Gloria

I think it's more about a woman whose looks have faded but she still thinks she's beautiful and that everybody wants her but she's just deluding herself and getting older without actually having found somebody though she still thinks she will.

I think this song is about a girl who's had the guys forever and always got which ever one she wanted, than she meets a guy that actually doesn't like her like that and she doesn't know what to think of it so she starts second guessing herself and is trying to play hard to get and such to get him to like her and him not liking her has made her realize she's not fooling anyone but herself

This song sounds to me as if the singer, (Laura,) is talking about a woman who has lived a life of chasing men for money. But now in her older years her life is not working the way it did when she was young and pretty. When she was younger she could have any man she wanted. Yet as she is older she cannot, but she cannot deal with it. So she is now beginning to push harder and starting to panic. The first lines are about her running after somebody that she has to get somehow. And then it explains she needs to be careful not to blow it and she is headed for a breakdown, but she has to be careful not to show it and give it away or she has less of a chance of getting the man.

The next stanza it talks about her not remembering, possibly referring to either becoming forgetful, or to a man blowing her off and she cannot accept it. The reference to voices in her head may mean all the men she has been trying to get over the years and whether they are calling her or not. then it talks about her fallin, (basically failing or losing her touch) and then it says if everybody wants you, why isn't anybody callin. but she cannot answer that question. "You don't have to answer" has a dual meaning to me in that when she was younger she did not have to answer the phone unless she felt like it, but now she does not have to answer because they are not calling. And then when it says "leave them hangin on the line," it references when she was in her prime she could turn guys away and string them along. It then states that "I think they've got your number," which I think has dual meaning of her wondering if they have her phone number, which they do, and also meaning the men are on to her game. And then goes to the next lines saying they have her alias, (again, they know what she is up to.)

And the next stanza talks about how she may get one of her men. will she meet him on the main line (which I think may simply refer to a normal guy not in a relationship,) or will you meet him on the rebound (a guy right out of a relationship.) Are you gonna marry for the money and take a lover in the afternoon. And then it talks about her innocence slipping away and does not see it coming back soon. She is reflecting on her life in that verse. (This stanza to me is such a parallel to the song, "Lyin Eyes" by The Eagles, where the girl in the song married for money, has a lover she sees in the afternoon/evenings, and lost her innocence.)

It's about a woman who's desperate not to be alone—she's constantly pretending to be someone she's not just to appeal to a man, because she defines herself by whether or not she's in a relationship. Her friend is trying to tell her to slow down and chill out—stop jumping whenever guys call, stop putting on an act to please them—she isn't fooling anyone, and it just doesn't do her any good in the end.

When I was growing up, I thought this song was about a girl who was going insane. Reading the lyrics as an adult, I don't think Gloria is actually insane. She just has a very troubled history with men! She doesn't have a man in her life right now, and is desperate to find one.

She is self-absorbed and has an unrealistic self-image. She likes to think of herself as desirable and sought-after, but she is actually the one doing the pursuing. (Men aren't calling her.) It's implied that she has been dishonest or manipulative, and they have caught on to that. "I think they've got your number... the alias that you've been living under."

The most confusing line (which repeats over-and-over) is, "You really don't remember. Was it something that he said?" My best theory is that maybe Gloria has gone through so many boyfriends that she can't even remember why she broke up with some of them.

[Edit: Edit]

Hi everybody! "Will you meet him on the main line, or will you catch him on the rebound?" sounds meaningless for me (non-native speaker here!!). "main line" refers to a place like a large avenue, right? So, the singer asks something like "Will you meet him on the main line?" in opposition to catch him after being rejected by someone else ("catch him on the rebound?")? It makes no sense at all... This strophe is driving me crazy! Can someone tell what such a statement actually means? Thank you in advance!

Let me start with I like this song a lot, feels soulful which is why I wanted to know the lyrics

Second, unrelated to the lyrics, I wish there was a stanza that told Gloria to stop waiting for the phone to ring and look in the mirror and realize Gloria is what she has, the man is the icing on the cake

The first stanza definitely indicates desperation, and shame in feeling desperation. Interesting that a lot of comments thought this was an older woman. I thought it was a younger woman who hadn’t defined herself on her own yet and was defining herself based on her male relationships.

The next part seems overconfident, though: “If everybody wants you…. Why isn’t anybody calling… “ this does seem like an older woman who was once beautiful but isn’t anymore

But then if she wants ppl to call, why wouldn’t she answer?

And why is she using an alias??

And why can’t she remember what they said?

The song gets more and more confusing. Doesn’t really tell a story. Too bad bc it’s so catchy!!!

I never thought about that before. I thought it was more about a woman and she used to be really beautiful and get all the guys and now she's older and still trying to act the same way but it's just not working anymore.

A woman whose looks have faded

Hi! I am a non-native speaker and this song is driving me crazy. I can not understand what "don't you think you're fallin'?" really means. From the context, it sounds something like "don't you think you're deceiving yourself?" or "don't you think you're humiliating yourself?" Also, "Gloria, how's it gonna go down?" does not really make the bell ring. Would it be something like "Gloria, what now?". Could some kind soul tell me what those statements really mean? Thank you in advance!!