50 Ways To Leave Your Lover

This is not a breakup song. The 'he' and 'she' are not breaking up - on the contrary..

Curious? Imagine this scenario.

A man is in a troubled relationship with some woman. He wants to finish it, but does not know how or doesn't have the courage to do it. Now one evening he's sitting in a bar, making conversation with another woman who dropped by and is willing to give him some attention. And possibly some affection.

Now read the lyrics again.

For me it is obvious what kind of 'solution' this woman has in mind for this man in order to release himself from his burden :-)

So from a certain perspective, yes, this is a happy song - with a probably happy ending.

What if it's the Mom telling her adult son how to leave his wife?

He's at home telling his Mom of his marital problems.

Mother and son are now both adults. He doesn't need her as much anymore but it still bothers her to see her baby boy in pain. She tells him, "I don't want to intrude and I'm not going to tell you to stay or leave. That's up to you. So don't misunderstand my words: I'm simply telling you there must be 50 ways to be free of your marriage.

As an adult, he shows her respect my simply saying, "I appreciate that, Mom".

It's getting late. She nudges him to stay the night by telling him it'll be better in the morning. "Let's just sleep on this and it'll be better come morning" and kisses him goodnight.

He then quietly thinks to himself, She's probably right.

After all, Mom's are usually right when it comes to matters of the heart.

this song is awsome. fact. lol. its about how "easy" it is to leave some one but really how near impossiable it is to emotially detatch yourself from them.

are you kidding? this song is brilliant!

are you kidding? this song is brilliant!

For some reason I always saw this song as a woman talking to her boyfriend/husband (the narrator) half jokingly, like she realized something was off in the relationship and this was her way of confronting him. He leaves the conversation with no real idea what he wants to do, but he's prepared to be persuaded. No idea why, but thats always what I've thought.

i agree with different_13 - verses are awesome, chorus is ok but doesn't fit at all; too cheery, and too rhyming

also - i have absolutely no happy go lucky type feeling while listening to this song; it's about cheating on someone and leaving them - and while i definitely sympathise with the singer, it's in this melancholy understanding kind of way, not a chipper isn't-it-cool-how-many-different-ways-there-are-to- break-someone's-heart? way

Yeah, Paul is a genius in that he is a "song" writer, he doesn't just do the lyrics or the music. The free-wheelin, care-free method of the chorus is symbolic of the real idea to the song. It seems like everybody gets the point, that it's actually very easy to leave someone, but that heart thing gets in the way and makes it complex and difficult. The verse's bring you back to that dark, depressing feeling of loss, then the chorus's are that, hard to ignore, reminder that it's really easy to leave your lover, 50 ways - easy, in fact.

Anybody else think maybe SHE'S leaving HIM? The impression I got is that they're in a relationship, and it's pretty much over emotionally, but he can't quite bring himself to leave her, even though in a sense he already has. And she knows he doesn't love her anymore, even if he hasn't quite figured it out yet, so she's going to leave first. I just wondered after the part where she tells him he'll understand in the morning. As if perhaps she won't be there by the time he wakes up?

i think this song is about a woman who gets convinces men to cheat on their wives/significant others. the end.