I feel there's a more sinister meaning to this song than some people are perceiving. The singer is a user of women, who views each woman as a glass of wine, rather than viewing them as potential partners with whom to build relationship and a life.
He starts out in a small town at 17, enticing girls to move away from the lights of the village green, during the night. Presumably to kiss them and do some mild groping. Pretty innocuous. But then...
We next hear from him when he's 21 and living in a city. He's left the small town and small town girls behind. He views the city girls as more attractive/sexy than the small town ones (city girls are "perfumed") and their hair comes undone for him. To me this is implying that their clothes also came undone, and he had sex with them. Without actually establishing much of a relationship or making plans with any of them.
Fast forward to age 35 (a big jump of 14 years), and he's pursuing "blueblooded girls". Which means daughters from wealthy families, perhaps even wealthy women older than he is who are widowed or divorced. Regardless of their age, they are of "independent means" and "their" chauffeurs drive the couple in limousines (not "his" chauffeur or limousine).
So at this point, he's left behind not only the small town girls he kissed near the village green, but also the perfumed city girls he had sex with - because at age 35 he only wants women with money. But he doesn't marry any of them, he's just using them to live the high life while they are dating, then moving on to the next one.
Now today in 2023, a 35 year old man who has never been married, might hope and plan for marriage and a family. But when this song was written (1961), 35 was getting pretty old to not even consider marriage and starting a family. And based on the lyrics, the guy never does settle on one woman or a serious life. He also doesn't seem to have much of a career, as he's counting on rich women to take him to dinner even when he's 35.
So he looks back from "now" and states that he's really happy with his choices in life. But is he, or is that supposed to show us that he never "gets it" and is just a user of women, satisfied that this has been the right thing to do, and not wanting any more out of life.
I don't know whether the songwriter intended this interpretation or not, but it's in the lyrics. I first heard the Frank Sinatra version, and it's beautifully sung, without a hint of irony. Also, Frank Sinatra was 50 years old and had been married twice and had 3 children when he recorded the song (1965); we might confuse the narrator of the song with Frank himself, but it's not about him.
More recently in hearing the version by The Turtles, it dawned on me that the narrator does not exactly have his life together. The Turtles version becomes somewhat frantic near the end, as if the guy realizes he's wasted most of his life. Possibly that's just due to Howard Kaylan's voice, as he often sounded sarcastic and/or sinister in his delivery (great singer though). Either way, it made me realize that these lyrics might be darker than many people think they are. If intentional, it's pretty brilliant that way, especially since the singer doesn't realize what he's missed in life, he thinks it was just about sampling the best "wine" (i.e. using women, then moving on to the next one to use).
[Edit: Tried to create paragraphs rather than a single block of text.]
I feel there's a more sinister meaning to this song than some people are perceiving. The singer is a user of women, who views each woman as a glass of wine, rather than viewing them as potential partners with whom to build relationship and a life.
He starts out in a small town at 17, enticing girls to move away from the lights of the village green, during the night. Presumably to kiss them and do some mild groping. Pretty innocuous. But then...
We next hear from him when he's 21 and living in a city. He's left the small town and small town girls behind. He views the city girls as more attractive/sexy than the small town ones (city girls are "perfumed") and their hair comes undone for him. To me this is implying that their clothes also came undone, and he had sex with them. Without actually establishing much of a relationship or making plans with any of them.
Fast forward to age 35 (a big jump of 14 years), and he's pursuing "blueblooded girls". Which means daughters from wealthy families, perhaps even wealthy women older than he is who are widowed or divorced. Regardless of their age, they are of "independent means" and "their" chauffeurs drive the couple in limousines (not "his" chauffeur or limousine).
So at this point, he's left behind not only the small town girls he kissed near the village green, but also the perfumed city girls he had sex with - because at age 35 he only wants women with money. But he doesn't marry any of them, he's just using them to live the high life while they are dating, then moving on to the next one.
Now today in 2023, a 35 year old man who has never been married, might hope and plan for marriage and a family. But when this song was written (1961), 35 was getting pretty old to not even consider marriage and starting a family. And based on the lyrics, the guy never does settle on one woman or a serious life. He also doesn't seem to have much of a career, as he's counting on rich women to take him to dinner even when he's 35.
So he looks back from "now" and states that he's really happy with his choices in life. But is he, or is that supposed to show us that he never "gets it" and is just a user of women, satisfied that this has been the right thing to do, and not wanting any more out of life.
I don't know whether the songwriter intended this interpretation or not, but it's in the lyrics. I first heard the Frank Sinatra version, and it's beautifully sung, without a hint of irony. Also, Frank Sinatra was 50 years old and had been married twice and had 3 children when he recorded the song (1965); we might confuse the narrator of the song with Frank himself, but it's not about him.
More recently in hearing the version by The Turtles, it dawned on me that the narrator does not exactly have his life together. The Turtles version becomes somewhat frantic near the end, as if the guy realizes he's wasted most of his life. Possibly that's just due to Howard Kaylan's voice, as he often sounded sarcastic and/or sinister in his delivery (great singer though). Either way, it made me realize that these lyrics might be darker than many people think they are. If intentional, it's pretty brilliant that way, especially since the singer doesn't realize what he's missed in life, he thinks it was just about sampling the best "wine" (i.e. using women, then moving on to the next one to use).
[Edit: Tried to create paragraphs rather than a single block of text.]