| Townes Van Zandt – Two Girls Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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This song, arguably one of Townes Van Zandt's most beloved, has an undeniable appeal to it, though it is very difficult to decipher, due to the surrealistic nature of the lyrics. I have always found the chorus unfathomably resonant, but when I try to wrap my head around what it is trying to say, I always feel like I come up short... Still, to wager an interpretations: I read it not as the narrator literally being in love with two different women, but contrasting a real life lover with an ideal, fictitious one. This could go two ways: on one hand, perhaps the "one in heaven" is the unattainable, ideal image of a lover--the one that doesn't really exist in the real world ("down below"), and thus the one the narrator "does not know." In this scenario, the narrator loves the imperfect woman that he is with despite that she does not match up with the ideal image of a romantic partner that is in his head. On the flip side, maybe something prevents the narrator from having a healthy relationship with a loving, "good" partner ("one in heaven"), and instead he always ends up in unhealthy, toxic romantic situations. He loves the woman he is with, though the relationship is unhealthy and he knows that there is probably a woman out there with whom he could have a healthy relationship, but he "does not know" who she is. A friend of mine and I were discussing this song, and he recommended the possibility that one of the romantic partners has passed away (thus is "in heaven"). I found that rather compelling as well! Overall, regardless of the interpretation, I would say it is difficult for me to read this song without also thinking of Townes Van Zandt's complex and troubled history with drug and alcohol abuse. The chorus seems to suggest to me that he feels like he is a little fucked up and probably won't ever have a functioning, healthy romantic relationship. Luckily for us, Townes Van Zandt was sensitive and smart enough to translate his pain into something beautiful and relatable--something we can love and learn from. |
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