This song is about a relationship between the speaker and the other person in the song. He and the person used to live together in, or he would visit, a house numbered 33 on whatever street. The first half of the song, I think, is set in the past, when the couple were still together. The first line of the song speaks to a previous shared fear that there are monsters in the house, but retrospectively (even the morning after), the speaker understands that what they two thought were the sounds monsters made were merely the normal creaks of any old house. The two go on to have a lovely, everyday morning, the likes of which are well-known to anyone who has every been in a happy relationship. This morning is followed by a day spent at an abandoned beach. Who would go to the beach on a winter day? This couple would. They're both special in the same way, both appreciate the same kinds of things. There's a kind of sadness at the beach that sort of foreshadows what happens to this couple. (The monster of stanza one foreshadows in the same way.)
In the third stanza/chorus, the speaker is saying that whatever the other person needs, he will provide, so great is his love. And in the end we see that the relationship did not work out; the speaker, perhaps because he still loves the other person, will give that person the space they need, and will run from them if he sees them in the street, so great is his pain that things did not work out. The title of the song comes from the speaker passing house number 33 on whatever street. He does not, cannot, go into the house; all he can do is pass by and remember the way things were.
I love this song. It was sent to me by a guy whom I love and who loves me but with whom I can't have a normal relationship for various reasons. I find it sad and beautiful and fitting of our situation. This is just one of our many songs.
This song is about a relationship between the speaker and the other person in the song. He and the person used to live together in, or he would visit, a house numbered 33 on whatever street. The first half of the song, I think, is set in the past, when the couple were still together. The first line of the song speaks to a previous shared fear that there are monsters in the house, but retrospectively (even the morning after), the speaker understands that what they two thought were the sounds monsters made were merely the normal creaks of any old house. The two go on to have a lovely, everyday morning, the likes of which are well-known to anyone who has every been in a happy relationship. This morning is followed by a day spent at an abandoned beach. Who would go to the beach on a winter day? This couple would. They're both special in the same way, both appreciate the same kinds of things. There's a kind of sadness at the beach that sort of foreshadows what happens to this couple. (The monster of stanza one foreshadows in the same way.)
In the third stanza/chorus, the speaker is saying that whatever the other person needs, he will provide, so great is his love. And in the end we see that the relationship did not work out; the speaker, perhaps because he still loves the other person, will give that person the space they need, and will run from them if he sees them in the street, so great is his pain that things did not work out. The title of the song comes from the speaker passing house number 33 on whatever street. He does not, cannot, go into the house; all he can do is pass by and remember the way things were.
I love this song. It was sent to me by a guy whom I love and who loves me but with whom I can't have a normal relationship for various reasons. I find it sad and beautiful and fitting of our situation. This is just one of our many songs.