Lyrics for Does He Love You? as interpreted by sonics222

Does He Love You? Lyrics
Get a real job, 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

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

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

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

I guess it all worked out
There's a ring on your finger
And the baby's due out
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
And he loves you, even though
You used to say you were flawed if you weren't free

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

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

But now you love him and your baby
At last you are complete
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 coming out to California"

Let's not forget ourselves, good friend
I am flawed if I'm not free
And your husband will never leave you
He will never leave you for me

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myslumberingheart
06-20-2004

Rated 0 
i love love love love love the strings section at the end of this song. it's amazing

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ivegotatimebomb
09-19-2004

Rated 0 
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.

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xxblackoctoberxx
09-25-2004

Rated 0 
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'"

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kamanaka
09-27-2004

Rated 0 
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.

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loveisaverb
11-21-2004

Rated 0 
maybe it also means that women can tend to be in the same boat.
for instance, the one woman is married but instead he is in love with another woman.
the other woman wants the man, but he is married despite his promises of marrying her.

i dunno it's stupid the way relationships are

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grrrbetsy
11-24-2004

Rated 0 
i have to say that i think black october is right. the key is in the last few lines, "Let's not forget ourselves good friend. I am flawed if I'm not free. And your husband will never leave you, he will never leave you for me." The narrator was definately having a sort of love affair with her friend's now husband, but she knows he will never go to her and that she can't be with someone else anyway.

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twothirdbeat
12-30-2004

Rated 0 
the narrator of the song is speaking to the wife of the husband she is seeing. i think they were friends & at first, the narrator doesn't tell wife that it is her husband she is seeing. then wife finds out it is narrator & narrator rubs it in wifes's face a little bit. & finally, narrator again reassures wife that husband will never leave her.

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xoxoxo
12-31-2004

Rated 0 
in the last verse, i always thought she was trying to ignore her feelings, her sadness, in order to be a better friend, sort of like a false reassurance, you know: "really, i'm fine with it." but she's not.

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ohh_reckless
01-31-2005

Rated 0 
k so, this is the story:

jenny (or the narrator, whatever) is talking to her friend, and she's really excited because she's been writing to this man who's she's in love with, and he's married and going to come see her soon (in california).

later, her friend calls her, and tells jenny that she heard her husband on the phone saying "baby i love you and i'll leave her and i'm coming out to california."

so, jenny's been having an affair with her friend's husband and she didn't even know it.

pretty much what everyone else said, but eh.
it's a lot like a soap opera, i think.
i love it. <3

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hannahbear
02-05-2005

Rated 0 
This song confused me a lot especially the ending.. I don't know if i'm wrong or not but when i read the lyrics
"Your confession is coming out
You only married him, you felt your time was running out

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

It made me think the wife only married the guy because she thought "her time was running out" then she finally realized she loved the guy and when she goes to tell him she finds him on the phone with another lady.

I may be wrong.

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jadedgypsy
02-19-2005

Rated 0 
its about affairs i think...with a married man. in any case, it's quite a bittersweet song. she's made us empathise with each of the character's situation. on the one hand you feel for the narrator who's all excited about her love interest, and yet you feel sorry for the woman whom he's cheated on. and then u feel the desperation for the married man as well.

ok maybe thats just me.

in any case, rilo kiley rocks. the string section, as myslumberingheart, said, is gorgeous!

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ohpioneer
02-21-2005

Rated 0 
you must remember though that this song is a letter. if you look at the lyrics in the liner its starts off with "dear friend," etc etc.

jenny (or whoever) is writing to her friend saying stuff like: like we got a job and you got married. it all worked out for you. you have a baby and a man... even though you used to say you were "flawed" if you werent free (she was flawed if she was with a man)

as for me, she says, ive met a married man. he visits me and when he leaves his wife hes gonna come be with me in california.

she then goes on to reassure her friend that its better that shes leaving ... her husband perhaps.. because of what follows...

late one night jenny gets the phone and its her friend (who shes writing to) sobbing because she realized her husband is cheating on her. and she tells jenny that she only got married cause she felt obligated but now she loves him and her baby etc. etc.

jenny tells her friend... in this letter...not on the phone (after she realizes it on the phone with her friend) that the man shes been seeing is her friends husband but says in the letter... he will never leave you for me because, remember, i am flawed if i am not free.

well, thats what i think. its a pretty awesome plot though and it all unfolds in a letter! but yeah...

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Charlottex
04-13-2005

Rated 0 
'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' '

This verse to me, makes it sound like the singer & this girl were incredibly close friends, and doing something that nearly killed them, but the friend realised that it was stupid and left and met some guy. And that the singer is so hurt by her friend leaving her, that she sleeps with her husband to try and sort of get revenge or something; despite the fact that she realises her friend was right to leave, but she is just very hurt by that.
Sounds a little melodramatic, this is just what came to mind,
But thanks to everyone here, I have been listening to this song for weeks and have been thoroughly confused by who was saying what in the song. You have all cleared a lot up for me, thanks!

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goodbye_forever
04-14-2005

Rated 0 
Ok, i pretty much agree with everyone else but i just feel i should put i point in.

Jenny or narrator of the song is having an affair with a married man oblivious to the fact he is married to one of her closest friends. She is so happy about it and loves him so dearly, he promises her he will leave his wife and go out to Califorbia to be with her which she is delighted about.She speaks to him on the phone as time is passin and he hasnt left yet to be with her.
Later she speaks with her friend who has heard her husband on the phone telling someone he is leaving her to be with this other person. She is upset. Jenny feels awful as she didnt realise it was her friends husband tells her friend he would never leave his wife for her.

Also the part "You only married him, you felt your time was running out "
I think she only married him because she was pregnant and felt she had to but now she truly loves him or maybe she just felt she was becoming too old to still be searching for true love and now she finally has found her true love just by chance.

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Just_Some_Asian
05-03-2005

Rated 0 
i agree with goodbye forever. i think that the narrators friend kind of loved her husband, b/c she must of a little bit to marry him and uhh.. have a baby with him. whether it was on purpose or not. then when she finally truely loves him, he no longer loves her. so i guess it's one of those "you don't know what you have until it's gone" type of morals.

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hfunkyh
05-22-2005

Rated 0 
I agree with most of the above, but I'm still wondering about the first verse. Could she be singing to the unborn baby? "Get a real job
Keep the wind to your back and the sun on your face," giving him advice on how to deal with life, "Does he love you?
Will he hold your tiny face in his hands?" speculating on whether the baby will be enough to keep the husband with his wife. Just a thought.

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Fantine
06-20-2005

Rated 0 
Twothirdbeat is the closest, I think.
My thoughts were: the narrator and wife are/were really good friends, but the wife decided to leave California because it was "better than knowing this tired and lonely fate" as in she knew she would lead a boring, predictable, single life back home. Thus she gets a job, keeps wind at her back, ect. and moves away. While there she meets the guy and such.
I always imagined the narrator talking to herself in the third stanza, although the whole "oh, I didn't realize that was YOUR husband" thing ohh reckless mentioned makes sense to me, it keeps everything in talking-to-the-wife form.
"I guess it all worked out" --her life while moved away turned out well for her, maybe narrator didn't like that her friend was doing well without her. She's reminding the wife that she used to say she was 'flawed if she wasn't free' back when they were friends, so narrator finds it "interesting" that she likes the guy.
"You and I were almost dead" probably doesn't refer to really DYING, but as in they led such dead, boring lives back in California as friends. So narrator says wife is better off for leaving her and California.
You know how the rest goes. The wife calls and tells the narrator what she heard and asks if that was true. In the last line the narrator is trying to convince--or rather console--her friend by saying her husband won't leave her because, unlike her, narrator really is 'flawed if not free' and would never settle down with the husband. The question is whether or not narrator was honest when she said the last line.
Just my thoughts, I could be way off.

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thedeparturefreak
09-08-2005

Rated 0 
brill !!!!

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thedeparturefreak
09-09-2005

Rated 0 
If the 2 women are friends wouldn't the narrator have known she was with her friend's hubby, since she would've met him!?

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kaleidoscopeeyes8
12-18-2005

Rated 0 
Okay so a couple years ago, I was in a situation that seems very similar to this song. I was in love with this guy, even though he and one of my really good friends were pregnant. I felt so so so bad that I was in love with a friend's boyfriend (and then husband), but I could not stop my feelings. I think it was knowing that I could not actually be with him that allowed me to fall in love. I knew that I would never do anything to take him away from my friend and their baby, but I loved him anyway. We never actually did anything other than talk about being together, but it was still a difficult situation.


So with that out there, here is what I think the song means:

The narrator's friend gets a job in her career (as opposed to a job she takes just to make a paycheck), but it means having to move. The friend does not want to leave the comforts of her home and dead-end job, but the narrator tells her that even though the future is unclear, it has to be better than sticking with the familiar (boring)

Well, this friend takes the narrator's advice and moves. Once she is there, she meets a new man. She then brings her new man to California to visit and meet the narrator. This is when the narrator falls in love with the man. While he is there, he comforts the narrator with promises of the unknown. This is exactly what she needs, because she herself is stuck in the lonely fate of California.

A couple weeks after visiting California, the friend and the man accidentally get pregnant. The friend is afraid of raising a child alone, so she decides to marry the man. The narrator is upset because she wants to be with the man, who has been sending her letters since meeting her in California, but knows it is better for her to support her friend. After all, the man would no longer be leaving just her friend, he would now be leaving their baby as well.


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

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'

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

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

Let's not forget ourselves good friend
I am flawed if I'm not free
and your husband will never leave you, he will never leave you for me

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kaleidoscopeeyes8
12-18-2005

Rated 0 
(Oops. This is the rest of what I was writing before.)

The friend, not knowing that the narrator is in love with the man, continues to talk to the narrator about her life and how falling in love has been one of the best things to happen to her in a long while. The friend listens because she loves her friend, but inside she is heart-broken. The friend talks about all the couple-ish things she and the man do - lunch, antique, et cetera. The friend also keeps repeating how much the man loves her, and how happy a family of three they will make.

And because the narrator is bitter that her friend gets the man instead of her (even though she also feels guilty for feeling this way), she consoles her lonely self by remembering her friend always saying that she hated being tied down in a relationship, and has now suddenly recanted those feelings. As stated before, the narrator loves her friend and feels guilty for what she is doing, so she reminds herself that her friend is overall better off for leaving California (and the narrator is a little bit jealous of that as well).

Then, one night, the narrator gets a phone call from her friend who is in tears. The friend has allowed herself to be trapped, but now she actually likes it, and that scares her. What scares her even more is that she finally realizes that she loves her life, when she overhears the man telling someone else that he loves her. Little does the friend know that the man was talking to the narrator.

This is where the story ends. The narrator knows that the man will never leave the friend, and finally gives up on it. But who knows what she tells her friend.

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celestshine
12-21-2005

Rated 0 
What irony.

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amandaaaa
01-03-2006

Rated 0 
does anyone know if this is actually based on anything that happened to blake or jenny? (they both wrote the song)

i always thought this song was nice but not very relateable but within the past week or so it's fit very close to home.
married people should not attempt to form relationships with single people..

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dtz
01-09-2006

Rated 0 
kaleidoscopeeyes8 - i think you're dead on... thats exactly what i always thought of the song too...

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wildlikechildren
01-11-2006

Rated 0 
does anyone know what the subliminal message type thing, says at the end of this song when you play your CD on the computer ???

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