I absolutely love this song!! I have two very different interpretations of what it could mean:
1) My first interpretation is similar to contrary_mary's. I think that the speaker is talking about a girl that gets stuck in this rut of a fast lifestyle. I think that the "silly little girl" goes out in search of something and she never finds it but keeps looking in the same places. Personally, I think she's looking for love. It seems that she dances with all these men and is scared to give herself away to them but that she does anyway for that temporary fix even though it always leads to a headache in the end. And she feels spineless in that she gives in so easily. I think that each birthday is a reminder to her that she is just getting older and is still waking up alone just finding some solace in reading a book.
So she just keeps going to these places and she doesn't like it but she feels like she has to go their to find what she's looking for, and to keep her mind off of the fact that she's just getting older. So she feels stuck in this cycle and she can't escape now because her bones are creaking and her birthdays that represent more years of falling deeper into the habit are preventing her from being able to run (they steal her shoes) and she feels like she's been completely devoured (her birthdays have brought her to "the caverns of their teeth").
I think that the speaker is the only thing keeping the silly girl at least somewhat grounded and that's what the last two verses are about. I think that the speaker's only role in this girl's life anymore has become as her backbone and the strength that she needs to keep going as she gets engulfed in this sad cycle. She wonders what will happen to her silly girlfriend if she ever dies and concludes that the girl will ignore all the advice she's given and simply keep looking for places to get her temporary highs.
I absolutely love this song!! I have two very different interpretations of what it could mean:
1) My first interpretation is similar to contrary_mary's. I think that the speaker is talking about a girl that gets stuck in this rut of a fast lifestyle. I think that the "silly little girl" goes out in search of something and she never finds it but keeps looking in the same places. Personally, I think she's looking for love. It seems that she dances with all these men and is scared to give herself away to them but that she does anyway for that temporary fix even though it always leads to a headache in the end. And she feels spineless in that she gives in so easily. I think that each birthday is a reminder to her that she is just getting older and is still waking up alone just finding some solace in reading a book.
So she just keeps going to these places and she doesn't like it but she feels like she has to go their to find what she's looking for, and to keep her mind off of the fact that she's just getting older. So she feels stuck in this cycle and she can't escape now because her bones are creaking and her birthdays that represent more years of falling deeper into the habit are preventing her from being able to run (they steal her shoes) and she feels like she's been completely devoured (her birthdays have brought her to "the caverns of their teeth").
I think that the speaker is the only thing keeping the silly girl at least somewhat grounded and that's what the last two verses are about. I think that the speaker's only role in this girl's life anymore has become as her backbone and the strength that she needs to keep going as she gets engulfed in this sad cycle. She wonders what will happen to her silly girlfriend if she ever dies and concludes that the girl will ignore all the advice she's given and simply keep looking for places to get her temporary highs.