I think this song is fairly self-explanatory but perhaps it's just my assumption and other people have different interpretations which to them seem obvious.
I think it's about a relationship in Australia that ended because the singer left the country - presumably not because she didn't love the other person, but because she just needed to explore the world and get away from her life for whatever reason. She misses him (I'm just going to say "he" because I know that Elizabeth is heterosexual and is therefore almost certainly singing about a man) and is questioning her decision to leave him, but can't come to a really clear decision about what to do in the future because she has found a lot of positive things in her new life in Europe. I think it ends on an ambiguous note: will they be back together? Is that even what she wants? is it what he wants?
The lines
"I'm wondering if I've already heard all the songs that'll mean something
And I'm wondering if I've already met all the people that'll mean something"
are two of the best in modern pop history, in my opnion. Who hasn't felt that way? Wanting to experience that wonderful feeling of loving a new song or a new person, but being wary to do it because it takes so much emotional energy; it's so hard to begin the process again, and maybe it's impossible to feel that way about anything new. I love music so much, but sometimes I am overwhelmed at the thought of listening to a brand new album by a band I don't know because I think, will it ever mean as much to me as what I already love? And, if it does, do I have enough in me to feel that way about something else? When it comes to people it's even more difficult. I also think it refers to longing for the "right" person to come along and thinking maybe it's never going to happen.
Ultimately, I think that this is a cautiously optimistic song. Yes, she's worried about having already met everyone who will mean something, but she tempers this by the repeated "And it's been a long time/Since I've seen all my old friends/But I really love my new friends/I feel I've known them a long while". Many Allo Darlin' songs straddle this uncertain line of whether they are, to put it simplistically, happy or sad. I love that. That's how life is.
To me, this song sums up so many different emotions perfectly, but especially that feeling in your late twenties when your life is in flux and you're questioning the choices you've made to lead you where you are and you have no idea what's going to happen in the future. I also love it because I know those paces she's talking about. St. Kilda is the suburb of my childhood; and I've walked from Bondi to Coogee Bay. It's a song about Australia, and I know where it's coming from.
This is long winded I know, and coloured by the particularly melancholy and introspective mood I'm in right now. But I needed to write about this because it's beautiful and it means something and I'm grateful for that.
I think this song is fairly self-explanatory but perhaps it's just my assumption and other people have different interpretations which to them seem obvious.
I think it's about a relationship in Australia that ended because the singer left the country - presumably not because she didn't love the other person, but because she just needed to explore the world and get away from her life for whatever reason. She misses him (I'm just going to say "he" because I know that Elizabeth is heterosexual and is therefore almost certainly singing about a man) and is questioning her decision to leave him, but can't come to a really clear decision about what to do in the future because she has found a lot of positive things in her new life in Europe. I think it ends on an ambiguous note: will they be back together? Is that even what she wants? is it what he wants?
The lines
"I'm wondering if I've already heard all the songs that'll mean something And I'm wondering if I've already met all the people that'll mean something"
are two of the best in modern pop history, in my opnion. Who hasn't felt that way? Wanting to experience that wonderful feeling of loving a new song or a new person, but being wary to do it because it takes so much emotional energy; it's so hard to begin the process again, and maybe it's impossible to feel that way about anything new. I love music so much, but sometimes I am overwhelmed at the thought of listening to a brand new album by a band I don't know because I think, will it ever mean as much to me as what I already love? And, if it does, do I have enough in me to feel that way about something else? When it comes to people it's even more difficult. I also think it refers to longing for the "right" person to come along and thinking maybe it's never going to happen.
Ultimately, I think that this is a cautiously optimistic song. Yes, she's worried about having already met everyone who will mean something, but she tempers this by the repeated "And it's been a long time/Since I've seen all my old friends/But I really love my new friends/I feel I've known them a long while". Many Allo Darlin' songs straddle this uncertain line of whether they are, to put it simplistically, happy or sad. I love that. That's how life is.
To me, this song sums up so many different emotions perfectly, but especially that feeling in your late twenties when your life is in flux and you're questioning the choices you've made to lead you where you are and you have no idea what's going to happen in the future. I also love it because I know those paces she's talking about. St. Kilda is the suburb of my childhood; and I've walked from Bondi to Coogee Bay. It's a song about Australia, and I know where it's coming from.
This is long winded I know, and coloured by the particularly melancholy and introspective mood I'm in right now. But I needed to write about this because it's beautiful and it means something and I'm grateful for that.