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



Lyrics submitted by sonics222

Track duration: 05:13


Does He Love You? song meanings
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  • 0
    My Interpretation:After listing to the album I am convinced that there are two characters in this song that she mentions in previous songs. Particularly portions for foxes and more adventurous. First how the more adventurous song ties into this song:
    ( More Adventurous lyrics)
    And if I get pregnant, I guess I'll just have the baby
    Let it be loved, let me be loved

    (This song)
    Does he love you?
    Does he love you?
    Will he hold your tiny face in his hands? (I've always interpreted that as a baby will he love this baby I'm carrying)

    (More Adventurous)
    For you to be saved and me to be brave
    We don't have to walk down that aisle
    'Cause if marriage ain't enough
    Well at least we'll be loved

    (This song)
    I guess it all worked out
    There's a ring on your finger
    And the baby's due out

    Now Portions for Foxes vs This song
    (Portion for Foxes)
    'Cause you're just damage control
    For a walking corpse like me

    (This song)
    You and I were almost dead

    The whole portions for foxes song is about a bad relationship there is no real example of how the two relate in lyrics besides that.

    I don't think that the two girls intertwine in any way shape or form I think they both just feel trapped by circumstances beyond there control the More Adventures one is pregnant and she wasn't sure she wanted to get married she did but she is "flawed if she is not free" The other woman she knew the situation would come to this all along and feels the same way she got herself into this mess so of course that man will never leave you for me I never expected him to. So the Portion for foxes woman is "flawed if she is not free" in a more bitter way.
    Just my opinion. I know that indie writers like to intertwine stories into there work. Maybe it's is because of her writing style and maybe I'm reading to much into it but that is how it is in my head.
    Flag jbrooks002on May 22, 2013   Link
  • +1
    General Comment: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?
    Flag bellablue2on March 09, 2013   Link
  • +1
    General Comment: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.
    Flag ellipsismson October 21, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song makes me hate men every time i listen to it. maybe that's the wrong interpretation, but it always seems to me like the women in the song have this innocence about them. really, they're not, but i always just have this sense that the situation is completely the husband's fault. as silly as that sounds.
    Flag icesk8ngurlon May 19, 2011   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation: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.
    Flag PolyphonicPrayeron November 19, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment: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.
    Flag BettyHolly1950on June 17, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"I guess it's spring; I didn't know
    It's always seventy-five with no melting snow"

    This part serves two purposes. First it serves to emphasize the point about "blah-ness" in this line:

    "All the immediate unknowns are better
    Than knowing this tired and lonely fate"

    California is simultaneously criticized and praised for the predictable weather. It really is always 75 and one can hardly tell ("I didn't know") when winter ends and spring begins. I think these contrasting viewpoints on whether the quaint, predictable weather is good or bad is important.

    The second purpose of this line is the beginning of the letter. People generally begin personal letters or conversations with small talk about weather. It's an indicator that Jenny is changing focus and building towards the point of the letter--that she is into a married man...

    Some people are wondering what the voice at the end is. If you hear the voice, you are listening to a ripped version of the song from Morning Becomes Eclectic on KCRW (an NPR affiliate in Santa Monica, CA). I believe it is the voice of Nic Harcourt.
    Flag the14thjoeyon May 16, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think that she is looking through the eyes of a woman who had an affair with her husband. she is actually the woman who the singer seems to be talking to. I got this from the singer saying, "You used to say you were flawed if you weren't free" and then saying "I am flawed if I'm not free" herself.
    Flag coocoobird4on April 22, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I dont think the conversation ever occurs between the narrator and the wife.
    My take on it is that the narrator is trying to see things through the perspective of the wife. How would she feel to be in her shoes. She realizes the pain she is inflicting on someone who may be totally undeserving of this punishment. In the end, she knows he will never leave her and the narrator understands and accepts her fate.
    Flag makiavellion March 02, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think this is a song about perspective. The husband of the friend and the narrator's lover don't necessarily have to be the same person. Rather, they could be two separate men with two separate families.

    I see it as the narrator being the lover of a man who has a family and is willing to abandon that family for her (the narrator). The narrator has no problem with this because she thinks that their love is just that important. The narrator doesn't begin to understand the consequences of her actions until her good friend (who is also married with a child on the way) tells her that her husband is planning on leaving her for another woman.

    As the narrator realizes how horrifying the situation is she also realizes that there is no way that a man could abandon his family. So when she comforts her friend ("And your husband will never leave you") she is reaching the conclusion that her lover would never leave his family just for her ("He will never leave you for me").

    In conclusion; I think the two women's situations are mirroring each other's and giving the narrator a much needed taste of perspective.
    Flag elcheeserpuffon November 23, 2009   Link

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