So tired trying to see from behind the red in my eyes
No better version of me I could pretend to be tonight
So deep in the swirl with the most familiar swine
For reasons wretched and divine

She blows out of nowhere, roman candle of the wild
Laughing away through my feeble disguise
No other version of me I would rather to be tonight
Lord she found me just in time

'Cause with my mid-youth crisis all said and done
I need to be youthfully felt, 'cause God I never felt young

She's gonna save me, call me baby, run her hands through my hair
She'll know me crazy, soothe me daily, but yet she wouldn't care
We'll steal her Lexus, be detectives, ride round pickin' up clues
We'll name our children Jackie and Wilson, 'raise em on rhythm and blues

Lord it'd be great to find a place we could escape sometime
Me and my isis growing black irises in the sunshine
Every version of me dead and buried in the yard outside
Sit back and watch the world go by

Happy to lie back, watch it burn and rust
We tried to work, good God it wasn't for us

She's gonna save me, call me baby, run her hands through my hair
She'll know me crazy, soothe me daily, but yet she wouldn't care
We'll steal her Lexus, be detectives, ride round pickin' up clues
We'll name our children Jackie and Wilson, raise 'em on rhythm and Blues

Cut clean from the dream that night, let my mind reset
Looking up from the cigarette, she's already left
I start thinking of the art for what's left of me and our little vignette
For whatever poor soul is coming next

She's gonna save me, call me baby, run her hands through my hair
She'll know me crazy, soothe me daily, but yet she wouldn't care
We'll steal her Lexus, be detectives, ride around pickin' up clues
We'll name our children Jackie and Wilson, raise 'em on rhythm and Blues

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Lyrics submitted by Nachtmusik, edited by teaspill, mrjoejangles, MadsCH, levenin, cyntismusic

Jackie and Wilson Lyrics as written by Andrew Hozier Byrne

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Jackie and Wilson song meanings

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My Interpretation
In this song, Hozier is talking about loving someone who will never love you back as much as you love them. He meets this woman (presumably at a bar) and is just taken aback my her beauty and general awesomeness. As he begins to talk to her, he imagines a future for himself and that woman. He's in a bad state, probably an alcoholic and/or a drug addict. But she, she will save him. She will make him a better person. She will be his Isis (from the Ancient Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris. After Isis' husband Osiris was cut into pieces and these pieces were sprayed across the land, she found them all and put them back together and resurrected him [although he did only come back as the god of the dead, but that's not important for this song] It's a beautiful metaphor for saving somebody from themselves.) He is sure that this woman will make him a good person again, and one day they will raise children together, and they will raise him in a way he idealizes, possible because he was raised that way or would've wished to be raised that way. But when he lights his cigarette and looks up again, she's gone. She just played with him a little, and went as quickly as she came. And he thinks " of the art for what's left of [him] and [their] little vignette, for whatever pour soul is coming next." He realizes she is, in a way, like a serial killer, but instead of killing, she breaks hearts, so a serial heart-breaker. And he already pities her next victim.

In this song, Hozier is talking about loving someone who will never love you back as much as you love them. He meets this woman (presumably at a bar) and is just taken aback my her beauty and general awesomeness. As he begins to talk to her, he imagines a future for himself and that woman. He's in a bad state, probably an alcoholic and/or a drug addict. But she, she will save him. She will make him a better person. She will be his Isis (from the Ancient Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris. After Isis' husband Osiris was cut into pieces and these pieces were sprayed across the land, she found them all and put them back together and resurrected him [although he did only come back as the god of the dead, but that's not important for this song] It's a beautiful metaphor for saving somebody from themselves.) He is sure that this woman will make him a good person again, and one day they will raise children together, and they will raise him in a way he idealizes, possible because he was raised that way or would've wished to be raised that way. But when he lights his cigarette and looks up again, she's gone. She just played with him a little, and went as quickly as she came. And he thinks " of the art for what's left of [him] and [their] little vignette, for whatever pour soul is coming next." He realizes she is, in a way, like a serial killer, but instead of killing, she breaks hearts, so a serial heart-breaker. And he already pities her next victim.

Reason:

fili82on March 01, 2015 Link
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@fili82

@fili82 Oh, that line's where people are getting art references in this song from. I was actually confused about that. <br /> That line... isn't actually correct in these lyrics though. (Wish my corrections would go through, but of course not.) The booklet says, "start digging up the yard for what's left of me in our little vignette" in that section -- it's just part of the Osiris bit.<br /> Essentially agree with you about everything else though, and you're so nicely concise!

teaspillon March 01, 2015

@fili82 I agree but I don't see the part about loving someone who will never love you back as much as you love them. It would be awesome if you elaborated.

cyntismusicon November 25, 2015