Zamba

The song is about a girlfriend (in what sense? Unclear) with whom the narrator has become estranged. She has made her way to high society and forgotten about her former friends (“now you’re such a lady, why your feet don’t touch the ground”). Maybe she has married a wealthy landowner; maybe she has made a fortune through being an amazing burlesque performer, who knows? Whatever the case, our narrator feels betrayed by her (maybe unfoundedly so, just to add another twist). The last few lines are definitely my favourites, though. “Autumn clearing, all the leaves are falling down” brings to memory the classic Autumn Leaves, another song about two people that are tragically not together anymore. Zamba ends with a cliffhanger: “I can see you clearly now”. I find that last line frustrating and compelling. It welcomes more than one interpretation. Maybe he sees that, despite her fully immersing herself in that strange world, she’s truly unhappy and lonely up there á la the girl from Bitter-Sweet (“as you turn to leave you try to force a smile, then you break down and cry”). Or, maybe, he sees that she has changed completely as a person, or just revealed her true nature which makes him realise he never truly knew her and he has been mourning the loss of a person that never really existed. Both are unhappy outcomes. I just can’t come up with a happy one that makes sense to me. Either way, I love how Zamba is so wonderfully open-ended. Depending on the day, I go for one ending or the other.

The song is about a girlfriend (in what sense? Unclear) with whom the narrator has become estranged. She has made her way to high society and forgotten about her former friends (“now you’re such a lady, why your feet don’t touch the ground”). Maybe she has married a wealthy landowner; maybe she has made a fortune through being an amazing burlesque performer, who knows? Whatever the case, our narrator feels betrayed by her (maybe unfoundedly so, just to add another twist). The last few lines are definitely my favourites, though. “Autumn clearing, all the leaves are falling down” brings to memory the classic Autumn Leaves, another song about two people that are tragically not together anymore. Zamba ends with a cliffhanger: “I can see you clearly now”. I find that last line frustrating and compelling. It welcomes more than one interpretation. Maybe he sees that, despite her fully immersing herself in that strange world, she’s truly unhappy and lonely up there á la the girl from Bitter-Sweet (“as you turn to leave you try to force a smile, then you break down and cry”). Or, maybe, he sees that she has changed completely as a person, or just revealed her true nature which makes him realise he never truly knew her and he has been mourning the loss of a person that never really existed. Both are unhappy outcomes. I just can’t come up with a happy one that makes sense to me. Either way, I love how Zamba is so wonderfully open-ended. Depending on the day, I go for one ending or the other.