This is song is about LOVE. About how meeting people and not knowing if they're the one--your one love, or ultimate, or last love, or some kind of love is like playing cards --sometimes you're lucky and sometimes you're not--it's a game of chance. The people you meet are like the cards that you're dealt. You think you have a winning hand and lose in end. Or you think you have a bad hand and win. That's what love relationships are like, if you think about it.
He plays not to win money but to find how many hands (or people) must you be dealt before you win:
"He deals the cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden law of a probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance"
He doesn't know how his current woman feels, but wants to tell her he loves her anyway, taking a chance:
"And if I told you that I loved you
You'd maybe think there's something wrong"...
..."Those who speak know nothing
And find out to their cost
Like those who curse their luck in too many places
And those who fear are lost"...
--- Again, taking a chance. You don't know how the other truly feels. You can guess they love you back. You "speak" or tell them you love them and find out if they love you in return. It's at your cost because you open yourself up by saying "I love you" first, and if they don't--you're the one wounded. You curse your luck or afterwards fear and are lost.
All the other metaphors--clubs (weapons of war), diamonds (money)--queens "laid" (prob lots of women/sex)--he says I'm not playing the game for that--that's not what I'm searching for. The shape of my heart is love.
It seems he's been playing this game of finding love for so long that he doesn't even hide what he's ultimately looking for too much---"I'm not a man of too many faces, my mask is one". He might even be telling women he loves them too soon (hence he thinks "if I told you that I loved you, you'd maybe think there's something wrong").
I've loved this song since it first came out when I was in college. Now I believe I know what it means, and it makes me a bit sad, lol.
I completely agree with your interpretation…I think it is about love. We all deal with the cards we are dealt in life and love and wear a mask to protect ourselves until we choose to reveal ourselves and take a chance. Great interpretation. ;-)
I completely agree with your interpretation…I think it is about love. We all deal with the cards we are dealt in life and love and wear a mask to protect ourselves until we choose to reveal ourselves and take a chance. Great interpretation. ;-)
This is song is about LOVE. About how meeting people and not knowing if they're the one--your one love, or ultimate, or last love, or some kind of love is like playing cards --sometimes you're lucky and sometimes you're not--it's a game of chance. The people you meet are like the cards that you're dealt. You think you have a winning hand and lose in end. Or you think you have a bad hand and win. That's what love relationships are like, if you think about it.
He plays not to win money but to find how many hands (or people) must you be dealt before you win:
"He deals the cards to find the answer The sacred geometry of chance The hidden law of a probable outcome The numbers lead a dance"
He doesn't know how his current woman feels, but wants to tell her he loves her anyway, taking a chance:
"And if I told you that I loved you You'd maybe think there's something wrong"...
..."Those who speak know nothing And find out to their cost Like those who curse their luck in too many places And those who fear are lost"...
--- Again, taking a chance. You don't know how the other truly feels. You can guess they love you back. You "speak" or tell them you love them and find out if they love you in return. It's at your cost because you open yourself up by saying "I love you" first, and if they don't--you're the one wounded. You curse your luck or afterwards fear and are lost.
All the other metaphors--clubs (weapons of war), diamonds (money)--queens "laid" (prob lots of women/sex)--he says I'm not playing the game for that--that's not what I'm searching for. The shape of my heart is love.
It seems he's been playing this game of finding love for so long that he doesn't even hide what he's ultimately looking for too much---"I'm not a man of too many faces, my mask is one". He might even be telling women he loves them too soon (hence he thinks "if I told you that I loved you, you'd maybe think there's something wrong").
I've loved this song since it first came out when I was in college. Now I believe I know what it means, and it makes me a bit sad, lol.
I completely agree with your interpretation…I think it is about love. We all deal with the cards we are dealt in life and love and wear a mask to protect ourselves until we choose to reveal ourselves and take a chance. Great interpretation. ;-)
I completely agree with your interpretation…I think it is about love. We all deal with the cards we are dealt in life and love and wear a mask to protect ourselves until we choose to reveal ourselves and take a chance. Great interpretation. ;-)
@phoenix75 best explanation so far I think this is really getting close to what the song actually means though maybe impossible to ever say for sure
@phoenix75 best explanation so far I think this is really getting close to what the song actually means though maybe impossible to ever say for sure