To me, this song is like many others in that it is about unrequited love. However, there is something very different about how it is portrayed in this song, which endears me to it on a personal level.
The song is about a friendship on the deepest level. They aren't always together but they are always with each other. The man has always had strong feelings for her and feels they are meant to be together, feels that she knows they will be together, but by the time they've grown old they haven't fallen for each other yet. There's also this sense that the woman has spent her life looking for someone to give her love to: "Though she never gave a thing," "Ringless finger" and the line "Jasmine still in her hair." Jasmine is a symbol for love, and she has kept it to herself, never giving it away because she's never found the lover she seeks.
The last line is kind of the closure/cliff hanger mix that everyone loves to hate. Again we get the sense both of the man's love for her and of her continual search for love in the first two lines "Many men behind her door have heard the bathtub run and longed to love her." He feels that she is the epitome of a woman, and can't imagine why she hasn't found love. He acknowledges that it's not him she's waiting for, but then kind of leaves you hanging saying "we never ask the time when we're together" because they so enjoy each others company. It's a beautiful way of saying maybe it's just not meant to be in this lifetime, let's enjoy what good time we have left.
Again this is a very personal interpretation of it, not at all a definitive reading but I think that's the way song writing/analysis should be anyway.
When autumn comes, she�ll be there
Jasmine still in her hair
Her tea leaves dry by the sea
Many men behind her door
Have heard the bathtub run and longed to love her
And though she doesn�t wait for me
We never ask the time when we�re together
"She will lick her thinner thumb, and ringless finger too, and douse a candle."
"She will lick her thinner thumb, and ringless finger too, and douse a candle."
So many different images can be drawn from this...some super abstract so I'll stick with the one that first hit me.
So many different images can be drawn from this...some super abstract so I'll stick with the one that first hit me.
The thumb is your most useful finger, helps you do virtually everything involving your hands so it is much like a friend that you can't live without. Ringless finger symbolizes an unmarried person, in this case the woman he is singing about. The motion of dousing a candle, while it may extinguish what ever...
The thumb is your most useful finger, helps you do virtually everything involving your hands so it is much like a friend that you can't live without. Ringless finger symbolizes an unmarried person, in this case the woman he is singing about. The motion of dousing a candle, while it may extinguish what ever flame was there, brings the two together. The flame could be a symbol of their lives, referring back to what I said about them being soulmates but perhaps they met in the wrong lifetime when their souls were too young. Maybe the flame symbolizes each of their "fiery" natures, and only by overcoming their own stubbornness and independence do they realize they should be together? I don't know, but that's a heavy line as I'm reading it over again.
It's amazing what some people can do with words man. Whether he consciously puts these meanings behind the words or it just occurs out of chance doesn't matter to me. One speaks of a gifted individual, the other of the power of our minds, and either way it's a blessing on us all. Personally I'd lean towards the power of our minds because anyone can here this and know it's beautiful, it's just the difference between knowing it's beautiful, understanding why it's beautiful, and being able to create that beauty.
To me, this song is like many others in that it is about unrequited love. However, there is something very different about how it is portrayed in this song, which endears me to it on a personal level.
The song is about a friendship on the deepest level. They aren't always together but they are always with each other. The man has always had strong feelings for her and feels they are meant to be together, feels that she knows they will be together, but by the time they've grown old they haven't fallen for each other yet. There's also this sense that the woman has spent her life looking for someone to give her love to: "Though she never gave a thing," "Ringless finger" and the line "Jasmine still in her hair." Jasmine is a symbol for love, and she has kept it to herself, never giving it away because she's never found the lover she seeks.
The last line is kind of the closure/cliff hanger mix that everyone loves to hate. Again we get the sense both of the man's love for her and of her continual search for love in the first two lines "Many men behind her door have heard the bathtub run and longed to love her." He feels that she is the epitome of a woman, and can't imagine why she hasn't found love. He acknowledges that it's not him she's waiting for, but then kind of leaves you hanging saying "we never ask the time when we're together" because they so enjoy each others company. It's a beautiful way of saying maybe it's just not meant to be in this lifetime, let's enjoy what good time we have left.
Again this is a very personal interpretation of it, not at all a definitive reading but I think that's the way song writing/analysis should be anyway.
When autumn comes, she�ll be there Jasmine still in her hair Her tea leaves dry by the sea
Many men behind her door Have heard the bathtub run and longed to love her And though she doesn�t wait for me We never ask the time when we�re together
also just kind of had a revelation ha.
also just kind of had a revelation ha.
"She will lick her thinner thumb, and ringless finger too, and douse a candle."
"She will lick her thinner thumb, and ringless finger too, and douse a candle."
So many different images can be drawn from this...some super abstract so I'll stick with the one that first hit me.
So many different images can be drawn from this...some super abstract so I'll stick with the one that first hit me.
The thumb is your most useful finger, helps you do virtually everything involving your hands so it is much like a friend that you can't live without. Ringless finger symbolizes an unmarried person, in this case the woman he is singing about. The motion of dousing a candle, while it may extinguish what ever...
The thumb is your most useful finger, helps you do virtually everything involving your hands so it is much like a friend that you can't live without. Ringless finger symbolizes an unmarried person, in this case the woman he is singing about. The motion of dousing a candle, while it may extinguish what ever flame was there, brings the two together. The flame could be a symbol of their lives, referring back to what I said about them being soulmates but perhaps they met in the wrong lifetime when their souls were too young. Maybe the flame symbolizes each of their "fiery" natures, and only by overcoming their own stubbornness and independence do they realize they should be together? I don't know, but that's a heavy line as I'm reading it over again.
It's amazing what some people can do with words man. Whether he consciously puts these meanings behind the words or it just occurs out of chance doesn't matter to me. One speaks of a gifted individual, the other of the power of our minds, and either way it's a blessing on us all. Personally I'd lean towards the power of our minds because anyone can here this and know it's beautiful, it's just the difference between knowing it's beautiful, understanding why it's beautiful, and being able to create that beauty.
peace and love