She Runs Away

It's funny, but I always got a completely different impression of this song's meaning than the ones that have been posted. It may be just a result of my personal experience. Here's what this song means when I sing it (I hope to perform it, soon)...

The song, to me, is about someone who is depressed. The girl in the song sees that he is crumbling, and she saves him and helps him get back on the path to happiness. Then she leaves him (or dies). He needs her again, but she won't come back. He only has what she already gave him, and he has to save himself with his memories of her.

"I may not see the end of it, but luckily she comes around." This means, "I might have killed myself, but then she came into my life."

"The darkness comes, and the darkness goes." "There will be bad times in your life, but they won't last forever, and you'll be happy." When you're depressed, it can feel like you'll never get better, let alone have a meaningful existence. It's not true, though; it gets better.

"Happiness ain't never how you think it should be so." "You won't find happiness by deliberately pursuing means to happiness. You're happy when you don't have to worry about it." It's hard to articulate that thought completely, but maybe you know what I mean.

"I mystified the simple life." He didn't "let it go;" he got to where he couldn't understand how people lived happy lives; he felt that there was something wrong with him, that he wasn't happy or outgoing or popular.

"I covered up with conciousness" could mean a few things. It could be that he "conscientiously hid his unhappiness," or that he smothered himself with his own consciousness (by worrying about everything).

"I saw myself and broke it down, 'till nothing more was left." This is an extension of the previous line. It could also hint at self-destructive behavior, though. I certainly try to imply that when I sing this song.

"She saw the symptoms right away." She saw what was happening to him. She might literally have seen signs like cuts on his arms or constant, self-deprecating remarks. She might also have just been able to tell, by way of various hints. Maybe she'd been through something similar.

"and spoke to me in poetry." She talked to him to help him. She might have been almost literally talking in poetry, if she was pointing out good things about the world, for instance. It might just have sounded like poetry to him, though, in that in lifted up his heart and such.

"Sometimes the more you wonder why, the worse it seems to get." This could refer to his "Mystifying the simple life," as he put it. It could also refer to the depression. The more you dwell on it, the more horrible it seems.

"She runs away." After helping him, she leaves. Maybe she dies. Maybe she feels she can't do any more for him, and decides to find someone who can help her. Maybe she realizes she's a lesbian. I think the song is strongest if she's died.

First half of last verse. He has a relapse. He sinks back into his depression, and his savior is nowhere to be found. He feels that only she can save him again.

"Then everything is turned around, and she becomes so serious." I have no clue. I'll think about this more when I'm less tired. Maybe he's having a religious sort of a moment and talking with her ghost. Maybe he's just metaphorically talking with her ghost, actually. I like that better (I'm not the religious sort of atheist).

"What she chose to offer you / was all that you can have." She can't help him anymore, but he still has what he learned from her the first time. Maybe he can't let her work have been in vain.

Maybe he really is just giving up at the end of this song, though. "She can't help me, so I guess that's it for me." I think I like that best, in terms of being "actible," as my acting teacher puts it. It also makes the final "She runs away"s make more sense.

Before I get sympathy emails, I should clarify that while I did say that this interpretation was based on my experiences, the narrator of the song does not represent me. I'm singing for somebody else.

I'm off to bed, now. I'm glad to have shared my take on this song. Writing this down has really helped me solidify my ideas of how to act this song. Now I just need to, you know, learn to play it well and all of that trivial stuff.

Thanks for reading this. :)