Does He Love You?

I'm not sure why people think the narrator didn't know the man she was having an affair with was her friend's husband. If they're such good friends, how could she not know who her husband is? There's no evidence in the song to suggest otherwise.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure she's defending herself toward the end: Let's not forget ourselves good friend "I am flawed if I'm not free"

That "flawed" part is what the friend used to say, so the narrator is throwing her (the friend's) words back in her face. That's why distortion is used in the vocals right there. But it doesn't matter, says the narrator, because "your husband will never leave you for me."

That's how I took it.

I've listened to this song I don't know how many times, but I've only just now come up with a meaning that makes sense, whereas before I was quite confused. But I think what's going on here is a sort of love triangle. The speaker is friends with someone, and is having an affair with the friends husband, and in the end, the friend calls to talk to the speaker about catching her husband's conversation with his mistress, but she doesn't know that the mistress is the speaker, her friend.

Ok this one's open to personal interpretation, but this is how I see it:

"Keep the wind to your back and the sun on your face All the immediate unknowns are better than knowing this tired and lonely fate."

Narrator talking to herself, after all is said and done, turn the page, move on. This is actually the conclusion of the story.

"Does he love you? Does he love you? Will he hold your tiny face in his hands?"

Here's where I differ from most people's view. The narrator is talking to her own unborn child, wondering if what she wants more than anything else will happen: her lover (and father of the baby) will be with her (them) in the end.

"I guess it's spring; I didn't know It's always seventy-five with no meltin' snow A married man, he visits me I recieved his letters in the mail twice a week"

Narrator telling us how unsatisfying her situation is, and how time seems to stand still... in California. (pretty much a given here)

"And I think he loves me and when he leaves her he's coming out to California"

She's pretty much trying to convince herself, unsure what to really beleive. "I think" is key here.

"I guess it all worked out There's a ring on your finger and the baby's due out"

We learn the narrator has a friend who seems very happilly married and expecting a baby. Things weren't always so bright but now all is great, right?

"You share a place by the park and run a shop for antiques downtown And he loves you, yeah he loves you, and the two of you will soon become three"

Sounds comforting, and the narrator sure seems to know the man pretty well.

"And he loves you, even though you used to say you were flawed if you weren't free"

Hmm. I guess the friend's love for this man seems a bit hard to accept to our narrator.

"Let's not forget ourselves good friend You and I were almost dead And you're better off for leavin' Yeah you're better off for leavin'"

There's a lot of bagage between these gals. One thing's for sure, they use to live close to one another. I beleive the love triangle is the reason the friend left in the first place.

"Late at night, I get the phone You're at the shop sobbin' all alone Your confession is coming out You only married him, you felt your time was running out"

That guy sure seems like a jerk. Friend got pregnant and married the narrator's lover (in that order?) so that she could live happilly ever after, even though she always claimed she didn't need to settle down.

"But now you love him, and your baby At last you are complete"

Settling down really isn't that bad. Really, it's great... unless your signifigant other is still seeing his ex which happens to be you old friend.

"But he's distant and you found him on the phone pleading saying 'baby I love you and I'll leave her and I'm comin' out to California'"

OH MY GOD! Alright first time I heard it it made quite an impression on me too.

"Let's not forget ourselves good friend I am flawed if I'm not free"

That's the narrator once again trying to feel better about herself with empty statements. And this bird you cannot chaaaaaaaaaange

"and your husband will never leave you, he will never leave you for me"

The tone in which this line is delivered is important. This is not her way to say "don't worry". She's really telling herself "Who the hell am I kidding, I'm so screwed". She's also stating that the guy's word is meaningless, that the situation won't change (including him being a cheater), and that both the girls were horribly stupid to let this man in their lives and then ruin their friendship. In the end we're left with one miserable married woman and a devastated single mother.

The single mother will now need to keep the wind to her back and the sun on her face. All the immediate unknowns are better than knowing her friend's tired and lonely fate.

This song makes me really sad because I had something with a guy who was in a serious relationship, not married but basically the same thing. And I always feel like the narrator talking to his girlfriend every time I hear this.

What about the verse: Let's not forget ourselves, good friend You and I were almost dead And you're better off for leaving Yeah, you're better off for leaving

I've listened to this song many times and today this verse struck me as a suggestion that the two women in the song were together in the past. Does anyone else get this? Or am I misinterpreting the person who's saying this?

Oh God, this song. I wrote a short story about this song once. Basically, a woman spends the day chit-chatting with her old friend, talking about how she's getting married and what a shock it is considering how her friend used to be. That is, flawed if she's not free. But the narrator doesn't seem to mind, because her friend seems happy. Meanwhile, the narrator is seeing a "married man" who's going to come live with her in California. Later, that night, the narrator picks up the phone to hear that her friend hadn't really loved her husband until she realized he was going to leave her for someone in California. The narrator, putting two and two together, tells her friend not to worry because she needs her freedom and that the husband will never leave her.

I've always thought it was interesting to try and place which of the three people you'd rather be in the scenario. If you're the friend, you get what you want in the end in the sense that your husband will stay with you, but you suffer the most emotional stress. If you're the husband, you get the prideful feeling that you will always have company, but at the same time, you don't get to pick whose company you have. If you're the narrator, then you know the entire story by the end (whereas the friend and husband are still probably confused) and you have the most control of the situation, but you also suffer the most loss because you remain alone at the end of the story.

i love love love love love the strings section at the end of this song. it's amazing

This song tends to be a bit confusing for me because of the back and fourth. A man is being unloyal to his wife with the narrarator of the song (Jenny, or whomever else it is) and I guess he says he'll leave his wife for her but then he never does. I don't know. It's an awesome song, nonetheless.

actually its about the narrator who has been talking to this guy whos married and says hes gonna leave his wife and come out to california to be with her and this same guy happens to be the husband of the narrators friend.. so its sort of like.. the narrator is betraying her friend.. not sure if its intentional or what.

"And I think he loves me and when he leaves her he's coming out to California "

"But he's distant and you found him on the phone pleading saying 'baby I love you and I'll leave her and I'm comin' out to California'"

actually i think that the narrator is talking to her friend. take a look at the last verse. her friend had called her up, sobbing, and that's when we realize that the narrator has been having an affair or whatever because her friend heard her husband talking to a woman about coming to california. it's a pretty amazing song.