Wallet

I feel like the wallet is like a metaphor for a way of life. She finds the wallet, which is an organized, predictable, and safe way of living. You know where your receipts are, you've got all your money in it's proper place, you can just open your wallet to remind you that you have a beautiful family--but the life isn't perfect. After all, he did lose the wallet, and let his driver's license expire. Her life is so different (the blue rubber band): it's chaotic, unorganized, and inconstant. She's always just hoping she'll be able to find what she needs.

So she goes through his wallet, trying to see what it would be like to live that kind of life. She sees the safety and comfort of that kind of life. With his wallet in her hand, she has the opportunity to live that kind of life. She could throw out all the contents of the wallet and fill it in with her own, thus starting to live her own life in that fashion.

But she chooses not to. After looking through his wallet and seeing what her own life could be, she decides to continue living the way she does, knowing that she can make the man happy by giving him his life back.

[Edit: Otjo]

Weeeelll...based on what lemonjuice said about Regina saying "This is a silent request from my mom, I could feel it burning into the back of my head."

Perhaps her mom told her a story about how she met her dad... by finding his wallet and returning it to him. So, as a homage to her mother and father, she wrote this song. I don't think the events are what really happened, but she created a detailed story and made it this song.

When I hear this song, I think of a faint memory I have from when I was very little. I think it was an educational event, or maybe just my teacher asking the class a moral question: what would you do if you found a lost wallet? They told us if you did, you should return it. I don't think I quite knew what I would do, because I was young and all I could understand was that there are valuable things in a person's pocket. I've never found anyone's wallet before but now I say I would return it. I couldn't steal something when I look through the contents and see "pictures of your small family" without thinking that the person I'm stealing from has a life, and a family, and that the same thing could happen to me some day. I like the way she ends the song, "you'll never know me, I'll never know you, but you'll be so happy when they call you up" It feels like, well, when I think about what's in it for me if I return your wallet to you, materialistically there is nothing. But at least I know that what I'm doing is going to make someone out there really happy.

This may not be what Regina meant, but it's just what this song reminds me of.

I think that this song is about her finding a wallet.

End of story.

I think this song has a very simple message to it. It's just her creative way of saying that you should be charitable to other people and be honest, and don't keep what's not yours even if you don't have what they do.

it kinda reminds me the movie amelie when she finds that little chest of treasures and the hapiness she gets from findind the owner.

This song isn't on any of her CDs (yet, I hope she puts it out on one) but I saw her play it live on November 2nd at the one show she did with Rufus Wainwright (FANTASTIC COMBO). Anyway I love this song because she took something so simple as finding a stranger's wallet on the ground and made it into a song, and made it sound special. Reginaspektor.net has a live recording of it.

I've heard the recording (and I think it's THAT one) when she says: "This is a silent request from my mom, I could feel it burning into the back of my head". And somehow I get the feeling, from that statement, that the owner of the wallet is her father... It's probably just my wild imagination but just as well as she could have gotten the idea from finding the wallet herself, it could have been her dad that lost the wallet. I base this strictly on one line that goes: "You had been born in 1953" I don't even know if Reginas father was born in 1953 or not but it would sound better -loosly rhyming on "...dark brown"- if the number was 1951... I know what every one's thinking, and I will be checking into a mental hospital soon but still, I could very well be on to someting.

IGNORE EVERYTHING WRITTEN ABOVE!

Nineteenfifthythree rhymes with family. I must have written that in a brief moment of unconsciousness...

At first I thought that the 3rd verse was from the perspective of the person who lost the wallet, but I think it makes more sense if it's from the same perspective as the rest of the song. It shows how even though the person who found the wallet doesn't have their own wallet (is possibly less wealthy) they still hand it in.

I love the simplicity of this song. It shows how you can show kindness to people without them having to know who you are. Like a little Robin Hood moment X]