Here's Where The Story Ends

I see it as meaning the following;

A girl is in a relationship with a boy, but ends it thinking there was nothing strong between them. She looks back on the year they had, and realises that it's only after she's ended the relationship she's realised just how much she loved being part of it. Little things around her make her remember what happened (souvenirs), things reminding her of the 'time in the shed' (a private event between them, perhaps the first time they kissed or had sex) and the time spent with him, things she took with her without realising how much they would remind her of him.

Now as she walks down the street she sees people together, people with purpose all seeming to look down on her, and she feels as though she has no real connection, as though they are part of an exclusive club of which she is not a part. But when she remembers the time spent with the boy, it was their own little exclusive club, and she smiles, and realises she ended it to try and find some relationship more akin to what she sees in the people around her, and yet because she ended it feels more alone and distant than she ever did. And now all she is left with is a cynical view of the world, and the time she spent with him is over, and that's where the story ends, and reality returns.

Just how I see it :) It's a beautiful song that captures moments between friends and lovers perfectly, those memories you don't see as golden until you lose what it was that made you the way you were, and look back and smile, yet realise it's lost. Ah :)

I think this song is about a person who is aliented from society ("I'm on the outside") due to her inability to resolve past issues. She undergoes an emotional journey when rehashing the events that took place during this time of her life.

Her feelings flow from regret/guilt ("I never should have said the books that you read were all I loved you for"), to embarrassment/vulnerability ("The memories of your shed make me turn red") and to blame/accountability ("The devil in me said go down to the shed").

She eventually sees the humor/irony and the good things that came from the situation. For example, during most of the song she states that the "little souvenir" "makes my eyes feel sore" and "makes me wonder why," whereas the lyrics near the end state that the little souvenir "makes me smile inside." Moreover, as another reviewer stated she refers to the once "terrible" year as "colorful" towards the end of the song.

As much as she wants to be completely upset, she can't. Life is bittersweet. Sometimes it takes time to process things and appreciate the value of past experiences. I think the title, "Here's where the story ends," means letting go of resentment, attitudes, memories, and/or relationships.

It's a great song and record. She's an excellent singer. I know Harriet Wheeler's friend Tara Kooperman. As a New York songwriter for 18 years ('80's-'90's) who's also the same age as Harriet, I can tell you how these things are made. She probably had the title and then made a poem. The "little souvenir" represents a child, but most likely is also a book, since during the break-up fight in the storyline, she tells him that all she really loved was that he was cultured and he probably gave her the book as a first present. In "the shed", she likely gave him unconventional sex many times. (plural: "memories"). The character's now more mature and blushes at how much she desired him. It's a sad, yet pretty tune from 20 years ago! Thanks for keeping it alive. (Chappell sure forgot they have it in their catalog.) Great arrangement by her (now) husband and his melody is obviously coaxed by her vocal range and musical ideas.

It reminds me of a brief relationship I had when I was 18. I think she dated this boy who she thought was more witty and social than her and all the people around them, like his friends maybe, as well. She's thinks down on herself...she's "on the outside" and she can't find the right things to say...everything she "wanted to say was wrong". She was smart and loved that he was smart, but felt like she wasn't smart enough for him. But when they were alone..."down in the shed"...he liked her just fine and she gave in and was with him and they connected. But they never could connect outside that shed and after a "terrible year" of trying to connect and fit in with him and his friends, she gave up and the story ended.

The change from 'It's that little souveneir of a terrible year' to 'colourful year' should happen in everybody's life - fantastic song words. What happened in the shed?

I'm afraid I seem to vaguely remember an interview from the time where she said it was about an abusive relationship (maybe with someone older?) thus the shame the victim feels and the surprise in the shed.

Now it reminds me of The Reader (Der Vorleser).

OK, This is the real meaning.

I know because she was my 15 year old girlfriend who liked me for a couple months. We used to be childhood playmates till we decided to go to the shed and look at my dads PLAYBOY mags and read the forum from age 14 to 15 . Suddenly that was the only time she would hang out with me, reading and looking at dirty mags in the shed. Then like 2 robots we did it, in the shed. She got pregnant walked around the hood (with her little souvenir) showing her pregnancy(smile inside was the babies not hers). People were weary of her good side and looked down on her, understandably so because she never had a baby. We still went to the shed and alls she wanted to say was (wrong and where the story ended) that she's going to terminate her pregnancy. I thought we were going to have a baby, together. She told me no way, the ONLY reason she liked me was for the magazines. end of story. End of baby and its smile inside her. Now read the lyrics and think about it.

This song is from around 1993. The Sundays have been on hiatus since the early 90's. So it couldn't be about the tsunami. Unless Harriet has psychic powers. Scary! This is a great song. So addictive; melancholic in a llight and bouncy way.

maybe the little souvenir is a little case of the chlamydia. hee, hee. i like this song.

Maybe the little souvenir is a baby she had without being married? That may be why people are looking down on her. Otherwise I have no idea why people whould be looking down on her and why she would be on the outside... Those lines throw me a curve...