I was kinda wondering if this song has to be about a man and a woman. I'm gay so i guess naturally I think of male relationships when there aren't gender pronouns to say otherwise. On my first listening, "you were such a gentlemen" made me think the singer was expressing appreciation and then later, romantic feelings "what makes me love you?" and while it's not required, the actual singer is male so it just makes you think at first that the figurative singer is male too. Fleet Foxes song have had some valid same-sex interpretations before iirc.
I guess the meaning of the "collie 'neath the table" might challenge a same-sex interpretation as it does sort of suggest family life, but of course, the singer could just own a home with a dog by himself (or even with children for the gentlemen to have cut their hair). This would deviate from the other interpretations so little, however, that it would seem to suggest it doesn't matter what the gender of the singer or the lover is, which is just as likely tbh. When searching for meanings on my first listening, i had also thought it could have been a pederastic relationship like with an uncle, and while a lot of people would dismiss for the subject of a song because it would seem too unsuitable, at least 1 other song's prevailing theory is that it has to do about remorse concerning murder, and another song describes a close and possible romantic relationship between actual or figurative brothers; however, none of the other lyrics do much to support that picture so I find it unlikely.
On a different note, "my reflection hanging high" could be a way of describing a difference in height, whether because the song is just about a child an absent father, or simply a more normal difference of height (I picture classic movies where a shorter women as to look upwards in order to gaze lovingly in her taller lovers eyes). The height difference could also be a poetic way of describing an intimate act like kissing someone's stomach.
I was kinda wondering if this song has to be about a man and a woman. I'm gay so i guess naturally I think of male relationships when there aren't gender pronouns to say otherwise. On my first listening, "you were such a gentlemen" made me think the singer was expressing appreciation and then later, romantic feelings "what makes me love you?" and while it's not required, the actual singer is male so it just makes you think at first that the figurative singer is male too. Fleet Foxes song have had some valid same-sex interpretations before iirc.
I guess the meaning of the "collie 'neath the table" might challenge a same-sex interpretation as it does sort of suggest family life, but of course, the singer could just own a home with a dog by himself (or even with children for the gentlemen to have cut their hair). This would deviate from the other interpretations so little, however, that it would seem to suggest it doesn't matter what the gender of the singer or the lover is, which is just as likely tbh. When searching for meanings on my first listening, i had also thought it could have been a pederastic relationship like with an uncle, and while a lot of people would dismiss for the subject of a song because it would seem too unsuitable, at least 1 other song's prevailing theory is that it has to do about remorse concerning murder, and another song describes a close and possible romantic relationship between actual or figurative brothers; however, none of the other lyrics do much to support that picture so I find it unlikely.
On a different note, "my reflection hanging high" could be a way of describing a difference in height, whether because the song is just about a child an absent father, or simply a more normal difference of height (I picture classic movies where a shorter women as to look upwards in order to gaze lovingly in her taller lovers eyes). The height difference could also be a poetic way of describing an intimate act like kissing someone's stomach.