This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
She hangs her head and cries on my shirt
She must be hurt very badly
Tell me what's making you sad, Li?
Open your door, don't hide in the dark
You're lost in the dark, you can trust me
'Cause you know that's how it must be
Lisa Lisa, sad Lisa Lisa
Her eyes like windows, trickle in rain
Upon the pain getting deeper
Though my love wants to relieve her
She walks alone from wall to wall
Lost in her hall, she can't hear me
Though I know she likes to be near me
Lisa Lisa, sad Lisa Lisa
She sits in a corner by the door
There must be more I can tell her
If she really wants me to help her
I'll do what I can to show her the way
And maybe one day I will free her
Though I know no one can see her
Lisa Lisa, sad Lisa Lisa
She must be hurt very badly
Tell me what's making you sad, Li?
Open your door, don't hide in the dark
You're lost in the dark, you can trust me
'Cause you know that's how it must be
Lisa Lisa, sad Lisa Lisa
Her eyes like windows, trickle in rain
Upon the pain getting deeper
Though my love wants to relieve her
She walks alone from wall to wall
Lost in her hall, she can't hear me
Though I know she likes to be near me
Lisa Lisa, sad Lisa Lisa
She sits in a corner by the door
There must be more I can tell her
If she really wants me to help her
I'll do what I can to show her the way
And maybe one day I will free her
Though I know no one can see her
Lisa Lisa, sad Lisa Lisa
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My name is Lisa. My husband died in 2012 and now it's 2016. He sent me this beautiful song while I was planning his funeral. I posted my interpretation on this site in 2013. Currently it is found on page two of this blog.
Whatever Cat had in mind when he wrote this haunting song, it will always represent the death of my husband, the love of my husband, and his last words to me given after his death.
Tea for Tillerman is on my CD changer in the car. It will always be. Every time Sad Lisa plays, I remember how much he loved me.
It played on the way home tonight and I remembered the Sad Lisa interpretation post and wondered what site I posted it to over 4 years ago, then let the question fade. Checking my email as I always do first when I return home, I received a notice that someone had rated up my first post. With that notice I was able to relocate the post and read it again.
I cried again. This time it was tears of joy. He's still out there, helping me when he can. I love you Lorin.
@Huff actually it reply’s to the children with autistic disorder (Ass) or any kinderen of depression which the parents and the society has no knowledge about it and they don’t understands the struggles , that’s why those kids walk among us without been seen ! <br /> In this case it’s about those kids ( Lisa ) is the imaginary figure whom she represents those kids!
That's such a beautiful thing you shared with us. Mine died in 2014. His ghost isn't helpful though. He still likes to **** with me every now and then. He makes me mad but I still love him with all my heart. I kinda wish he'd stop haunting me though, because it's been like 7 years and I don't want to be a widow anymore, it's lonely. I'd like to be with someone else. He always was a possessive man.
Those are lots of interesting interpretations to ponder. I remember when this song first came out. I thought it was about a girl in an institution struggling with depression for the first 95% of the song. The twist at the end "I know nobody can see her" made me believe that she was actually all in his mind. Kind of like a struggling imaginary friend that made me believe it was he who was struggling. No matter how you interpret this song it strikes me as being a beautiful combination of tenderness, sadness, hope, while being haunting.
@LIT4EVER I remember this song well too. I hadn't paid much attention to the line "I know nobody can see her" escaped me.<br /> Like you, I got a picture of a girl struggling with some sort of trauma or depression,
My husband, a natural born musician, passed on last December. While planning his funeral, sitting on his side of the bed near the door in the corner of the room, listening to a TV new age music channel, wearing his shirt, and sobbing now and then, a most beautiful instrumental by Angels of Venice caught my attention. I looked up to see the words 'Sad Lisa' floating across the TV screen. My name is Lisa.
The next day I bought the Angels of Venice CD. I told my sister about the beautiful music and how I hoped it was a message from my husband. She called me back within the hour to let me know the song was by Cat Stevens and told me to read the words of the song.
My husband's urn was on a memorial table in the hall outside our bedroom. I had spent days wandering our large home alone. I was crying on his shirt in the corner by the door. Somehow, he sent me this most beautiful song.
I love him more than life itself, and he loved me, for over 20 years. I know now that he'll show me the way if he can. And he knows no one can see me, the real me that is. The me that he knew.
I think the lyric is "sad, Li" and not "sadly". The first is an affectionate short name for Lisa and the second is just messed up English.
I agree - my name is Lisa, and my parents and close friends call me Li sometimes, so I just assumed that's what the lyric actually is.
Same here.<br /> I always thought it was "Sad, Li".<br /> My name is Lisa as well. So they call me "Lee". <br /> It makes more sense if the lyric is <br /> What's making you sad, Lee?<br /> It's more personal, since he is speaking diretly to Lisa. And clearly having a one-sided conversation with her.<br /> <br /> I always felt that she was Agoraphobic. (Afraid of leaving her house). But then my name is Lisa, I had Agoraphobia, so maybe I just want her to be like me.<br /> It does make sense though. He is the only one who can see her/touch her. Perhaps he lives with her. He almost seems like her carer.<br /> <br /> To me, this is one of the saddest songs ever written. The line, "My love wants to relieve her" and "open your door, don't hide in the dark" they just break my heart. The piano is just perfect. Particularly the end piece. It becomes erratic and grating. Leading to no particular climax. The same with Lisa. We don't know what will become of her. But it won't be good. She almost seems doomed.<br />
@snowie0wl While your reasoning makes sense, all printed sources of sheet music and even the lyrics on the vinyl cover indicate "Sadly." Cat Stevens had a reputation of being very precise about the lyrics whenever in print.
This is SUCH a beautiful song. This song reminds me of when I was depressed, which I was for years and years, and everytime I'm sad again, or someone's wronged me I listen to this and brings back memories of old pain, and I know it may seem a little odd but it feels good to remember times like those, just cos I got through them. But now I'm just rambling :p lol. I love the way he uses a kind of pun...dunno if anyone else noticed it. "Her eyes like windows, trickling rain, upon her pain getting deeper", pain could also be seen as window PANE.
Anyway, this song makes me cry. My mom played it to me when..well something really bad had happened to me, something I couldn't tell ANYONE about, and I kept holding it back and then one night I just sat with her and cryed on her shoulder. I still couldn't tell her, but I think she could relate this song perfectly then. "Open the door, don't hide in the dark" "Tell me what's making you Sadly"
This is just the ultimate song for deep and beautiful sadness. If you could call it that.
This is the most beautiful song. I first heard it about 3am coz i put this album on when i was going to sleep, then had it so it repeated the entire album over and over. I woke up and heard the piano and freaked out coz i didnt know where it was coming from. But I loved it from the minute i heard it
"Open your door, don't hide in the dark," "Her eyes like windows, tricklin' rain upon her pain, getting deeper" "She walks alone from wall to wall, lost in a hall,"
They are my 3 favourite lines. I love this song and Cat Stevens is a legend
doggs are powerful.dawg
This song is about and autistic girl, his sister. No one sees her, means everyone lese has stopped trying. She is locked in an institutuion. Only he comes to visit any more. She know he is all she has left, but cant reach out to him.
@jojopenny No. Just No. This is not about some imaginary autistic sister. If you want to make up your own meaning by all means go at it. But don't say that is what this song is about. Someone will believe you. And they will tell someone else perhaps. Then we have another stupid myth. Morons shouldn't be allowed on the internet. The man is still alive. And the true meaning is out there if you'd like to look for it. She was a person he knew, but she wasn't his sister.
Cat Stevens said once in a live concert that sometimes he think that he wrote this song about himself
@Cat Stevens I haven't been to a live concert of his. I do know that in an article, he states that he wrote this song about someone named Lisa who worked in his home in 1969. Might have been a maid or some other worker, who knows? These were his exact words:<br /> <br /> "Looking at the oncome of lonesome individuals experiencing virtual life through more and more social technology, this song seems to have growing relevance. It was about a real sweet girl called Lisa from Sweden who came to work in our home in 1969. Though I captured the spirit of her loneliness in this beautiful song, I can only hope she made it out of the door."
Yeah i agree with cat stevens ^^... as in the member of this site cat stevens... In his 1976 concert "majikat" in virginia he said that he wrote this song about sum1 else, but really it reflects him.