Load the car and write the note
Grab your bag and grab your coat
Tell the ones that need to know
We are headed north.
This stanza is obviously to me about saying goodbye. About leaving town and 'heading north' to get away from the pain that has been felt there. Perhaps he is leaving without saying goodbye to the one who has hurt him, hence he would "write the note". "Tell the ones that need to know" - evidently, there are people there who he will miss, but he cannot stay.
One foot in and one foot back
But it don't pay to live like that
The relationship he was in has never been a fully committed one. It seems as if he himself has never been able to give her everything, and he has always been cautious of opening himself up to her. He sees now that this is, tragically, not going to work.
So I cut the ties and I jump the tracks
For never to return.
So he leaves, to stop him from hurting the girl any more. He loves her but knows that he must leave if he cannot stop putting "one foot in and one foot back".
Brooklyn, Brooklyn, take me in
Are you aware the shape I'm in?
My hands they shake, my head it spins
Oh Brooklyn, Brooklyn, take me in.
To the present, and he's driven north and arrived at Brooklyn, where he wants the city to "take me in". He's not at all over the girl, though, and is visibly a shell of the man he used to be. "My hands they shake, my head it spins." He speaks this entire song from this point, standing in the place he has arrived after running away from broken love.
When at first I learned to speak,
I used all my words to fight,
With him and her, and you and me,
Oh but it's just a waste of time
(it's such a waste of time)
I don't think he is literally talking about the first time he learnt to speak. I think he is metaphorically referring to when he first built up the confidence with this girl to be himself and speak/think his mind. But he did those things too much, and decided that things weren't going to work, that they were a "waste of time". Something like that, anyway.
That woman she's got eyes that shine,
Like a pair of stolen polished dimes,
She asked to dance, I said it's fine,
I'll see you in the morning time.
He's thinking back to the moment they first met, where he noticed her eyes. They danced, and slept together I assume from the "see you in the morning time" bit. Perhaps even the 'dance' is a metaphor for having sex, who knows.
(Then the chorus again.)
Three words that became hard to say
I and Love and You.
What you were then, I am today
Look at the things I do.
End of the relationship or thing they had. Why could he no longer say "I love you"? Perhaps he didn't mean it anymore, or perhaps he was so afraid of becoming vulnerable that he couldn't let her in by admitting it to himself. It's an ambiguous part of the song which makes it very relatable for anyone who has ever left somebody despite loving them dearly. "What you were then, I am today; look at the things I do" is a beautiful sentence about how love can make you want to change into anything your love wants you to be.
Chorus again
Dumbed down and numbed by time and age
Your dreams they catch the world, the cage
The highways sets the traveller's stage
All exits look the same.
Feeling emotionally numb, he continues driving down the endless roads looking for somewhere he can be happy away from his love having found that Brooklyn just doesn't make him forget. He's finding that nowhere is good enough, and nowhere can shake this love he has left out of his mind.
Three words that became hard to say,
I and Love and You.
I and Love and You.
I and Love and You.
So he ends the song on the tragic reminder that he still loves her, but couldn't admit it for whatever reason. It's a truly sad song about situations that can force you to leave the love of your life, and it is also about those situations where you love somebody but either can't, or aren't allowed to, tell them how you feel. So, you leave.
I must have listened to this song so many times and couldn't still couldn't make sense of some of the lines..you really cleared it all up for me. Everything makes perfect sense now; I now realize what a tragic, tragic song this is.
Thank you.
I must have listened to this song so many times and couldn't still couldn't make sense of some of the lines..you really cleared it all up for me. Everything makes perfect sense now; I now realize what a tragic, tragic song this is.
Thank you.
Poshboy,
You've helped me get a much better handle on this song. Thank you. One thing that still throws me off track: Everybody seems to think that the song is about the travels (metaphorical or otherwise) of one person, but the first line doesn't say "I am headed north", it says "we..."--so I've always assumed he's got a travel partner. Who's "we"??
Poshboy,
You've helped me get a much better handle on this song. Thank you. One thing that still throws me off track: Everybody seems to think that the song is about the travels (metaphorical or otherwise) of one person, but the first line doesn't say "I am headed north", it says "we..."--so I've always assumed he's got a travel partner. Who's "we"??
Load the car and write the note Grab your bag and grab your coat Tell the ones that need to know We are headed north.
This stanza is obviously to me about saying goodbye. About leaving town and 'heading north' to get away from the pain that has been felt there. Perhaps he is leaving without saying goodbye to the one who has hurt him, hence he would "write the note". "Tell the ones that need to know" - evidently, there are people there who he will miss, but he cannot stay.
One foot in and one foot back But it don't pay to live like that
The relationship he was in has never been a fully committed one. It seems as if he himself has never been able to give her everything, and he has always been cautious of opening himself up to her. He sees now that this is, tragically, not going to work.
So I cut the ties and I jump the tracks For never to return.
So he leaves, to stop him from hurting the girl any more. He loves her but knows that he must leave if he cannot stop putting "one foot in and one foot back".
Brooklyn, Brooklyn, take me in Are you aware the shape I'm in? My hands they shake, my head it spins Oh Brooklyn, Brooklyn, take me in.
To the present, and he's driven north and arrived at Brooklyn, where he wants the city to "take me in". He's not at all over the girl, though, and is visibly a shell of the man he used to be. "My hands they shake, my head it spins." He speaks this entire song from this point, standing in the place he has arrived after running away from broken love.
When at first I learned to speak, I used all my words to fight, With him and her, and you and me, Oh but it's just a waste of time (it's such a waste of time)
I don't think he is literally talking about the first time he learnt to speak. I think he is metaphorically referring to when he first built up the confidence with this girl to be himself and speak/think his mind. But he did those things too much, and decided that things weren't going to work, that they were a "waste of time". Something like that, anyway.
That woman she's got eyes that shine, Like a pair of stolen polished dimes, She asked to dance, I said it's fine, I'll see you in the morning time.
He's thinking back to the moment they first met, where he noticed her eyes. They danced, and slept together I assume from the "see you in the morning time" bit. Perhaps even the 'dance' is a metaphor for having sex, who knows.
(Then the chorus again.)
Three words that became hard to say I and Love and You. What you were then, I am today Look at the things I do.
End of the relationship or thing they had. Why could he no longer say "I love you"? Perhaps he didn't mean it anymore, or perhaps he was so afraid of becoming vulnerable that he couldn't let her in by admitting it to himself. It's an ambiguous part of the song which makes it very relatable for anyone who has ever left somebody despite loving them dearly. "What you were then, I am today; look at the things I do" is a beautiful sentence about how love can make you want to change into anything your love wants you to be.
Chorus again
Dumbed down and numbed by time and age Your dreams they catch the world, the cage The highways sets the traveller's stage All exits look the same.
Feeling emotionally numb, he continues driving down the endless roads looking for somewhere he can be happy away from his love having found that Brooklyn just doesn't make him forget. He's finding that nowhere is good enough, and nowhere can shake this love he has left out of his mind.
Three words that became hard to say, I and Love and You. I and Love and You. I and Love and You.
So he ends the song on the tragic reminder that he still loves her, but couldn't admit it for whatever reason. It's a truly sad song about situations that can force you to leave the love of your life, and it is also about those situations where you love somebody but either can't, or aren't allowed to, tell them how you feel. So, you leave.
I must have listened to this song so many times and couldn't still couldn't make sense of some of the lines..you really cleared it all up for me. Everything makes perfect sense now; I now realize what a tragic, tragic song this is. Thank you.
I must have listened to this song so many times and couldn't still couldn't make sense of some of the lines..you really cleared it all up for me. Everything makes perfect sense now; I now realize what a tragic, tragic song this is. Thank you.
Poshboy, You've helped me get a much better handle on this song. Thank you. One thing that still throws me off track: Everybody seems to think that the song is about the travels (metaphorical or otherwise) of one person, but the first line doesn't say "I am headed north", it says "we..."--so I've always assumed he's got a travel partner. Who's "we"??
Poshboy, You've helped me get a much better handle on this song. Thank you. One thing that still throws me off track: Everybody seems to think that the song is about the travels (metaphorical or otherwise) of one person, but the first line doesn't say "I am headed north", it says "we..."--so I've always assumed he's got a travel partner. Who's "we"??