Swan Song

I originally thought that this song was about letting go of a love, but after I listened to it a few times I came up with a different interpretation. It seems like this could be about a girl who was caught up in love and lost her virginity, but now regrets it.

The loss of her virginity ("Wretched, look at me, I've lost it") follows her everywhere, so that it seems like she has no privacy and everyone can see through her ("melting on the table In parking lots and markets"). She slept with a man because her love for him was stronger than her desire to wait ("I cant help it, loves [loved?] you like a starfish loves the salty water, Like a selfish daughter"). She now regrets it because she feels dirty and selfish ("Foolish, how was I so careless"), possibly because the man left her after they had sex. Wealth is a metaphor for her virginity ("Pawning off my treasure, the envy of an heiress. Now my dollars are crumbled in my pocket"), which is now worthless. She desperately wants to take back her rash decision ("How can I reclaim it? What if someone's got it?"), but the man is gone or has changed, and her purity cannot be replaced. The loss of her virginity prompts her to realize that humanity is not as compassionate as she once perceived it to be ("How could the world have turned so ugly?"), a feeling that is only amplified by the fact that the man is not who she thought he was. Life as she knew it has fallen apart ("I am dying"), yet she desires the man still ("Could you touch me again? Touch me again"). This is because she feels that something went wrong, and that if he would just take her back everything would be right again. It is possible that she is blaming and/or punishing herself by beckoning to the man. Her voice is so heartbreaking at this point because she is torturously confused and lonely and hurt, desperate for any escape. As for the chorus, "Swan Song" is a reference to the ancient myth that the swan sings a single, beautiful song as it is dying. The innocent, chaste girl she once was is dying or has already died, and this is her final song; one tainted by regret and containing a warning for those who hear it. She feels that she has done something terrible to herself (she is "the author of the wrong") because she knowingly agreed to have sex ("And I said what I said and I meant it"). But she realizes that she ignored the implications of losing her virginity for the sake of an unstable, foolish love affair ("But now I regret it").

Perhaps this isn't the meaning that was intended, but it seems like a possibility. Either way, it is a beautiful song and it definitely has a deep significance to Sudol, whether it is a personal story or written about someone else.

I'll be the first to comment on this beautiful song. I think she's talking about compromising and / or giving up something that was very valuable to her. At the time it was happening it seemed perfect, beautiful and right, but in hindsight she "regrets it". Love how she uses the analogy of a "swan song" to describe this!

Stunning song.

And I agree, she decided to end it and now is regretting it.

Also it's "LOVED you", not "loves you"

i love this song. i just got the new cd for x-mas and have listened over and over. does anyone have any idea wat she might have given away??? do u think it was a someone or something? i think it might have been a bf b/c at the end she says will u touch me again. like will u get back together with me cause i miss u. idk if someone has an explan. i would love to hear it.

I agree with a lot of these interpretations, but the name of the song, the phrase "swan song", is still confusing me. Idk if it's just me or not. I looked it up, and the phrase "swan song" can sometimes mean a final performance. Any ideas?

just my interpretation, but:

maybe it's about two people deciding if they want a relationship to take off, but are just too held back by something. whether it be their friends or their surroundings or maybe even themselves.

(Wretched, look at me, I've lost it, melting on the table In parking lots and markets I cant help it, loves you like a starfish loves the salty water Like a selfish daughter)

--- k, so. she likes this guy, a lot. but maybe too much? does she feel like she's holding him back? "like a selfish daughter"

(But I wrote the words to the swan song The author of the wrong And I said what I said and I meant it But now I regret it)

--- i feel like she confessed her feelings to him, knowing at the time that the relationship was "wrong", and maybe he didn't receive the 'news' as she had hoped.

(Foolish, how was I so careless Pawning off my treasure, the envy of an heiress Now my dollars are crumbled in my pocket How can I reclaim it? What if someone's got it?)

--- perhaps she is starting to feel guilty about just throwing her feelings out there, at somebody who maybe doesn't want to hear it. "how can i reclaim it?"

(How could the world have turned so ugly I am dying Could you touch me again? Touch me again)

--- i think she is asking like "how is it we can't be together?" and coming to terms with the fact that NOT being a couple is the painful alternative that will leave them both better off.

call me crazy, that's just how i saw the relation into evryday life. haha(:

a swan song is a common metaphor for a final act or farewell..so think about it. by her singing that she wrote the words to the swan song means she is the one who said goodbye to the guy and ended the relationship. at the time she really did want to end it ("i said what i said and i meant it") but now she regrets it.

I agree with lllaurrrennn's interpretation almost completely. However, I thought swan song was her breaking off the relationship. "I wrote the words to the swan song, the author of the wrong, and I said what I said and I meant it, but now I regret it." In my interpretation, the girl left the guy, and she meant what she said, but now she desperately wants him back.

Hm... this song is so beautiful and intriguing. This is my take on it:

Wretched, look at me, I've lost it, melting on the table In parking lots and markets I can't help it, I love you like a starfish loves the salty water Like a selfish daughter *** I think the first verse of this song is basically her saying that she is wretched and has lost it, as in "lost her mind". I think the melting in all those different places represents her inability to hide it (or maybe even crying), even in public settings. This is because she just loved this person so much, she needed him (like a starfish needs water) and her love for him was selfish because she took more from him than she gave (like a selfish daughter).

Yet I wrote the words to the swan song The author of the wrong And I said what I said and I meant it But now I regret it *** However, she still wronged this person, despite her love. She made a decision all her own that was the precise event that led to the end (the "death" as the swan song reference suggests) of their relationship. At the time, that action was what she really wanted to do, but looking back she regrets it.

Foolish, how was I so careless Pawning off my treasure, the envy of an heiress Now my dollars are crumbled in my pocket How can I reclaim it? What if someone's got it? *** Here, I think this precious treasure is the guy. She traded him in, put him aside, for something she wanted more, but now she realizes these "dollars", this new guy, is nowhere near as valuable to her as the "treasure" she once had. Now, she's afraid it's too late, and he belongs to another.

How could the world have turned so ugly I am dying Could you touch me again? Touch me again *** How could her world that was once so great with him in it, be so terrible. Her shame darkens her world and makes the world seem like an ugly place. And now that the last remnants of the person she used to be (memories and the regret=remnants) are all but expressed, unleashed, in her very own swan song (this actual song, her final gesture toward him), she just wants him back.