It's a great song not just because it's touching and has a nice melody hook, but because it is bitingly honest and confessional. It does lead you through a bit of deception, feeling sorry for the writer as though he has lost his lover and he was "the last to know", but the final stanza makes it clear that it is a confessional.
All along, she feared she would be the one to get hurt (... "if the bomb drops, baby, I want to be the last to know"). And indeed, that's just what happened. He cheated on her and ruined it.
And now he gets it. He understands what it's like to no longer have any right to know what she's doing, how she's feeling. Even if he's sorry, and even if he wishes her well or would be genuinely concerned if her new mate is being bad to her (all of these are ideas expressed in the verses), he no longer has any right to those feelings.
It's much deeper and more powerful than just "cheating" or "losing your girlfriend". It's the idea that when we give up the power to be close to somebody, even to be good to them or help them, we have lost a lot more than just a "girlfriend". We have lost a bit of ourselves. He traded away a bit of his soul by cheating on her.
Heavy stuff, and darn true. People are precious things.
It's a great song not just because it's touching and has a nice melody hook, but because it is bitingly honest and confessional. It does lead you through a bit of deception, feeling sorry for the writer as though he has lost his lover and he was "the last to know", but the final stanza makes it clear that it is a confessional.
All along, she feared she would be the one to get hurt (... "if the bomb drops, baby, I want to be the last to know"). And indeed, that's just what happened. He cheated on her and ruined it.
And now he gets it. He understands what it's like to no longer have any right to know what she's doing, how she's feeling. Even if he's sorry, and even if he wishes her well or would be genuinely concerned if her new mate is being bad to her (all of these are ideas expressed in the verses), he no longer has any right to those feelings.
It's much deeper and more powerful than just "cheating" or "losing your girlfriend". It's the idea that when we give up the power to be close to somebody, even to be good to them or help them, we have lost a lot more than just a "girlfriend". We have lost a bit of ourselves. He traded away a bit of his soul by cheating on her.
Heavy stuff, and darn true. People are precious things.