This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
I've been chasing ghosts and I don't like it
I wish someone would show me where to draw the line
I'd lay down my sword if you would take it
And tell everyone back home I'm doing fine
I was with you down in Acapulco
Trading clothing for some wine
Smelling like an old adobe woman
Or a William Burroughs playing for lost time
I was thinking about my mother
I was thinking about what's mine
I was living my life like a Hollywood
But I was dying on the vine
Who could sleep through all that noisy chatter
The troops, the celebrations in the sun
The authorities say my papers are all in order
And if I wasn't such a coward I would run
I'll see you me when all the shooting's over
Meet me on the other side of town
Yes, you can bring all your friends along for protection
It's always nice to have them hanging around
I was thinking about my mother
I was thinking about what's mine
I was living my life like a Hollywood
But I was dying, dying on the vine
I wish someone would show me where to draw the line
I'd lay down my sword if you would take it
And tell everyone back home I'm doing fine
I was with you down in Acapulco
Trading clothing for some wine
Smelling like an old adobe woman
Or a William Burroughs playing for lost time
I was thinking about my mother
I was thinking about what's mine
I was living my life like a Hollywood
But I was dying on the vine
Who could sleep through all that noisy chatter
The troops, the celebrations in the sun
The authorities say my papers are all in order
And if I wasn't such a coward I would run
I'll see you me when all the shooting's over
Meet me on the other side of town
Yes, you can bring all your friends along for protection
It's always nice to have them hanging around
I was thinking about my mother
I was thinking about what's mine
I was living my life like a Hollywood
But I was dying, dying on the vine
Lyrics submitted by Santo Arma Re-dux
Dying on the Vine Lyrics as written by Larry J. Sloman John Davies Cale
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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As far as I understand the song is really about John Cale's issues with alcohol and, of course, about a deeper inner crisis. In one of the video available on youtube, Cale states the song is deeply biographical and that it is really about a change of lifestyle. More likely about the need for a change of lifestyle. In this sense, the reference to the Vine has at least three meanings: the above mentioned intersection in Los Angeles where he was living at the time (if I recall correctly), his alcoholism and finally the meaning of the metaphor itself. Feeling like a fruit left way too long on the vine after it ripened and started to spoil and rot. This is probably how he saw his life and his talent at the time. The first part really describes a deep feeling of being disoriented and lonely, hoping for someone to help him to "draw a line" and maybe "lay down his sword" (his 'cross' if you want) and admitting he feels like giving up and call for some sort of help. I think the refrain is beautiful and poetic. The way he describes recalling his mother (his childhood?) and how he is attempting to live his life in a wild way, like a star ("like a Hollywood") while he is actually dying inside.
The end is still an enigma to me and I would love to hear someone's interpretation of it.
@annieall Very interesting interpretation. Came here for this.<br /> The whole atmosphere of the song reminds me of Under The Volcano; stream of consciousness kinda apocalyptic vibe.<br /> <br /> The last bit; what if you read it like this?<br /> <br /> I'll see you when all the trouble's over<br /> Meet me on a better side of town<br /> Yes, you can bring all your friends along for protection<br /> It's always nice to have them hanging around<br /> <br /> A new life on the other side of town. He tells her (?) she can bring her friends if it's too much to come over alone; a new life is scary.<br /> <br /> But there's the sense of being in a dangerous country as well; the authorities said my papers were all in order, and if I wasn't such a coward I would run.<br /> <br /> This is where my Under The Volcano reference comes in. A sense of leaving now, before you get swallowed up...<br /> <br /> Such a beautiful song.<br />