In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
I sat there looking ugly
Looking ugly and mean
I knew what you were saying
You were saying to me
Baby's got some new rules
Baby, said she's had it with me
It seems a shame to waste your time on me
It seems a lot to waste your time for me
Left me to love
What it's doing to me
There's a lot of honey in this world
Baby, this honey's for me
You've got to do what you do
Do it with me
It seems a shame you waste your time for me
Left me to love
What it's doing to me
Knocked silly
Knocked flat
Sideways down
These things they pick you up
And they turn you around
Say your piece
Say you're sweet for me
It's all the same to share the pain with me
It's all the same, save the shame for me
Left me to love
What it's doing to me
Baby's got some new rules
Baby said she's had it with me
There's a fly in the honey
Baby's got a baby with me
That's a part
That's a part of me
Left me to love
What it's doing to me
Left me to love
What it's doing to me
What about me?
What about me?
Looking ugly and mean
I knew what you were saying
You were saying to me
Baby's got some new rules
Baby, said she's had it with me
It seems a shame to waste your time on me
It seems a lot to waste your time for me
Left me to love
What it's doing to me
There's a lot of honey in this world
Baby, this honey's for me
You've got to do what you do
Do it with me
It seems a shame you waste your time for me
Left me to love
What it's doing to me
Knocked silly
Knocked flat
Sideways down
These things they pick you up
And they turn you around
Say your piece
Say you're sweet for me
It's all the same to share the pain with me
It's all the same, save the shame for me
Left me to love
What it's doing to me
Baby's got some new rules
Baby said she's had it with me
There's a fly in the honey
Baby's got a baby with me
That's a part
That's a part of me
Left me to love
What it's doing to me
Left me to love
What it's doing to me
What about me?
What about me?
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this song is supposed to be about a guy whose girlfriend is pregnant and doesn't want to keep the baby. it's from the guy's point of view; saying it's just as much his baby and that she can share the burden and shame or whatever she feels with him, because feeling like being a father is making him feel wonderful, even if the baby was unplanned. on that note, i believe the lyrics are "let me love what it's doing to me." i think the guy in the song feels like he may not have much of a say, because it's her body, and he's afraid to ask her to consider him and his part in the whole thing, although he feels strongly about it.
Love the name! :)
I think this one could be just as much about a divorce as pregnancy. The narrator could be a husband, being left by his wife, and she takes the children with her, and he can't do anything but stand back and watch them leave him. It's possible that his wife just doesn't get him, or understand him, because he's different ("that's a part of me"). The wife can't go on with the pain and the relationship, because she's bored and their love is dead ("it's all the same, share the pain with me", "waste your time on me").
i actually think the lyric is supposed to go "leave me to love what it's doing to me"
...i always thought it was from the point of view of the baby, and not about abortion at all, just about pregnancy...the baby has just been conceived and does not yet understand the mother's love...
...of course "this world" is inside the mother, everything she does has to be with the baby, and of course with the baby comes other changes in the body, like "honey"...the baby is the "fly in the honey"
this song is a response to the song "eat for two" by 10,000 maniacs. the lyrics in that song definitely lead way to quick interpretation of these.
makeartnotmath got it in one. Male response to pregnancyi.e the subject of 'eat for 2'
Kate Pierson's background vocals in this song raise the hairs on the back of my neck every time.
And also, the repeated use and focus on "me" puts the narrator in a selfish aspect to me.
blah blah blah! I think its about a relationship where the guy breaks up with the girl, realizes that he feels a strongly as she does, misses her, and is trying to work it out, and she is pregnant- of course the baby comes at the end of the song. Then comes the realization- where does he fit in all this? Sometimes things are just simple.
Well, that's all very well- Michael Stipe's sexual orientation notwithstanding. This song blows me away alwyas, a hypnotic trance tune I can't ever get out of my mind.
re: "Michael Stipe's sexual orientation"<br /> <br /> At one point, I seem to recall he said he was bisexual (something like "I'm an equal opportunity lech."). But perhaps more to the issue, if indeed this is a response to "Eat for Two", well, 10,000 Maniacs lead singer Natalie Merchant dated Stipe for a while.<br />
"A fly in the honey" is the perfect metaphor for an unwanted pregnancy. The fly doesn't want to be there; the honey doesn't want the fly there. Yet the fly is compelled to find its way into the honey and become trapped, damaging both the fly and the honey.
The girl doesn't want to be with him. He feels like she's taking a part of him away. "That's a part of me."
Notice that the chorus line probably refers to that much-loved song '(You're) Having My Baby' by Paul Anka. Presumably sarcastic?