To me, this song is full of imagery. It seems to take place in a moment, not to tell a chronological story.
A woman is close to climax as an adult, and has a flashback to the abuse she suffered as a child, starting with the moment she was taken away by her abuser. He probably dropped some pennies somewhere along the storyline, which is a detail central to her flashback.
Many abused girls later struggle with the effects of puberty, and while their bodies are growing up, emotionally they are still trapped as the hurt little kid.
"who left the playground
a good decade before the bell rang?"
Suggests to me that these events transpired when the girl was perhaps 7... she was forced to "grow up" at least a decade before her peers.
At the end of the song she seems trapped in the memory of her abuser.
Amanda's songs generally have multiple meanings, so it's thoroughly possible that any of the other meanings here are also correct. This is just what the song speaks to me.
To me, this song is full of imagery. It seems to take place in a moment, not to tell a chronological story.
A woman is close to climax as an adult, and has a flashback to the abuse she suffered as a child, starting with the moment she was taken away by her abuser. He probably dropped some pennies somewhere along the storyline, which is a detail central to her flashback.
Many abused girls later struggle with the effects of puberty, and while their bodies are growing up, emotionally they are still trapped as the hurt little kid.
"who left the playground a good decade before the bell rang?" Suggests to me that these events transpired when the girl was perhaps 7... she was forced to "grow up" at least a decade before her peers.
At the end of the song she seems trapped in the memory of her abuser.
Amanda's songs generally have multiple meanings, so it's thoroughly possible that any of the other meanings here are also correct. This is just what the song speaks to me.