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Rattlesnakes Lyrics

Jodie wears a hat although it hasn’t rained for six days
She says a girl needs a gun these days
Hey on account of all the rattlesnakes

She looks like Eve marie saint in on the waterfront
She reads Simone de Beauvoir in her American circumstance

She’s less than sure if her heart has come to stay in San Jose
And her never-born child still haunts her
As she speeds down the freeway
As she tries her luck with the traffic police
Out of boredom more than spite
She never finds no trouble, she tries too hard
She’s obvious despite herself

She looks like Eve Marie Saint in on the waterfront
She says all she needs is therapy, yeah
All you need is, love is all you need

Jodie never sleeps ’cause there are always needles in the hay
She says that a girl needs a gun these days
Hey on account of all the rattlesnakes

She looks like Eve Marie Saint in on the waterfront
As she reads Simone de Beauvoir in her American circumstance
Her heart, heart’s like crazy paving
Upside down and back to front
She says "ooh, it’s so hard to love
When love was your great disappointment."
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Cover art for Rattlesnakes lyrics by Lloyd Cole & The Commotions

it's about a girl that is too careful, too precautious and fills her life with mundanity so that she doesn't feel empty ('reads Simone de Beauvoir') about not having someone to love. she doesn't seem to get rid of the emptiness ('there are always needles in the hay'), although she tries to deny that ('she says all she needs is therapy'). i love the line "she looks like Eve Marie Saint in On the Waterfront". sounds mysterious if you don't know Eve Marie Saint is an actress which won the oscar for her role in On the Waterfront. she was very beautiful btw, so it probably means Jodie does not have someone 'cause she avoids it for being her "great disappointment". i hope i got it right.

Cover art for Rattlesnakes lyrics by Lloyd Cole & The Commotions

It's based on the novel "Play it as it Lays".

Cover art for Rattlesnakes lyrics by Lloyd Cole & The Commotions

I agree with jonasminduim. Personally, the Tori Amos version is easier for me to identify with because it is sung by a woman. Further interpretation shows a search for meaning as Simone de Beauvoir was a French author and philosopher (existentialist) who wrote The Second Sex among other writings and was involved in a lifelong relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre. To cautious for fear of being hurt, on the fence about regret, trying to make up for lost time and risk ... it's all here. Who doesn't feel this? I love this song, so so much.

Song Meaning
Cover art for Rattlesnakes lyrics by Lloyd Cole & The Commotions

i think the girl in this song has been raped by someone she knows... "wears a hat".. (to cover the societal shame) "never born child"... obvious... "all she needs is therapy"... again society's solution.... "when love was your great disappointment"... obvious... very sad song.... almost forgot... she needs a gun to shoot the perpertrator...

@KennyHutch Nope, it's far, far lighter than that

 
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