IMO, the most important line is "I was looking for love all over". It might seem like a throwaway, but consider this: Adam has said that he is usually the pursuer. When asked what the best pick up line someone had used on him was, he couldn't answer because he is the hunter.
So the next line is "You're the hunter and I'm your prey." The switch there is stunning. He's out looking for someone to pursue in love and finds himself pursued instead.
And then: "Now I'm lost in a love hangover. I try to leave but I have to stay." I think this refers to his past relationships not lasting very long, but now he's in one that is lasting longer than he expected, and he's a little off because of it, maybe a little freaked out and wanting to run, but the pull of being in a relationship is keeping him where he is.
Now here we have the lyric that we disagree on (but that Adam uses) "Swamp sings of a love bizarre." You're going to hate me for this b/c my interpretation is so simple. Literally, the swamp sings. Think of hundreds of frogs croaking and birds, crickets, etc. All singing a song with their various animal sounds of a strange, unexplainable love that is what Adam is feeling right now for this person.
"Every time I try to break this trance, I'm afraid I'll miss my chance to be bewitched, bothered by you."
I think this is actually quite a hopeful line. I know I said I would only stick to the song for my interpretations, but the phrasing of 'bewitched, bothered (and bewildered)' is a well-known song from Pal Joey that has been covered so many times that I have no trouble thinking of Adam knowing it, especially with his theater background. This was actually one of the incorrect lyrics on a lyric's site I saw, and it was a lyric that I guessed before looking at Adam's tweets, just because it is such a common phrase. It's a song about a person under a lover's spell and perfectly happy in being so. I think Adam using a portion of the phrase here not only helps to show that he is actually pleased (if a little in over his head) about the voodoo he's under, but also feeling a touch of the innocent romantic about it, too.
And then of course he goes into hex and sexiness, and I think there he might be trying to shake off some of that romanticism and go straight for the crotch, as it were, maybe to reclaim his idea of himself as pursuer. But of course, it's too late for that. We've seen him for the hopeless romantic he is. As he's said, he used to be the caretaker, but now he might need someone to be on more equal ground with. He loses his footing in this song and it shocks him, but in a very good way.
Re: my interpretation--note on atmospheric lyricsamproofJune 3 2010, 04:46:26 UTC
Something that I didn't really mention b/c it doesn't matter too much for the interpretation of the song, is how atmospheric it is, and how the atmospheric phrases are layered in with other meanings.
I think that "moon shine on the bayou" (spaced as Adam typed it) is meant to have a double interpretation. Moonshine the drink, which as we have agreed is possibly the source of the spell he's under.
But also the moon shining down over the bayou, which sets up the atmosphere. So that now we can imagine the hunter and prey running through the bayou, cast in the sparsely lit yellow rays. Then the other atmospheric line "swamp sings" gives us a soundtrack for the setting as well. Snake bites (easy to come by in a bayou) and aligning stars (in the sky) are probably intended to have double meanings, too. They contribute to setting the scene as well as offer the meanings that you picked out.
Re: my interpretation--note on atmospheric lyricsdanajsparksJune 3 2010, 05:28:24 UTC
OK, and I see that you agree that "snake bites, aligning stars" could be about a sign that they're meant to be together. So, even if we disagree on the one line, we still agree on what the song is about overall.
So the next line is "You're the hunter and I'm your prey." The switch there is stunning. He's out looking for someone to pursue in love and finds himself pursued instead.
And then: "Now I'm lost in a love hangover. I try to leave but I have to stay." I think this refers to his past relationships not lasting very long, but now he's in one that is lasting longer than he expected, and he's a little off because of it, maybe a little freaked out and wanting to run, but the pull of being in a relationship is keeping him where he is.
Now here we have the lyric that we disagree on (but that Adam uses) "Swamp sings of a love bizarre." You're going to hate me for this b/c my interpretation is so simple. Literally, the swamp sings. Think of hundreds of frogs croaking and birds, crickets, etc. All singing a song with their various animal sounds of a strange, unexplainable love that is what Adam is feeling right now for this person.
"Every time I try to break this trance, I'm afraid I'll miss my chance to be bewitched, bothered by you."
I think this is actually quite a hopeful line. I know I said I would only stick to the song for my interpretations, but the phrasing of 'bewitched, bothered (and bewildered)' is a well-known song from Pal Joey that has been covered so many times that I have no trouble thinking of Adam knowing it, especially with his theater background. This was actually one of the incorrect lyrics on a lyric's site I saw, and it was a lyric that I guessed before looking at Adam's tweets, just because it is such a common phrase. It's a song about a person under a lover's spell and perfectly happy in being so. I think Adam using a portion of the phrase here not only helps to show that he is actually pleased (if a little in over his head) about the voodoo he's under, but also feeling a touch of the innocent romantic about it, too.
And then of course he goes into hex and sexiness, and I think there he might be trying to shake off some of that romanticism and go straight for the crotch, as it were, maybe to reclaim his idea of himself as pursuer. But of course, it's too late for that. We've seen him for the hopeless romantic he is. As he's said, he used to be the caretaker, but now he might need someone to be on more equal ground with. He loses his footing in this song and it shocks him, but in a very good way.
So. Um. *jazz hands* Ta da!
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I think that "moon shine on the bayou" (spaced as Adam typed it) is meant to have a double interpretation. Moonshine the drink, which as we have agreed is possibly the source of the spell he's under.
But also the moon shining down over the bayou, which sets up the atmosphere. So that now we can imagine the hunter and prey running through the bayou, cast in the sparsely lit yellow rays. Then the other atmospheric line "swamp sings" gives us a soundtrack for the setting as well. Snake bites (easy to come by in a bayou) and aligning stars (in the sky) are probably intended to have double meanings, too. They contribute to setting the scene as well as offer the meanings that you picked out.
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