The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Rose lived on the south side of town
Until her landlord showed up with two hundred dollar bills
A notice of eviction on the other hand
Now she don't live there no more
And everyone thinks he drowned
I pulled into Mecklenburg on them trains
Into a station that got flooded when they opened up the dam
And broke their connections to the railway lines
So they could blast into the quarry
And for every load of granite
We got a ton of worry
One night at the diner over eggs
Over easy she showed me the length of her legs
But that gold plated cross on her neck, it was real
And you don't get that kind of money from pushing meal
I should've told him that you were the one for me
But I lied, but I lied
To most any drifter whose looking for work is too weird
I met your sister and I married her in July
But if only to be closer to you, Caroline
Percy and I moved down the street
Until we lost two pretty girls
One was seven and one was three
Alderman and Caroline owned the house right up the hill
Where we laid those babies down
So they could still see our house
Suspicion got the best of old Alderman Haint
He owned an auto parts store off the interstate
But the lord took him home in July
And then Rose spilled the beans on the day that he died
We was in trouble
I should've told him that you were the one for me
But I lied, but I lied
Tied up to concrete at the bottom of the quarry
With a tattoo on his heart that spelled out "Caroline"
He was silent but his rosary
Well, it drifted into the custody
Of a sheriff that was just deputized
And I was down at the banquet hall
When two guys came up, pretty angry and drunk
And I'm still here at the banquet hall
At the banquet hall
Where the gun went off in the Carolina rain
In the Carolina rain
In the Carolina rain
Oh, Caroline
Until her landlord showed up with two hundred dollar bills
A notice of eviction on the other hand
Now she don't live there no more
And everyone thinks he drowned
I pulled into Mecklenburg on them trains
Into a station that got flooded when they opened up the dam
And broke their connections to the railway lines
So they could blast into the quarry
And for every load of granite
We got a ton of worry
One night at the diner over eggs
Over easy she showed me the length of her legs
But that gold plated cross on her neck, it was real
And you don't get that kind of money from pushing meal
I should've told him that you were the one for me
But I lied, but I lied
To most any drifter whose looking for work is too weird
I met your sister and I married her in July
But if only to be closer to you, Caroline
Percy and I moved down the street
Until we lost two pretty girls
One was seven and one was three
Alderman and Caroline owned the house right up the hill
Where we laid those babies down
So they could still see our house
Suspicion got the best of old Alderman Haint
He owned an auto parts store off the interstate
But the lord took him home in July
And then Rose spilled the beans on the day that he died
We was in trouble
I should've told him that you were the one for me
But I lied, but I lied
Tied up to concrete at the bottom of the quarry
With a tattoo on his heart that spelled out "Caroline"
He was silent but his rosary
Well, it drifted into the custody
Of a sheriff that was just deputized
And I was down at the banquet hall
When two guys came up, pretty angry and drunk
And I'm still here at the banquet hall
At the banquet hall
Where the gun went off in the Carolina rain
In the Carolina rain
In the Carolina rain
Oh, Caroline
Lyrics submitted by BlueAndStarry
Carolina Rain Lyrics as written by Ryan Adams
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Love Ryan. This is one of my favorite songs by him, but it's tough as hell to interpret. This is my analysis after hours of study. Please give me feedback.
The narrator is involved with Rose at the beginning of the song, and he helps her kill her landlord as revenge because he evicted her and is possibly bribing her? The landlord's body is dumped in the quarry which is why they "got a ton of worry" with every "load of granite." The narrator then meets Caroline at the diner and falls in love, but she's with rich guy Alderman Haint. Percy (Caroline's sister)and the narrator obviously get married and experience a great tragedy (two pretty girls) that seems unrelated as far as I can tell, but maybe is included to show the passage of time? Alderman becomes suspicious of the narrator's desire for Caroline, so the narrator kills him and dumps his body in the quarry. Rose knows the narrator is dangerous and has a motive for killing her since she knows about how he killed the landlord. She might even think he killed his daughters. How did they die? I don't know. Rose spills the beans to protect herself. Alderman's rosary eventually "drifts into custody" of the novice sheriff. Novice sheriff isn't trusted to carry out adequate justice which is why the two angry, drunk men kill the narrator at the banquet hall. They might even think he killed his daughters.
I think bluetangled got the closest interpretation to the song's literal meaning. I don't think the narrator or Rose were ever involved romantically though, so question the accuracy of the narrator being involved with her at any point in the story.<br /> <br /> Rose seems more like a "busy body" who probably knew too much about the nattor's involvement with Caroline. I think the line about "a ton of worry" just means the town grew fearful of the damage caused by the quarrey dig.<br /> <br /> Now...there does seem to be at some point in the tale where Rose, Caroline and the narrator got entangled with some mess involving Aldermann - this part is extremely ambigious, but essentially Rose got spooked and narc'd on the narrator and/or Caroline.<br /> <br /> The narrator definitely gets shot at the end of this tale, and as bluetangled mentioned I'm fairly certain his spirit is still lingering 'round the banquet hall', and there's an interesting lyrical homophone parallel happening between "Carolina Rain" and "Oh Caroline" which leads me to believe Caroline is shedding tears for her lost love.<br /> <br /> Over the past couple months I stumbled across this tune thanks to Grooveshark, and have to say that not only is the songwriting musically poignant, but the story is so deep that it gives you a lot to sink your teeth into. Only further solidifying Adams's genius, in my mind.<br /> <br /> I kinda wish he wrote more work like this, as it's brilliant.