They hung a sign up in our town
"If you live it up, you won't live it down"
So she left Monte Rio, son
Just like a bullet leaves a gun
With her charcoal eyes and Monroe hips
She went and took that California trip
Oh, the moon was gold, her hair like wind
Said, "don't look back, just come on, Jim"

Oh, you got to hold on, hold on
You gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right here, you gotta hold on

Well, he gave her a dimestore watch
And a ring made from a spoon
Everyone's looking for someone to blame
When you share my bed, you share my name
Well, go ahead and call the cops
You don't meet nice girls in coffee shops
She said, "baby, I still love you"
Sometimes there's nothin' left to do

Oh, but you got to hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on and take my hand
I'm standing right here, you gotta hold on

Well, God bless your crooked little heart
St. Louis got the best of me
I miss your broken China voice
How I wish you were still here with me
Oh, you build it up, you wreck it down
Then you burn your mansion to the ground
Oh, there's nothing left to keep you here
But when you're falling behind in this big blue world

Oh, you've got to hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right here, you gotta hold on

Down by the Riverside motel
It's ten below and falling
By a ninety-nine cent store
She closed her eyes and started swaying
But it's so hard to dance that way
When it's cold and there's no music
Oh, your old hometown's so far away
But inside your head there's a record that's playing

A song called "Hold On", hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right there, you gotta hold on

You gotta hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
Take my hand, I'm standing right there, you gotta hold on

You gotta hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
And take my hand, I'm standing right here, you gotta hold on

You gotta hold on, hold on
Babe, you gotta hold on
And take my hand, I'm standing right here, you gotta hold on

You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on, baby
You gotta hold on, girl
You gotta hold on
You gotta hold on


Lyrics submitted by yuri_sucupira

Hold On Lyrics as written by Thomas Alan Waits Kathleen Brennan

Lyrics © JALMA MUSIC

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Hold On song meanings
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  • +2
    My Interpretation

    Analyzing the lyrics along with the music video really clears things up.

    Everyone sees that it's about a small-town girl with ambitions of making it big in LA and she wants her boyfriend to go with her.

    The thing is, from the video, it's clear that he doesn't go with her. The 2nd stanza where we hear his voice is from a conversation that took place before she left: while she suggested that he leave with her, he wanted her to say and proposed to her. And even though she loves him, she leaves, dream chasing.

    The next two stanzas really deliver the image of his regret and the precariousness and bleakness of her situation. But the key part is at the end of the last stanza where, at her lowest spiritual point, she plays the song of her memories in her head. Since up to this point in the song Waits has been singing about the characters' real lives, the shift into her fantasy is marked by a change to the refrain that had been continuously until now.

    Heretofore, we've had: Take my hand, I'm standing right HERE, you gotta hold on

    In her reverie we have: Take my hand, I'm standing right THERE, you gotta hold on

    And you can sense her distance from Jim, signaled by the shift from being HERE to THERE.

    But the real kicker is that after repeating this dream-refrain twice, Waits brings it back to the HERE refrain. This is subtle but it means that the distance has been bridged, indicating that he had eventually decided to go and follow her, Will Hunting style.

    ZeksAtLibertyon August 24, 2017   Link

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