Lyrics for Love Affair as interpreted by geekusa

Love Affair Lyrics
There was a love affair in this building
The kind of love affair, Which every respectable building must keep as a legend
Slowly festering through an innocent by the way
Or have you heard
He was perfect except for the fact that he was an engineer And mothers prefer doctors and lawyers

Yet despite this imperfection he was clean looking and respectable looking
And you'll never find a mother who doesn't appreciate a natural man
So he grew healthy aloe vera plants by the window
Healthy teeth in his mouth
Healthy hair on his head
He grew healthy wavy brown hair on his head
The kind that babies always go for with sticky little fingers


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  • 23 Comments
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anna118k
09-25-2004

Rated 0 
mmmm. Regina Spektor is so friggin amazing. I wish all her albums were released and ready for me to buy. She has such witty lyrics and great music.

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teamcrunked
05-16-2005

Rated 0 
Regina Spektor is amazing. I can't get enough of Soviet Kitsch. I love this song.

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precipitate
01-10-2006

Rated 0 
This song reminds me of Fiona Apple for some reason, I love it.

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lemonjuice
05-07-2006

Rated 0 
Corrections about the lyric

I've always tought that it was 'ware' and not 'way'... As if the news about the love affair is spreading all around the building and that it's first class-gossip around the ware. I also think that the "Have you heard? He was perfect..." is a quate from the converations at the ware.

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MadnessMethod
06-29-2006

Rated 0 
No. It's definitely "by the way."

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ficklepeach
07-03-2006

Rated 0 
I think it might sound like "ware" because the word "or" is right after "way", and she kinda blends them together.

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shakeitlove
09-03-2006

Rated 0 
i think she says "wire" ... as in the story grows through gossip. maybe?

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Rosemage
09-28-2006

Rated 0 
yum.

XDD i just love this song, all too much. her use of her voice here is fantastic, and so...well, it always reminds me of those old fifties' singers in little taverns, singing away to a piano - but regina would be one with a spin, since she sings about hookers and prison ;D

well it's obvious what this song's about, but as for what it means...i suppose it's about how sensational things get in a small area (like any apartment building)

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listenrepeat
12-08-2006

Rated 0 
What I love about the lyrics is that you're not sure exactly what the affair is etc. I mean, is the mother the mother of the man's lover, or is the MOTHER the lover? And whose is the child? Is it his, or another man's (the man who made the mother the mother).

I don't know about the child, but I reckon it's the mother who's having the affair - "you'll never find a mother who doesn't appreciate a natural man."

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King of Some Island
12-09-2006

Rated 0 
this song ends way too early. she never finishes the story!

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goodnightlila
01-23-2007

Rated 0 
this song seems pretty simple. i can play it on piano and sing it which makes me incredibly happy. This song is about a love affair. People gossip about it. I alway's though this was about the mother's daughter but I guess it makes more sense that it would be the mother. I

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envirohodges
02-07-2007

Rated 0 
i see the interpritation very simply.... a man and women were coworkers and her mother approved even though he was an engineer...the baby is not hers just babies in general like to pull hair...and that whole part is about how great ooking he is with a full head of hair and nice teeth and everything....

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deep in static
02-16-2007

Rated 0 
what i think -
daughter brought home man.
man was an engineer - mother didn't like that and didn't think he was good enough for daughter.
man was "healthy" and "natural" - mother appreciated THAT.
mother becomes attracted to man and has an affair with daughter's lover; or, man.


:]

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newsies234
02-26-2007

Rated 0 
I thought it was simple, but I guess it's not because people seem to have so many interpretations. I guess I'll add mine on :)

I think this song is told through two people gossiping. We hear one voice, but there’s obviously someone else there (“or have you heard?”).

So this one person is talking about the love affair between these people, who lived in the building. He was an engineer and a good-looking, “natural” man. I think it was a happy relationship because it’s one that every respectable building would want as a legend.

I think the comment about the mother is not quite literal. I don’t think the mother actually disapproved of him. It was more a general observation that mothers prefer lawyers and doctors.

So the man made up for this by being “natural” and “healthy.”

The babies aren’t actual babies, but used to describe his hair.

So that’s what I think.

Also, I think it’s:
“Slowly festering through an innocent- by the way, or have you heard?”
The person is going to say that he was an engineer, but wants to know if the person already knows.

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OrangeApe
04-28-2007

Rated 0 
Does anybody know where I can get a regina song book?
Id like to learn her songs on piano

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just_old_light
07-25-2007

Rated 0 
See, that's why this song is so damn excellent and accomplishes so perfectly what it sets out to do. Some people here see this story simply, literally; others see it as sticky and complex--but that's exactly it. The details are foggy, and there's no ending to it; it's a rumor circulating through a building; the details change from mouth to ear about this love affair that may or may not have once been.

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shortnsweet
10-12-2007

Rated 0 
"sticky little fingeeeeeers" (L)

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phunkometry
11-29-2007

Rated 0 
In response to newsies234's comment, I don't think that the affair was necessarily a happy one. It wasn't that the building wanted the affair as a legend, but it was obligated to have it as a legend. And the term "respectable" (as in "every respectable building") is kind of in quotes to me. Like it doesn't make the building respectable, it just makes it home to juicy gossip. And since it's called a "love affair", it has something of an illicit connotation (to me, at least).

Anyway, all I know about this song is that there was a love affair in a building, and people are talking, and he's a good looking man, and someone's mother has some sort of role or opinion. I like this song because it's leaves so many holes. The song itself represents gossip to me. Albeit in a very catchy manner.

And I always thought it was "an innocent by-the-wayer", a by-the-wayer being someone who happened to say "by the way" a lot. Then the by-the-wayer is saying, "Have you heard?..." So perhaps it would be more appropriate to call the by-the-wayer a have-you-hearder. Um...

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sheela_l
02-19-2008

Rated 0 
Whenever my father came home from work, I would joke to my mother "he's having an affair; that's why he seems so happy". She would usually laugh it off.

This song is a bit of my fantasy XP

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just_old_light
05-04-2008

Rated 0 
"The song itself represents gossip to me. Albeit in a very catchy manner."

Which made me laugh because dude, the thing about gossip is that it IS catchy. This song pretty much embodies gossip in every single way. :D

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moramora
06-01-2008

Rated 0 
This was the very first song I heard from Regina Spektor and since then I can't stop listening to her. This song is absolutely beautiful, it reminds me of ladies who live in apartment buildings and gossip about what's going on in every floor.

I like to think that this song is about a married woman who has an affair with an engineer or someone who comes and fixes things in the building. They eventually have a baby and I reckon her husband knows it's not his.

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fsm
06-30-2008

Rated 0 
I just love that intro..."There was a love affair in this building
The kind of love affair, Which every respectable building must keep as a legend "

Amazing...as usual for Regina.

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pajamagram
11-18-2008

Rated 0 
I think it's about this girl who was dating a boy. And he grew on the mother who he began having an affair with.

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