I cannot express my love for this song. LM is so impossibly brilliant.
At first, I didn't quite understand the relation of the first few lines to the rest of the song. I interpret "wounded by dust" to be wounded by a man - as in the Bible, "and the Lord God made man from the dust of the earth". (I know Laura is not Christian, but I could see her using a biblical reference for the sake of her songwriting.) Thinking of that, I wonder if the first few lines are about this man having upset her, causing her to go out and take a walk and think; when she returns, he questions her about where she's been and who she's been with. The next few lines are self-explanatory; she's not usually someone who cries, but she's been so hurt by this man that she's been crying over him.
The chorus makes this song genius. The dynamic changes from hurt to spiteful, shrugging off what happened and saying that if he's correct in his faith, then he'd better pray and that he'll pay his price on Judgment Day. The part where she insists that she's a good woman reminds me of "Night After Night" where she sings, "I don't stand for the devil, I don't whisper in ears..." Despite her lack of religion, she knows she's a good person and she's wise enough to not accuse and blame others, and her newfound satisfaction and peace of mind comes from knowing that the man's conscious will get to him, even if the God[s?] he believes in won't.
I love that she covers both of those stages - the pain and the recovery - in the same piece. It makes for such an awesome dynamic. The song title does, admittedly, throw me off. The name "Sophia" doesn't appear to relate to the rest of the song. Maybe it's the name of a woman he cheated on her with, maybe it's supposed to allude to the Greek term (meaning wisdom). I suppose it's unrealistic to think that we should be able to understand everything in what she writes ;)
I cannot express my love for this song. LM is so impossibly brilliant.
At first, I didn't quite understand the relation of the first few lines to the rest of the song. I interpret "wounded by dust" to be wounded by a man - as in the Bible, "and the Lord God made man from the dust of the earth". (I know Laura is not Christian, but I could see her using a biblical reference for the sake of her songwriting.) Thinking of that, I wonder if the first few lines are about this man having upset her, causing her to go out and take a walk and think; when she returns, he questions her about where she's been and who she's been with. The next few lines are self-explanatory; she's not usually someone who cries, but she's been so hurt by this man that she's been crying over him.
The chorus makes this song genius. The dynamic changes from hurt to spiteful, shrugging off what happened and saying that if he's correct in his faith, then he'd better pray and that he'll pay his price on Judgment Day. The part where she insists that she's a good woman reminds me of "Night After Night" where she sings, "I don't stand for the devil, I don't whisper in ears..." Despite her lack of religion, she knows she's a good person and she's wise enough to not accuse and blame others, and her newfound satisfaction and peace of mind comes from knowing that the man's conscious will get to him, even if the God[s?] he believes in won't.
I love that she covers both of those stages - the pain and the recovery - in the same piece. It makes for such an awesome dynamic. The song title does, admittedly, throw me off. The name "Sophia" doesn't appear to relate to the rest of the song. Maybe it's the name of a woman he cheated on her with, maybe it's supposed to allude to the Greek term (meaning wisdom). I suppose it's unrealistic to think that we should be able to understand everything in what she writes ;)
@teawilson I love these interpretations.
@teawilson I love these interpretations.