You and the Mona Lisa

When Shawn Colvin co wrote this song and the others on 'A few small repairs' album she was going through a painful divorce. She also had a serious bout of depression for a while and I believe she was on medication. I would think that most of her songs on this album stem from having to deal with the end of her marriage and the hurt that was felt.

I decided to pull apart the lyrics. Here goes:

'Hold me down to anything anything that you see I should walk away right now'

I get from this that she is telling her soon to be ex that if he could find one thing about her that he liked enough or valued she could stay but the answer has been so long in coming that she should have dismissed him and left the relationship a long time ago.

'I'll be there so never mind I'll be the one to fall waiting for you to look up at me'

This implies that despite the stress of the relationship she still sticks around, becoming tired of it and may 'collapse' due to the stress but she is taking the 'high road' and her soon to be ex may have done something unethical so despite her suffering in the relationship when she 'falls' he soon to be ex will be the one 'looking up at her'

'Oh, I love you the most Always giving up the ghost In your own private conversation'

She is being sarcastic. The ghost is the mystery that he reveals when he indicates that he has to 'speak privately'. He may think the private conversations
don't reveal much when they actually do. The ghost is what she cannot see but knows exist. He is obviously hiding something.

'You're a sweet mystery There is nothing in between You and Mona Lisa'

This implies that she has put her soon to be ex on a pedestal for a long time now, revered like the mona lisa painting. The mona lisa has a mystery attached to it in that some interpret the smile of the painting as indicating that the Mona Lisa is 'hiding a secret'. This implies that her ex has been deceptive and was keeping a secret for a long time. When she says 'There is nothing in between You and Mona Lisa' it says that he and the Mona Lisa are very alike in this instance. At times she may have been confused 'is he keeping a secret or isn't he?'

'Nothing in particular and everything in between this is what you mean to me'. This means that due to the stress of the relationship he is losing his 'status' but at the same time she finds it hard to let go.

'We were walking up high and no one thought to try but I was the one to blame' Everything seemed normal or she tried to pass off everything as normal. She was ok for ignorance is bliss - and for a while neither or them seemed to be checking up on eachother but she eventually did - she realised it was a show when she hid in the garage and heard someone call his name. That 'someone' is the key to the truth being revealed. She was very trustful and when she found out she was deceived she came out of hiding.

'Nothing in particular just you and the Mona Lisa'

She is being sarcastic in saying this. Its her way of saying 'Oh its no biggie to talk about however...'It could be another way of avoiding an argument.

It does not necessarily mean her ex was cheating but the song implies that her someone was her world and he was keeping a secret that she had a gut feeling about but eventually found the strength to call him out on it.

I've found a lot of 90's alternative music to always have deep hidden messages that are hardly indicated in the music video.