The Way It Goes

Oh wow.. Core memory unlocked! This song is based on a childhood nursery rhyme. I grew up in Mass and when I was little, my parents and aunts and uncles would sit us kids on their knees, hold our hands and bounce us up and down and sing ‘trot trot to Boston, trot trot to Lynn (a nearby town), watch out baby - you’re gonna fall INNNN!!!’ And then they’d open their knees and drop us upside down almost to the ground and we’d yell and laugh - it was SO much fun! I don’t know if there is a deeper meaning to this song, but 100% it’s based on that.

I'm thinking this related to sex.

I'm thinking this related to sex.

I think the song can be seen in two ways. I'd say it is really not about sex but rather growing up and leaving home. "so that i don't forget how to sit like a child on my mothers knee how dare that child be me "

is relating to childhood, etc. "and trot trot to lynn and trot all the way home again but don't let me fall in "

is about leaving home and living life.

the chorus "slipping through your legs" is just about childhood slipping away. the "race me up the loft" verse also relates to childhood memories.

If you want to interpret it about sex/relationships you can see that it might be about a guy who is afraid of falling in love. "trot trot to boston....don't let me fall in" could relate to a long distance relationship (one where he must travel to these different places to see her) and "don't let me fall in" could mean 'in love'

this notion is reiterated in "let you be an arms length away so you can wake me and tell me of the day"

helpless like a dove at bay*

could 'slipping through your legs' possibley be a birth reference?

I really don't think its about sex..but thats just me. I like to think that dispatch is above that.

And I do like to think that the slippin' through your legs is a reference is about growing up/birthing..

It's definitely about childhood "rot trot to boston and trot trot to lynn and trot all the way home again but don't let me fall in " refers to a game that parents play with their children where they pretend to drop them through their legs, which is where they get the "slipping through your legs" bit

the whole song is a play on a nursery rhyme, and how the protagonist doesnt want to grow up, and is looking back at the good times he had. there is nothing about sex, weirdo.

this is the rhyme: Trot, trot, to Boston; Trot, trot, to Lynn; Trot, trot, to Salem; Home, home again. Jiggety Jog.

apparently you guys werent read to as kids.

Perhaps its a New England thing, but as a baby/small child parents would sing the nursery rhyme mentioned in other posts while bouncing the kid on their lap.

Trot trot to Boston Trot trot to Lynn Watch out little [name] Or you might fall in

On "fall in" they would "drop" the child between their legs (obviously not really drop, but as a kid its like you're falling) and then they catch you.

Definitely about childhood. I see the "slippin through your legs" as drifting from your parents. Where they used to catch you, you're now on your own.