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Wow, so many great late nights listening over and over and OVER to this song! \nObviously my interpretation is colored by the infinite sentimentality of my experience with it over the years, but I take the lyrics to encompass a man’s perspective toward male-female relationships in his life. Not necessarily just one, as a literal reading of the opening lines of the song would suggest. \nBeing “closer to the door” is a key line – indicating the man’s tendency to shy away from commitment – much as the “she sees things at night” lyric encompasses his attraction to eccentric, mystical, artistic, ethereal and, I dare say, wraith-like women. Paradoxically coupled with this lack of commitment is the man’s tendency to smother and “hold her hands too tight” and actually want to place past loves in a jar (of memory, perhaps). To compensate for his lack of ability to articulate how he actually feels about these women during the relationships themselves. However, “they get in alright”, alright, because they are the fireflies of grace and memory – past loves – who break down the door of his isolation whether he likes it or not (and believe me, he does lol). We can’t control our dreams or who we love, really, after all.\nSuch a great, enduring tune and work of art. Why else do men, women and binaries compose art but to attempt to convince the unseen, unadulterated audience (and especially those we have loved in the past) we are not as sh*tty as we may have been (or, at least, were hopefully mistakenly perceived to be) in the real-time present? We are bearers of great truth, heart and, sometimes, empathy. “We’d do it we could” for those who have showed us the time of day, let alone loved us, right?! The “I know they wouldn’t scar” is perhaps my favorite line of the whole song, as it dualistically implies the singer’s hope neither party has or will be injured by his emotional confinement/restriction.\nAlso, does anyone else hear the opening to The Stones’ “Moonlight Mile” in the song’s intro? Perhaps that’s blindingly obvious to those who better know BT’s influences. (The “Beggars Banquet” record label was ultimately a dead giveaway!).\nLove the perspectives of others on this site – song lyrics obviously being our mass-communicated poetry of the modern age. |
