I interpret it as a young woman who was mistreated by her father. She meets a man who superficially represented an escape and seemingly promised a lifetime of happiness, a steady income and a roof over their heads etc. She moves to a new town to be with him, they have two kids, and then he leaves her, maybe after an affair or because he wasn't the man of her dreams she imagined him to be, and the family fell apart. Either way, she's left alone as a single mother, wondering what happened before realising she took a gamble to escape her unhappy home life ("Because you played chance with a lifetime's romance
And the price was far too long") only to end up in an equally unhappy, if not worse situation.
Depressing and hard-hitting lyrics, but a great track.
I interpret it as a young woman who was mistreated by her father. She meets a man who superficially represented an escape and seemingly promised a lifetime of happiness, a steady income and a roof over their heads etc. She moves to a new town to be with him, they have two kids, and then he leaves her, maybe after an affair or because he wasn't the man of her dreams she imagined him to be, and the family fell apart. Either way, she's left alone as a single mother, wondering what happened before realising she took a gamble to escape her unhappy home life ("Because you played chance with a lifetime's romance And the price was far too long") only to end up in an equally unhappy, if not worse situation. Depressing and hard-hitting lyrics, but a great track.