Beautiful song! I wonder if it's about an unwanted pregnancy. No hard evidence for that, but there's lack of appetite except for maybe "something sweet". The protagonist throws up her "confession", this could be morning sickness as the only giveaway of her condition. "Cleanse my soul of this hidden obsession" could be a reference to wanting to abort the foetus. Most of this could be about being hungover, depressed or just sick, but there is definitely a sense that she is wanted to escape something...
@Spurio The lyrics of this pretty song seem deliberately obscure. Yours are good ideas.
@Spurio The lyrics of this pretty song seem deliberately obscure. Yours are good ideas.
The first two verses seem like she's feeling generally moody and dissatisfied, and is taking care of her head by getting down to the ocean to watch a sunset. I identify with those verses a lot.
The first two verses seem like she's feeling generally moody and dissatisfied, and is taking care of her head by getting down to the ocean to watch a sunset. I identify with those verses a lot.
But verse 3 seems to take a darker turn. Cleaning up this dirty mess" seems like a slightly dramatic way to describe simply washing off the salt and sand after a trip to the beach. Is this a reference to self-loathing? Or maybe she's just indulging in being a...
But verse 3 seems to take a darker turn. Cleaning up this dirty mess" seems like a slightly dramatic way to describe simply washing off the salt and sand after a trip to the beach. Is this a reference to self-loathing? Or maybe she's just indulging in being a bit of a drama queen? But vomiting in toilet, throwing up a confession, getting back her power all sounds like she's talking about something that's a bigger deal than just sweaty armpits and sandy feet.
In addition to your good suggestions, it also occurs to me that opiate drugs infamously cause nausea (and constipation). I hate to invoke heroin gratuitously (in case it's really something else). But the last verse kind of sounds like someone who is using drugs while also longing to get clean. But no one generally wants to go drive their car all around when they're doing heroin, which makes me think it's probably not that.
Last verse feels like kind of a buzzkill to me - going from dreamy pretty imagery about feeding her soul at the beach to puking in the toilet?
I live in Ventura and I appreciate Lucinda Williams writing a song about my pretty beach town.
Beautiful song! I wonder if it's about an unwanted pregnancy. No hard evidence for that, but there's lack of appetite except for maybe "something sweet". The protagonist throws up her "confession", this could be morning sickness as the only giveaway of her condition. "Cleanse my soul of this hidden obsession" could be a reference to wanting to abort the foetus. Most of this could be about being hungover, depressed or just sick, but there is definitely a sense that she is wanted to escape something...
@Spurio The lyrics of this pretty song seem deliberately obscure. Yours are good ideas.
@Spurio The lyrics of this pretty song seem deliberately obscure. Yours are good ideas.
The first two verses seem like she's feeling generally moody and dissatisfied, and is taking care of her head by getting down to the ocean to watch a sunset. I identify with those verses a lot.
The first two verses seem like she's feeling generally moody and dissatisfied, and is taking care of her head by getting down to the ocean to watch a sunset. I identify with those verses a lot.
But verse 3 seems to take a darker turn. Cleaning up this dirty mess" seems like a slightly dramatic way to describe simply washing off the salt and sand after a trip to the beach. Is this a reference to self-loathing? Or maybe she's just indulging in being a...
But verse 3 seems to take a darker turn. Cleaning up this dirty mess" seems like a slightly dramatic way to describe simply washing off the salt and sand after a trip to the beach. Is this a reference to self-loathing? Or maybe she's just indulging in being a bit of a drama queen? But vomiting in toilet, throwing up a confession, getting back her power all sounds like she's talking about something that's a bigger deal than just sweaty armpits and sandy feet.
In addition to your good suggestions, it also occurs to me that opiate drugs infamously cause nausea (and constipation). I hate to invoke heroin gratuitously (in case it's really something else). But the last verse kind of sounds like someone who is using drugs while also longing to get clean. But no one generally wants to go drive their car all around when they're doing heroin, which makes me think it's probably not that.
Last verse feels like kind of a buzzkill to me - going from dreamy pretty imagery about feeding her soul at the beach to puking in the toilet?
I live in Ventura and I appreciate Lucinda Williams writing a song about my pretty beach town.