well I walked over the bridge
into the city where I live
and I saw my old landlord
well, we both said hello there was nowhere else to go
cause his rent I couldn’t afford
well relationships change though I think its kind of strange
how money makes a man grow
some people they claim if you get enough fame
you live over the rainbow
over the rainbow

but the people on the street out on buses or on feet
we all got the same blood flow
oh, in society every dollar got a deed
we all need a place where we can go
and feel over the rainbow

and sometimes we forget what we got
who we are,
and who we are not
I think we got a chance to make it right
keep it loose
keep it tight
keep it tight

I’m in love with a girl who’s in love with the world
and I can’t help but follow
though I know someday she is bound to go away
and stay over the rainbow
gotta learn how to let her go
over the rainbow

sometimes we forget who we got
who they are
and who they are not
there is so much more in love than black and white
keep it loose child
gotta keep it tight
keep it loose child
keep it tight
keep it tight


Lyrics submitted by talkies

Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight song meanings
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26 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    this song is, in my opinion, pretty self-explanitory. basically it's saying people can often lose sight of who they really are, and also that we're all just the same in the end. amazing song... once you hear amos lee, you'll just never get enough of him.

    esebestaon July 19, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    this song is amazing

    IheartDaveon October 06, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Do you think that "in love with the world" means a person who is seduced by what the world has to offer, maybe in an exciting spontaneous way, but also in a way that creates a sense of discontentment that causes her to continually move from one thing to the next and not stay grounded or reliable, which is what he loves about her, but he's also afraid that one day she'll want to go and he cant stop her? Now he finds it sweet because he loves her so much, but he's also waiting for the time when its going to end.

    sbfeltmanon August 14, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    When I listen to this song I get the sense that he feels lost in what life is really about. He mentions money, fame, equality and changing of relationships. These are ideologies that we have created to live for in life and I feel like the way he sings the beginning, he is questioning these ideologies. And whether they are really worth living for.

    I love that line:

    "well relationships change though I think its kind of strange how money makes a man grow"

    I feel like this line is pointing out the absurdness of how society has structured the growth in a man through how much money he makes rather than WHO HE IS as a person. And how the relationship between money and man hasn't changed and probably never will considering how society is caught up in the media. It also applies to his views on relationships, he finds it strange that relationships do change and people know it but still go through the trouble to form them.

    It's a bittersweet song I feel like. I feel like he is trying to say that everyone is so busy/worried on trying to work their way up to live over the rainbow and it makes people overlook/take for granted all the things they already have in life and who they are and those who they have at that moment already.

    blueberryhearton August 13, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    "I’m in love with a girl who’s in love with the world and I can’t help but follow though I know someday she is bound to go away and stay over the rainbow gotta learn how to let her go over the rainbow "

    that's great. and maybe im wrong on this, but no matter what it means its great. but i see it as, he's in love with a girl who loves the world, so he likes that about her and so he wants to love the world as well.. he wants that. but he realizes that she's too good for hiim, and she will surely leave him someday. so he needs to learn how to let her go "over the rainbow" because he wants her to be happy.

    waitingonyouon January 05, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    beautiful, beautiful

    wokeupinacaron January 25, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    oh my GOD i love amos lee, i'm gonna go buy all his cds. "i'm in love with a girl who's in love with the world..."

    bellaboo137on February 09, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It seems the problem is people loose sight of what we got, who they are, who they are not. It seems that the solution is made simple: keep it loose, keep it tight.

    jshlingon March 01, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I first heard this song at the playing at the end of the Conviction show on NBC and was smitten. It is so beautiful. I think everyone can identify with at least some of the lyrics. Beautiful- absolutely beautiful.

    ethichikon April 09, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    To me the lyrics "Keep it loose, Keep it tight." Mean, be open, let things go (Keep it loose). And mean, don't let yourself go (Keep it tight). You can still be open-minded without changing who are.

    I like what everyone else feels about this song too.

    graceyan0on July 11, 2006   Link

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