| Ben Folds – Carrying Cathy Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I’m not very eloquent and I can’t put things into words like Ben, but I’m going to try to explain my interpretation of this song. Ok, I'm going to work through this starting from the beginning. I believe the singer/narrator is the boyfriend of Cathy. “Her window was hung like a painting” First of all, I believe the "window" is like her outlook on life. I think the fact that it was hung like a painting means instead of being life it was death. “She worried it might come to life She stared for hours” She worried she might act on her recurring thoughts of death, but she still obsessed over it. “There were times when I'd find myself saying that: "Friends, you don't understand" And she's different when it's just me and her, and I Closed the door and I tried to hang on and she Sank into the dark I was over my head” His friends didn’t understand his infatuation with her because she was so depressed all of the time. He tried to explain that she was different when she was with him. Eventually he just shut them out and tried to hang on to his relationship with her as she sank farther into depression. He became overwhelmed by it. “There was always someone carrying Always someone's carrying Cathy” She was always depressed and there was always someone there for her to hold onto because she’s very dependant on others to carry her through life. “But to imagine a fall With no one at all to catch you” Earlier he said he tried to hang on as she sank into the dark and he was over his head. He couldn’t carry her. “Then one night she climbed into the picture frame Out in the frozen air And out of sight” By climbing out of the picture frame, she committed suicide. “Woke up sad from this dream I've been having The last couple nights or so With her father and brothers we're all at the funeral Carrying a box through the rain Then somebody says that it's always been this way Always someone's carrying Cathy” There’s Ben’s famous irony at the end for you. Her father/brothers carrying her casket is the irony of her dependence on people to carry her. |
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