I also got the 'prostitute' vibe from the song.
It feels like in the first verse he's merely a kind stranger trying to 'give a girl a break' as it were, but that kind of feels too random to me. (Someone else here mentioned that he could be speaking to an old friend who is now a prostitute, feels like this could work too.) The part where Mercer says "Let me buy an hour" is almost like a pittance to this poor girl he's trying to better understand. It could almost be seen as an insult were it not coming from such a place of kindness. But taken less literally, it could almost mean meeting up with an old friend for coffee to catch up.
The second verse sounds like he's describing a typical night for her. (This is the part that makes me question the prostitute theory.) When he says "waiting for your man" it makes me wonder who ('caller', pimp, boyfriend?) and it almost makes the whole song seem about this poor girl's life, so fraught with disappointments that she's become numb to it.
I also got the 'prostitute' vibe from the song.
It feels like in the first verse he's merely a kind stranger trying to 'give a girl a break' as it were, but that kind of feels too random to me. (Someone else here mentioned that he could be speaking to an old friend who is now a prostitute, feels like this could work too.) The part where Mercer says "Let me buy an hour" is almost like a pittance to this poor girl he's trying to better understand. It could almost be seen as an insult were it not coming from such a place of kindness. But taken less literally, it could almost mean meeting up with an old friend for coffee to catch up.
The second verse sounds like he's describing a typical night for her. (This is the part that makes me question the prostitute theory.) When he says "waiting for your man" it makes me wonder who ('caller', pimp, boyfriend?) and it almost makes the whole song seem about this poor girl's life, so fraught with disappointments that she's become numb to it.
You don't have to be alone to be lonely.