| Tom Waits – Dead and Lovely Lyrics | 24 days ago |
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My wife came up with this interpretation. Naive girl falls in with a rich man who spends money on her, and she loves the elegance of the lifestyle, but lyrics like "he knew everyone's secrets" and "he's not the kind of wheel you fall asleep at" hint at something sinister. "She made up someone to be. She made up somewhere to be from. This is one business in the world where that's no problem at all. Everything that is left they will only plow under..." She created a new persona and completely destroyed the rest. My wife pointed out that this is often done by sex workers as a regular practice and is practically expected. Strippers, Porn stars, and prostitutes all use fake names and back stories. "This is one business in the world where that's no problem at all." The death that it mentions is an internal death. As this man is pimping her out, she's disillusioned and dead inside but she looks so lovely. This could also be backed up by "...He kept her on a leash. He's not the kind of wheel you fall asleep at". It's pretty clearly telling us that he's controlling, demanding, and possibly manipulating. The artist's intention was likely more along the lines of a gold digger marries a mobster and is killed for making a play for the money, but I found this to be an interesting interpretation. |
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