Here on these cliffs of Dover
So high you can't see over
And while your head is spinning
Hold tight, it's just beginning
You come from parents wanton
A childhood rough and rotten
I come from wealth and beauty
Untouched by work or duty
And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, my love
We both go down together
I found you, a tattooed tramp
A dirty daughter from the labor camps
I laid you down on the grass of a clearing
You wept but your soul was willing
And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, my love
We both go down together
And my parents will never consent to this love
But I hold your hand
Meet me on my vast veranda
My sweet, untouched Miranda
And while the seagulls are crying
We fall but our souls are flying
And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, oh my love
And oh, my love, my love
We both go down together
So high you can't see over
And while your head is spinning
Hold tight, it's just beginning
You come from parents wanton
A childhood rough and rotten
I come from wealth and beauty
Untouched by work or duty
And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, my love
We both go down together
I found you, a tattooed tramp
A dirty daughter from the labor camps
I laid you down on the grass of a clearing
You wept but your soul was willing
And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, my love
We both go down together
And my parents will never consent to this love
But I hold your hand
Meet me on my vast veranda
My sweet, untouched Miranda
And while the seagulls are crying
We fall but our souls are flying
And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, oh my love
And oh, my love, my love
We both go down together
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Leslie's mother died in childbirth. With that in mind, it would be pretty hard for her to die once more with this wealthy lover. You're probably lying about hearing Colin say that, but if not, this is not a well thought out prequel. It doesn't even make any thematic connections to Leslie Anne Levine, not to mention the aforementioned contradiction as to when Leslie's mother died. I don't need to do research when I am fully capable of reading the lyrics without help. Square.
A dirty daugher from the labour cans
I laid you down on the grass of a clearing
You wept but your soul was willing"
makes it seem like the narrator thinks he's doing something good for her by having sex with her- he found her in the labour cans (camps? I thought it was camps) and was fixated on her.
my first impression was rape.
So high you can't see over
And while your head is spinning
Hold tight, it's just beginning"
Maybe those words just mean that they are both so in love that they get that weird butterfly-in-your-stomach feeling.
"We fall, but our souls our flying"
They fall in love, they fall in embrace, ect.
If they didn't die, then the only lyric that confuses me is "You wept, but your soul was willing". It wouldn't make sense.
Now, lets say that they do both die. Then, the lyrics:
"Here on these cliffs of Dover
So high you can't see over
And while your head is spinning
Hold tight, it's just beginning"
is them, holding hands, looking over the edge, thinking their final thoughts before they leap.
"You wept, but your soul was willing"
Miranda didn't want to die, who does? But she is willing to do it, for the sake of love.
"We fell, but our souls were flying"
They are literally falling of the cliff at this point. They have accepted their death, and while I'm not saying that they're happy about dying, they're glad that they will get to be together forever.
"We both go down together"
They both jump and plummet to earth together.
If they both did die, AND this is the prequel to LAL, then maybe the "dry ravine" was the ground underneath the cliff. Miranda was pregnant and literally about to give birth when she jumped, and I think maybe she survived a little longer, and was able to push Leslie out. Or Leslie was never actually birthed, but she became a ghost anyway.
Another crazy idea: Miranda and the narrator had a baby together, but, unable to take all the ridicule of their "socially wrong" relationship, killed themselves. The narrator's parents, while they disliked it, took the baby under their wing. The baby grew up to be Leslie's mother, and we all know what happened after that.
As for this song, I think it is about suicide, the opening lyrics being the end of the story -- "Here on these cliffs of Dover / so high you can't see over / and while your head is spinning / hold tight, it's just beginning"
It is hard to say, though, whether or not the girl jumped alone or if the boy did in fact push her, up until that point, believing he would jump off with her. "We both go down together" is sung very vindictively, but he pledges his allegiance to her several times throughout the song. Overall, I think it is about a dual suicide, off the wonderful white cliffs of dover.
stylusmagazine.com/…
and yes, it is the prequel. i've heard colin say it twice.
Only one other person has said it reminds them of Tess of the D'Urbevilles and I have to agree with them. It sounds as though the man wants to believe the woman loves him. And it sounds like he was a rich Victorian man who raped one of his servants.
Which says Tess of the D'Urbevilles all over it. And the two deaths relate to it quite a lot as well.
I don't know that that is exactly what it has been written about but to me, that's what it means.
Fantastic book, by the way.
Anyway, this is one of the best songs I've heard in a long time.