Here on these cliffs of Dover
So high you can't see over
And while your head is spinning
Hold tight, it's just beginning

You come from parents wanton
A childhood rough and rotten
I come from wealth and beauty
Untouched by work or duty

And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, my love
We both go down together

I found you, a tattooed tramp
A dirty daughter from the labor camps
I laid you down on the grass of a clearing
You wept but your soul was willing

And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, my love
We both go down together

And my parents will never consent to this love
But I hold your hand

Meet me on my vast veranda
My sweet, untouched Miranda
And while the seagulls are crying
We fall but our souls are flying

And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, oh my love
And oh, my love, my love
We both go down together


Lyrics submitted by sethbrown

We Both Go Down Together Lyrics as written by Colin Meloy

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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We Both Go Down Together song meanings
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  • +2
    My Interpretation

    Well, If this really is a prequel to LAL, then maybe the couple didn't die. In the beginning, the lyrics say "Here on these cliffs of Dover So high you can't see over And while your head is spinning Hold tight, it's just beginning" Maybe those words just mean that they are both so in love that they get that weird butterfly-in-your-stomach feeling. "We fall, but our souls our flying" They fall in love, they fall in embrace, ect. If they didn't die, then the only lyric that confuses me is "You wept, but your soul was willing". It wouldn't make sense.

    Now, lets say that they do both die. Then, the lyrics: "Here on these cliffs of Dover So high you can't see over And while your head is spinning Hold tight, it's just beginning" is them, holding hands, looking over the edge, thinking their final thoughts before they leap. "You wept, but your soul was willing" Miranda didn't want to die, who does? But she is willing to do it, for the sake of love. "We fell, but our souls were flying" They are literally falling of the cliff at this point. They have accepted their death, and while I'm not saying that they're happy about dying, they're glad that they will get to be together forever. "We both go down together" They both jump and plummet to earth together.

    If they both did die, AND this is the prequel to LAL, then maybe the "dry ravine" was the ground underneath the cliff. Miranda was pregnant and literally about to give birth when she jumped, and I think maybe she survived a little longer, and was able to push Leslie out. Or Leslie was never actually birthed, but she became a ghost anyway.

    Another crazy idea: Miranda and the narrator had a baby together, but, unable to take all the ridicule of their "socially wrong" relationship, killed themselves. The narrator's parents, while they disliked it, took the baby under their wing. The baby grew up to be Leslie's mother, and we all know what happened after that.

    myhightideon May 23, 2012   Link

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