Be Careful

Hmmm I think what Patty might be trying to get at is that everyone is more vulnerable and fragile than they would like you to believe. And knowing how vulnerable/fragile everyone is we should all be nice to each other.

Whatever the meaning is its a lovely song!

I think this is from the point of view of an older man, one who's seen and done a lot in his life. He is definitely a lover of women, not just in the sexual sense, but in the sense that he revels in all the womanly things we do, from the kind to silly to absurdly cruel. Because he has seen so much and has loved so much, he is just stating his continued love affair with women, but with a caveat and reminder that men are sensitive too, and that we, as women, must take that into consideration. I love Patty Griffin, and I love her songs so much. This whole album was fantastic

It's hard to know what's in an artists mind. Patty does write songs from a male perspective sometimes, On Top of The World is one. Something about this feels like a woman identifying with women or womanhood. I'm not sure. How about she's writing it from the viewpoint of a female songwriter being inspired by women and womanhood? She does this in Mary. It's possible she's doing it here too: "This what I write, this is our condition and I feel for you all, the ones in restaurant (she was a waitress), ones working overtime, the ones on the telephone (only a woman knows what a woman does on the phone for so long) the ones all alone." I just think the song is taking in too much breadth to be from a male view. I don't think even the finest tuned ladies man considers the girls with their washing rags. In saying careful how you bend me she's saying be careful how you move me in my writing, the way I empathise with you, because if anyone ever felt the human experience in her songs it's Patty G. I agree to hear and see Patty is to be in love: though we "don't even no why and nobody's crying"

Just read it again from that perspective, it works for me that way, this is a woman identifying with other women. All the ones that aren't so lucky to have escaped the drudgery of the every day. They all have all their dreams, desires and secrets. She knows she's lucky to have escaped the waitress but feels for all the women who haven't. It's a love song to her kind.

You see, and all along I just always thought Patty Griffin was singing on behalf of all women, indicated by the various aspects, making a gentle appeal to those who may involve her (women) in their lives, essentially saying, "Treat me properly." Stations and circumstances play no part in how women should be treated. Don't use me, don't abuse me, and if you must leave me, do so honestly and respectfully.

Maybe I'm way off, but I thought this was sung from the perspective of a woman who feels very vulnerable and likely to be jilted by her lover. The women she describes are her competition.

I might be way off, but to me she is talking to mothers and fathers and teachers, and others who have girls in their lives, to be careful with how we treat them as they grow into women, the part we all have in girls and young women growing into adulthood, so the "me" is the girl asking for patience and kindness.