A Cannon

In response to just_old_light (love your screen name btw, that's from Samson right?)- when she says "tell all the people to be like the water" i always thought it meant something more along the lines of a sea of people, so she can swim in them. Like the water she swam in in the song. I don't think the escaping in this song (which i can definietely imagine was inspired by a dream) has to do with literal escaping from her life. Whenever i hear it or read the lyrics i think of regina just wanting the freedom to be herself. I also think this song could be something entirely different. About a relationship that set her free. The big boat was a person who took her away. The canon that was fired was the start of a relationship. The waking up once and twice and millions of times part i think symbolizes falling out of love or ending relationships. She sounds afraid that she's going to wake up somewhere off of a big boat taking her away: my heart breaks too easy, my words get all jumbled and when I wear lipstick then no one understands me at all they think I’m saying hello and goodbye… what I’m really saying is…

I’ve woken up once and I’ve woken up twice and I’ve woken up millions and millions of times

I think this song is about a dreamer. Someone who dreams and hopes to be taken away far from where she lives. Nobody understands her, "when I wear lipstick then no one understands me at all". So she sees a boat in the distance and thinks it's calling for her. She writes a letter and leaves it for her parents or husband. She throws herself into the sea, but she drowns. Her letter is mistaken for a suicide note. And finally, people thinks she's saying "hello and goodbye", just like the water. But nobody will ever know what she's REALLY saying, because they can't understand her, which is the part where she's whispering.

Oh man, this is such a beautiful song. Definitely about a dreamer; she wants to escape from her life, wants to "tell all the people to be like the water" (I think this means she wants to remind people that they are free, like water flowing in whichever direction it pleases and that they are the only ones who control their own lives, they are the sea under their own boats). Maybe she wants to be a writer or a singer or something, but she can't seem to properly articulate herself; no one understands her message. Either that or no one believes themselves capable of freedom and choice; they listen to her words but never apply them.

I don't think she literally throws herself into the sea and drowns. I think she pours herself into her art, I think she writes letters explaining and carries daggers protecting, but still, she's "woken up millions and millions of times" and will continue to do so. She dreams and dreams, but nothing changes. But I hear something very hopeful in this song, maybe it's just the melody, maybe it's the constant anticipation of a big boat arriving to take her away. Who knows? Maybe someday the people will understand, maybe someday she'll escape into the life she dreams of.

I love the part in the line 'When what I'm really trying to say is -' where she whispers incoherently. It's like we're all curious to find out what she's really trying to say, and we can't understand it. It symbolizes a lot of things. Maybe she's really trying to say nothing. Maybe what she is trying to say can't be expressed through words. Maybe she's expressing the futility of such statements - if someone says something wise and profound, it'll probably sound like gibberish to the general public. Maybe she wants us to imagine what she could be saying.

Haha, I got so carried away. X]

i may be wrong [but its one of my favorite regina songs] so ill start with a few touch ups for the lyrics: where theres a quesiton mark: "and i my less and less" and im pretty sure "then a peach" (haha) should be "then a beach" anyway, i love the childlike fairytale quality of this song. it is as if she's describing a dream; she makes me imagine it all so visually. pang of nostalgia (that i always feel when reminiscing about childhood)

damn. i meant "and i mind less and less" nothing beats correcting a typo with another typo!

Mabey its just me cuz im a theatre freak.....but doesnt teh melody from the lines "I've woken up once And I've twice And I've woken up millions and millions of times" kinda sorta maybe sound a little like that little part of the song in The Magica Mr. Mistoffles in Cats? lol

I so love this song, especially the part that goes "and when I wear lipstick then no one understands me at all". Plus her voice in this song is something incredible!

i agree with the magical feeling of this song. i love the 'i always knew a big boat would come and take me away, take me away."

Does anyone else notice the relation of this song to the poem by Lord Tennyson called the Lady of Shalot? It's not totally the same, but this song reminded me of it, so I thought I'd mention it.