I agree with both of you. But I think at this point in the story, the girl (or boy) has already been molested by the old man.
I think the first few lyrics are the victim's relationship with some other person, a healthy relationship. However, they have difficulty accepting the stability of the relationship or 'purity' of the infatuation because no matter how they feel, they associate love with the rape. This isn't uncommon, a lot of rape victims have difficulty in relationships afterwards. Because intimacy can scare them. Remember, the first few lyrics are about someone else 'smiling sweetly' and looking 'tall and thin'. It's the feelings inside the victim that remind her of the 'nice old man'.
The last lyrics are pretty straight forward. The rapist is not a friend or a lover (therefore it was not consensual. Because people usually have sex with either their significant others and sometimes friends. And I highly doubt the narrator is having an affair with the old man).
But also there could be some detachment here. As in, he seemed like just a nice old man (who played the violin) and not anyone scary. He didn't seem like a bad, nasty, smelly mean old rapist.
Sorry for the wall of text. Funny how such a short song can be so indepth?
I agree with both of you. But I think at this point in the story, the girl (or boy) has already been molested by the old man.
I think the first few lyrics are the victim's relationship with some other person, a healthy relationship. However, they have difficulty accepting the stability of the relationship or 'purity' of the infatuation because no matter how they feel, they associate love with the rape. This isn't uncommon, a lot of rape victims have difficulty in relationships afterwards. Because intimacy can scare them. Remember, the first few lyrics are about someone else 'smiling sweetly' and looking 'tall and thin'. It's the feelings inside the victim that remind her of the 'nice old man'.
The last lyrics are pretty straight forward. The rapist is not a friend or a lover (therefore it was not consensual. Because people usually have sex with either their significant others and sometimes friends. And I highly doubt the narrator is having an affair with the old man).
But also there could be some detachment here. As in, he seemed like just a nice old man (who played the violin) and not anyone scary. He didn't seem like a bad, nasty, smelly mean old rapist.
Sorry for the wall of text. Funny how such a short song can be so indepth?