I originally thought that this song was about letting go of a love, but after I listened to it a few times I came up with a different interpretation. It seems like this could be about a girl who was caught up in love and lost her virginity, but now regrets it.
The loss of her virginity ("Wretched, look at me, I've lost it") follows her everywhere, so that it seems like she has no privacy and everyone can see through her ("melting on the table In parking lots and markets"). She slept with a man because her love for him was stronger than her desire to wait ("I cant help it, loves [loved?] you like a starfish loves the salty water, Like a selfish daughter").
She now regrets it because she feels dirty and selfish ("Foolish, how was I so careless"), possibly because the man left her after they had sex. Wealth is a metaphor for her virginity ("Pawning off my treasure, the envy of an heiress. Now my dollars are crumbled in my pocket"), which is now worthless. She desperately wants to take back her rash decision ("How can I reclaim it? What if someone's got it?"), but the man is gone or has changed, and her purity cannot be replaced.
The loss of her virginity prompts her to realize that humanity is not as compassionate as she once perceived it to be ("How could the world have turned so ugly?"), a feeling that is only amplified by the fact that the man is not who she thought he was. Life as she knew it has fallen apart ("I am dying"), yet she desires the man still ("Could you touch me again? Touch me again"). This is because she feels that something went wrong, and that if he would just take her back everything would be right again. It is possible that she is blaming and/or punishing herself by beckoning to the man. Her voice is so heartbreaking at this point because she is torturously confused and lonely and hurt, desperate for any escape.
As for the chorus, "Swan Song" is a reference to the ancient myth that the swan sings a single, beautiful song as it is dying. The innocent, chaste girl she once was is dying or has already died, and this is her final song; one tainted by regret and containing a warning for those who hear it. She feels that she has done something terrible to herself (she is "the author of the wrong") because she knowingly agreed to have sex ("And I said what I said and I meant it"). But she realizes that she ignored the implications of losing her virginity for the sake of an unstable, foolish love affair ("But now I regret it").
Perhaps this isn't the meaning that was intended, but it seems like a possibility. Either way, it is a beautiful song and it definitely has a deep significance to Sudol, whether it is a personal story or written about someone else.
I originally thought that this song was about letting go of a love, but after I listened to it a few times I came up with a different interpretation. It seems like this could be about a girl who was caught up in love and lost her virginity, but now regrets it.
The loss of her virginity ("Wretched, look at me, I've lost it") follows her everywhere, so that it seems like she has no privacy and everyone can see through her ("melting on the table In parking lots and markets"). She slept with a man because her love for him was stronger than her desire to wait ("I cant help it, loves [loved?] you like a starfish loves the salty water, Like a selfish daughter"). She now regrets it because she feels dirty and selfish ("Foolish, how was I so careless"), possibly because the man left her after they had sex. Wealth is a metaphor for her virginity ("Pawning off my treasure, the envy of an heiress. Now my dollars are crumbled in my pocket"), which is now worthless. She desperately wants to take back her rash decision ("How can I reclaim it? What if someone's got it?"), but the man is gone or has changed, and her purity cannot be replaced. The loss of her virginity prompts her to realize that humanity is not as compassionate as she once perceived it to be ("How could the world have turned so ugly?"), a feeling that is only amplified by the fact that the man is not who she thought he was. Life as she knew it has fallen apart ("I am dying"), yet she desires the man still ("Could you touch me again? Touch me again"). This is because she feels that something went wrong, and that if he would just take her back everything would be right again. It is possible that she is blaming and/or punishing herself by beckoning to the man. Her voice is so heartbreaking at this point because she is torturously confused and lonely and hurt, desperate for any escape. As for the chorus, "Swan Song" is a reference to the ancient myth that the swan sings a single, beautiful song as it is dying. The innocent, chaste girl she once was is dying or has already died, and this is her final song; one tainted by regret and containing a warning for those who hear it. She feels that she has done something terrible to herself (she is "the author of the wrong") because she knowingly agreed to have sex ("And I said what I said and I meant it"). But she realizes that she ignored the implications of losing her virginity for the sake of an unstable, foolish love affair ("But now I regret it").
Perhaps this isn't the meaning that was intended, but it seems like a possibility. Either way, it is a beautiful song and it definitely has a deep significance to Sudol, whether it is a personal story or written about someone else.
I agree completely with this interpretation. Such an overwhelmingly beautiful song.
I agree completely with this interpretation. Such an overwhelmingly beautiful song.