have handled better, and that unkind selfishness, self concern is permanently engraved on your soul considering the finality of the situation. Any intensions now meaning nothing "broken soldiers".

    "I spend the days with my Vanity" "All my life in a tower of foil"

    "I didn't give you minutes, not even moments"

    "Shaded feelings, I don't believe you"

    "When you were there before my eyes" "Took you for granted, no one planned it"

    "I count the hours since you slipped away"

    "Words don't hold you, broken soldiers"

    EDM355on March 19, 2021   Link

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