I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Well, I hear you're driving someone else's car now
She said you came and took your stuff away
All the poetry and the trunk you kept your life in
I knew that it would come to that someday
Like a sad hallucination
When I opened up my eyes
The train had passed the station
And you were trapped inside
Yet I never wonder where you went
I only wonder why, I wonder why
Oh Caroline
Oh Caroline
Oh, oh Caroline
Whoa, whoa, whoa Caroline
Well I hear you're using someone else's number
She said she saw you in the store today
It doesn't matter whose address you're listed under
I only know they'll never make you stay
Like a memory in motion
You were only passing through
That is all you've ever known of life, that's all you'll ever do
There's a dream I have where I sail away
Looking back I wave at you, and I wave goodbye
Oh Caroline
Oh Caroline
Oh Caroline
Oh (Caroline)
In another life I see you as an angel flying high
And the hands of time will free you
You will cast your chains aside
And the dawn will come and kiss away
Every tear that's ever fallen from your eyes
Behind those eyes I wonder
(Caroline)
Oh Caroline oh oh oh
(Caroline, Caroline)
Oh Caroline
Sometimes I wonder (Caroline)
Oh Caroline
Sometimes I, sometimes I wonder (Caroline)
(Caroline) oh Caroline
She said you came and took your stuff away
All the poetry and the trunk you kept your life in
I knew that it would come to that someday
Like a sad hallucination
When I opened up my eyes
The train had passed the station
And you were trapped inside
Yet I never wonder where you went
I only wonder why, I wonder why
Oh Caroline
Oh Caroline
Oh, oh Caroline
Whoa, whoa, whoa Caroline
Well I hear you're using someone else's number
She said she saw you in the store today
It doesn't matter whose address you're listed under
I only know they'll never make you stay
Like a memory in motion
You were only passing through
That is all you've ever known of life, that's all you'll ever do
There's a dream I have where I sail away
Looking back I wave at you, and I wave goodbye
Oh Caroline
Oh Caroline
Oh Caroline
Oh (Caroline)
In another life I see you as an angel flying high
And the hands of time will free you
You will cast your chains aside
And the dawn will come and kiss away
Every tear that's ever fallen from your eyes
Behind those eyes I wonder
(Caroline)
Oh Caroline oh oh oh
(Caroline, Caroline)
Oh Caroline
Sometimes I wonder (Caroline)
Oh Caroline
Sometimes I, sometimes I wonder (Caroline)
(Caroline) oh Caroline
Lyrics submitted by la blue kitty
Caroline Lyrics as written by Johnette Lin Napolitano
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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when i hear this song i think of an empty unhappy person, someone who travels from one situation to another searching for something, that they're missing.... but never seems to find it.. so keeps herself unattached and mobile.. hoping the next situation she places herself in will fix her..
....the last verse describes how although i assume caroline left the narrator, that the narrator still hopes that one day she'll 'cast the chains aside'.. and find whatever it is that she's searching for
...This is very similar to my interpretation. Not that the relationship between the narrator and Caroline matters much but the narrator was trying to help Caroline in some matter. I think Caroline starts getting uncomfortable feelings because all she's used to are people mistreating her. <br /> <br /> I think because the narrator keeps referring to the other "she" that saw Caroline in the store and helped her pick up her "trunk" she kept her life in I always pictured Caroline as a distraught child or runaway. I get a mother-child relationship picture more from the powerful way Johnette sings the song more than any lyric related basis I suppose. <br /> <br /> Caroline is obviously loved by the narrator whether it be mother-child, friend-friend or star crossed lovers. Like any good songwriter Johnette leaves it open-ended enough to apply the emotions to any similar relationship you've had no matter the context or whether the person was female or whether you are or not as well.<br /> <br /> Powerful song (like all of Napolitano's work) :)
I can't believe noone has posted for this yet... good ass song. But i cant quite make out what it meens...hmm... uhm...
I suspect the reason you're thinking this song is about a stripper is because the music video for this song featured a stripper as the main character.
Not sure if that matches the meaning of the song or if that was just the video producer's idea of the song, tho.
it's such a wistful song...about someone who doesn't know who they are or where they're going. in the video it seems like the stripper once had a much more innocent life that she left or was driven from. regardless, lovely song
@Rook It is, she was.
Ya, this song is my favorite off this album. This album, bloodletting, is a story album... Every song is in order and it tells a story of a girl named Wendy who gets aids from a guy, and chooses to kill herself instead of dealing with the horror of aids. This is the third song. With the story in mind, I think it's about Wendy, who has become a stripper at this point, and maybe calls herself Caroline.. Kind of think it's from a guy that falls for her but she doesn't let him get close... And he always wonders why...
I can't remember where I read it, but I remember reading saying that this song is about a stripper (named Caroline, obviously). This may not be true at all, I don't know. Regardless, I love this song. : }
@katherowen —I agree with the assessment above that the song is about a young woman who’s searching, and always moving. I also think Caroline is an addict, but that’s just me projecting the pieces of my life that mirrored the lyrics all those years ago when this album was new.\r\n\r\nAs far as the dancing/stripping (in the video) it’s incidental. It’s a thing that can happen while young, and constantly moving from place to place. Money is a necessity, and dancing is a moneymaker. Well… at least it was when the song came out. The 90s. Anyway, my real point: She might strip, but she’s not necessarily “a stripper”. The song is about a layered personality, named Caroline, who does what she needs to do to get by. To survive.
I think this song is about a child being abondoned by a mother.
Caroline is about a young girl who gets into stripping because she thinks it's glamorous and it might lead to her finding her ultimate love. But instead it's just a life of degradation and bad memories ending up in disillusionment. She ends up old,used up, and empty just like the men in the audience are.
@tom1165685 Eh. The stripping is a raindrop in an ocean. It’s a small part of a much bigger picture. It happens, but it isn’t the whole point of the song. And Tom? I used to dance. I’ve known hundreds of women who’ve worked the dance circuit in cities across the country. Not a single one was disillusioned enough to believe taking her clothes off on stage would lead to “true love”. We know the millisecond it happens that it’s never going to lead anywhere good or meaningful. It’s a way to get from A to B, and the men who frequent those places aren’t exactly looking for a wife. Come on. Lol.