Diane

I believe laelithe is correct. My name is Diane. I married someone else but not my first love. I know a broke his heart. He later then married himself. Then I divorced and he is still married and I know although he doesnt and cannot say it, I know and he will be back. We’ve had to occupy our minds because it’s not easy. The best time is sleeping because then I dream we are together. I don’t know, I feel like someone is going through the same thing I am.

is theme correct there? I always thought it was fear.

I see it about a guy and a gurl that have an insecure relationship and aren't sure of each others actions when u look at it he just mentions about sleep and diane.. it usually means 'frozen' the relationship

well when the song says "i dont say it but i know you know" i think theyre saying that they love eachother but they havent gotten to the point of saying it yet. also how theyre talking about the secrets that they keep, also the "to define the you and i as we". its talking about a relationship moving forward?? but im not sure

I always heard the line as "we lie together and we say it's love", which I think has a double meaning. They're both keeping up a lie that they're in love for the other's sake. Or they're having sex and mistaking it for love.

i think it's about two people who are together just because they don't want to be alone. when he says "the fear returns so deep", etc., he's talking about the fear of being single. they are both afraid of being alone, so they both latched onto each other, and aren't sure now if they really love each other or if it's just because they each need someone or a relationship to feel complete.

when he says "we close our eyes and hope that we'll be fine", he is saying that both of them know there's a possibility they don't really love each other, but they are turning a blind eye to it in the hope that maybe they really are in love.

hah, i was once playing this song, and my mom stopped by and looked confused. her name is diana, and she thought that they were saying, "diane, we're making out together"

oh yes.

saw this band over 2 years ago, and i've loved em since

hah, i was once playing this song, and my mom stopped by and looked confused. her name is diana, and she thought that they were saying, "diane, we're making out together"

oh yes.

saw this band over 2 years ago, and i've loved em since

You know, I've always agreed with wimpy_shrimpy's version of what this song means--the singer and Diane in a relationship that's lost its magic, and the two of them are just trying to string it along without knowing what to do or whether they're still in love.

However, upon closer inspection--I wonder if the song is about something different? Lines like "we'll make it out together" and "I'll come right back for you" imply that he knows he loves Diane, which doesn't seem in keeping with the rest of the song, which is about doubt and a uncertain farce of a relationship. I always put this down to the songwriter's way of sending mixed messages in a confusing way to show how confusing and full of mixed messages the situation is for the singer, but now I'm not so sure that's the explanation.

I now think that it might mean that the singer and Diane are indeed in love--but are unable to be legitimately together because she is married or with someone else (and maybe he is as well--I think so). If this is the case, I think the song also implies that they're having an affair together.

Like...the secret that they're keeping is that they love each other; they can't say it, because it would break up the marriages/relationships. He has to watch her leave because she belongs to another man, and he belongs to another woman.

I think the line "we lie together when we say it's love" is important--it's clearly a play on words, because "lie together" means sex, obviously. But the use of the word "when" makes it sound like the most significant meaning of the phrase is that they're lying when they say it's love. I think he means that when they say that they love the people they're married to/dating, it's a lie...but the double meaning of "lie together" implies that it's also a lie when the singer and Diane have sex, because they're not really the couple they wish they were.

"Who were you just thinking of, Diane?" is a legitimate question. She's got a lot of men around--but I think the singer could be highlighting that she thinks she thinks about him more than her husband. Or perhaps he's just so terribly confused by the whole situation...he's really wondering who she's dreaming about. The man she truly loves (him), or the man she shares her life with (the husband/boyfriend)?

The theme of secrets being told when a person talks in his/her sleep makes me think that she talks about the singer when she's sleeping, and that's the theme that visits them every night when they dream and their guards are down.

The last line, I think, says that someday he thinks he'll leave his wife/relationship and come back for Diane.

But I don't know! Just a new explanation that makes more sense to me than my original explanation of the song--all the words seem to fit, unlike before.

Hmm...I could be way off here...

To me it seems like this song is about a relationship that takes place in a short amount of time. Specifically, things like relationships at a summer camp (maybe it's because Guster is like...THE jewish camp band). But lines like "so we pass the time and occupy our minds and close our eyes and hope that we'll be fine" describe carrying on a relationship despite knowing that it can't last. The wishful thinking aspect of "hope that we'll be fine" is there.

Maybe I'm just lonely for jewcamp, but that does seem to be what this song is about. Something like that.

I love this song.