After reading all the interpretations, I listened to the song again and heard it in a totally new light. At first I thought he was singing about his love for her and how "sure" it was and how he desperately wanted it, but now I see that I was wrong. It's a lot deeper than that. The melody is surrounded with a twinge of sadness and it always made me contemplative and sad when I listened to it. I didn't know why until I had this interpretation:
Some days her shape in the doorway
Will speak to me
A bird�s wing on the window
Some days when he sees her silhouette in the doorway he feels like he is seeing a bird outside, very close to his window, close enough to touch it with it's wing. I think this symbolizes the anticipation you feel when you want to touch a bird, but it could fly away at anytime. He is saying that sometimes, although she is staying near, he feels she could or wants to leave him at any moment.
Sometimes I�ll hear when she�s sleeping
Her fever dream
A language on her face
-When you sleep you are most vulnerable and all your true emotions come out. Her fevered dream means that she is not at peace, something in her life is causing her distress and the singer can read the pained expressions as if she were saying to him that she's unhappy.
I want your flowers like babies want God�s love
I think because there is a woman singing with him, these are her words. Usually girls want flowers from guys because it means the guy likes them. So lets symbolize flowers with the singer's love. As people speculated before, babies need God's love, but it is not in their basic wants. She is saying that she needs his love, but doesn't necessarily want it.
Or maybe as sure as tomorrow will come
-This is an ironic line because no one is sure that tomorrow will come. People want the next day to come, they desperately need it to come, but it is beyond their control. She wants to try to love him, but is uncertain if she can.
Some days, like rain on the doorstep
She�ll cover me
With grace in all she offers
-It seems like to me, the singer knows that she doesn't love him but recognizes that she does show him some affection. The doorstep is part of the house, but it is not inside. She does not let herself fully "in" the relationship, but sometimes her affection will be there like hearing the sound of rain on the doorstep.
Sometimes I'd like just to ask her
What honest words
She can�t afford to say, like
I want your flowers like babies want God�s love
Or maybe as sure as tomorrow will come
-It's comforting that she shows him some affection but it's not enough.
He wants to ask her what she's hiding, if she is happy and wants to stay. She can't afford to say that she is unhappy and doesn't want to be in the relationship because it will hurt him, or because she still "needs" his love.
Basically in a nutshell it's about a relationship where the guy kind of gets the feeling that it's one sided. He loves her, but he feels like she is putting up a front and can leave at any second. We also get the side of the woman where she is in a dilemma. For some reason she can't leave, and her uncertainty leads her to have fever dreams. Well all I can say is if the chorus applied to me, I would be having fever dreams too!
@leelinm25 Love this interpretation. Every line makes sense when you look at it this way.
@leelinm25 Love this interpretation. Every line makes sense when you look at it this way.
Only thing is I'm still hung up on this line "like babies want God's love." I can't get that line to click in my head. Is it that a baby has no concept of God and so can't want it, yet still needs it? Or maybe that God's love is somehow perfect in a way a human mother could never be? I feel like I'm missing something here.
Only thing is I'm still hung up on this line "like babies want God's love." I can't get that line to click in my head. Is it that a baby has no concept of God and so can't want it, yet still needs it? Or maybe that God's love is somehow perfect in a way a human mother could never be? I feel like I'm missing something here.
After reading all the interpretations, I listened to the song again and heard it in a totally new light. At first I thought he was singing about his love for her and how "sure" it was and how he desperately wanted it, but now I see that I was wrong. It's a lot deeper than that. The melody is surrounded with a twinge of sadness and it always made me contemplative and sad when I listened to it. I didn't know why until I had this interpretation:
Some days her shape in the doorway Will speak to me A bird�s wing on the window
Sometimes I�ll hear when she�s sleeping Her fever dream A language on her face
-When you sleep you are most vulnerable and all your true emotions come out. Her fevered dream means that she is not at peace, something in her life is causing her distress and the singer can read the pained expressions as if she were saying to him that she's unhappy.
I want your flowers like babies want God�s love
Or maybe as sure as tomorrow will come
-This is an ironic line because no one is sure that tomorrow will come. People want the next day to come, they desperately need it to come, but it is beyond their control. She wants to try to love him, but is uncertain if she can.
Some days, like rain on the doorstep She�ll cover me With grace in all she offers
-It seems like to me, the singer knows that she doesn't love him but recognizes that she does show him some affection. The doorstep is part of the house, but it is not inside. She does not let herself fully "in" the relationship, but sometimes her affection will be there like hearing the sound of rain on the doorstep.
Sometimes I'd like just to ask her What honest words She can�t afford to say, like
I want your flowers like babies want God�s love Or maybe as sure as tomorrow will come
-It's comforting that she shows him some affection but it's not enough. He wants to ask her what she's hiding, if she is happy and wants to stay. She can't afford to say that she is unhappy and doesn't want to be in the relationship because it will hurt him, or because she still "needs" his love.
Basically in a nutshell it's about a relationship where the guy kind of gets the feeling that it's one sided. He loves her, but he feels like she is putting up a front and can leave at any second. We also get the side of the woman where she is in a dilemma. For some reason she can't leave, and her uncertainty leads her to have fever dreams. Well all I can say is if the chorus applied to me, I would be having fever dreams too!
I think this is the best interpretation of them all. And you really are able to articulate how I've always felt about the song...
I think this is the best interpretation of them all. And you really are able to articulate how I've always felt about the song...
every time I listen to this song it reminds me of my husband and I.
every time I listen to this song it reminds me of my husband and I.
I'm the girl and he's the guy.
I'm the girl and he's the guy.
@leelinm25 Love this interpretation. Every line makes sense when you look at it this way.
@leelinm25 Love this interpretation. Every line makes sense when you look at it this way.
Only thing is I'm still hung up on this line "like babies want God's love." I can't get that line to click in my head. Is it that a baby has no concept of God and so can't want it, yet still needs it? Or maybe that God's love is somehow perfect in a way a human mother could never be? I feel like I'm missing something here.
Only thing is I'm still hung up on this line "like babies want God's love." I can't get that line to click in my head. Is it that a baby has no concept of God and so can't want it, yet still needs it? Or maybe that God's love is somehow perfect in a way a human mother could never be? I feel like I'm missing something here.