I don't think this song was supposed to be comforting, rather it seems bitingly sarcastic and on the whole depressing. The alleged comforter is only telling the listener what she wants to hear - but the speaker doesn't believe a word of it! There is so much evidence to prove the song is cynical: "Guess I wasn't the best one to ask" - She says right off the bat that she can't give the answer the girl is asking for. "The one I never can afford" - She hasn't had love herself. "Hoping just because I spoke the words that they're true" - Clearly she doesn't believe what she says; if all she can do is hope they are true. The whole last verse is the only consolation she can offer - nothing about the future being better, only a sardonic message about living with pain. Very poetic, but without respite.
I don't think this song was supposed to be comforting, rather it seems bitingly sarcastic and on the whole depressing. The alleged comforter is only telling the listener what she wants to hear - but the speaker doesn't believe a word of it! There is so much evidence to prove the song is cynical: "Guess I wasn't the best one to ask" - She says right off the bat that she can't give the answer the girl is asking for. "The one I never can afford" - She hasn't had love herself. "Hoping just because I spoke the words that they're true" - Clearly she doesn't believe what she says; if all she can do is hope they are true. The whole last verse is the only consolation she can offer - nothing about the future being better, only a sardonic message about living with pain. Very poetic, but without respite.