Lyrics for Downtown as interpreted by 1832

Downtown Lyrics
if you're gonna get up
you might as well get up with me
if you're going downtown
i might as well be on your way

and i sit all night
i sit still all night
i won't tell one soul
i won't tell one soul

i just can't get it straight you see and oh well
that distraction inside of me oh well

is fine by you
i am fine by you

if you're going downtown
take me with you i don't care
if i'm gonna get up i'll just admit
i only get up for you

Interaction
Mail to a friend Send Lyrics to a Friend
Share on Facebook

Stumble It
Add to Del.icio.us Add to Del.icio.us




  • 23 Comments
  • Printer Friendly Lyrics
oldest first     Expand All
killstar
12-05-2004

Rated 0 
i adore this song to the max. <3

Log in to reply
killstar
12-05-2004

Rated 0 
also some of the lyrics are missing

"if you're going downtown, you're leaving..."

and hmmm i don't know if this song is actually about going downtown...lol

Log in to reply
fraise
01-24-2005

Rated 0 
I'm really not sure what this means but I really love it. it's really nice and kinda...what's the word...eerie or haunting. I dunno it just has this dreamy quality. Maybe 'downtown,' just means away in general. I dunno but it is missing that line...and it's repeated several times too. Oh well...still a great song!

Log in to reply
werechick
01-27-2005

Rated 0 
Probably a secret one night stand. "I won't tell one soul" and that whole thing about leaving when you wake up.

Log in to reply
xravissant
02-19-2006

Rated 0 
I agree with werechick.
And this is an amazing song to fall asleep to.

Log in to reply
RyanJ1983
03-27-2006

Rated 0 
This has slid nicely into my favorite five songs. I really wish I'd known about Tegan and Sara when they were still a small band performing here in Calgary.

Log in to reply
bored-to-life
04-08-2006

Rated 0 
First off- there is, like, ONE Tegan and Sara song about a guy (In Your Room), the rest are pretty much about girls, as they are LESBIANS... When will you people get this through your heterosexist skulls?

Second- to me it represents not so much a one-night-stand but a sexual relationship with someone you can't openly admit to being with.

Log in to reply
Nikkibob
04-23-2006

Rated 0 
umm.. i don't see anyone saying that this song is about a guy? quit trying to be offended.

Log in to reply
burn_out
08-01-2006

Rated 0 
i think u might be right bored-to-life.. though when i first heard it i thought the song was about keeping the secret of the relationship cause the other person wasnt sure about it... anyway i might be wrong

Log in to reply
pata3
03-04-2007

Rated 0 
from an interview: ''Sara moved to Montreal about six months into our last record. She went there, didn't know anybody there, it was like middle of winter, minus gazillion, and she's stuck in this big old apartment with no furniture and she sent me all these really sad pictures of just like her bed on the floor and her computer. And she wrote songs like "Downtown" when she first moved there. She had a crush on someone and they were in another relationship and she said she kinda felt like a stalker when she'd see them out and about. I know that that song and "Walking With A Ghost" were sorta themed around the idea of wanting to be with somebody you couldn't be with. I can just picture her sitting in her big open window staring out at the ice and snow and wishing that person was there. And I don't know, it makes me depressed. Actually, most of her songs on the record can make me feel depressed. ''

Log in to reply
stop.start.over
05-05-2007

Rated 0 
ya know when you hear a song and you immediately relate it to something going on with you right now.. this is one of those songs for me.

for me, i think of it like this...

you really like someone but it's not out in the open. everytime you're with them you're thinking "what do i do? what do i say?".

"if you're gunna get up i'll just admit i only get up for you" it's like you know that if they move you wanna move with them. you just love being with them and in a way you like it that no one really knows "i won't tell one soul" - you're own secret.

and as far as what burn out said ... similarly to you i think that it's all about it being a secret. but a secret that even the person you like doesn't know about. and that is why the girls sing it almost casually
"if you're gonna get up
you might as well get up with me"

by saying 'might as well' it sounds that it's just an excuse to be with them - although later on in the song the reality behind 'going downtown' starts to emerge.

So yeah, just my interpretation :]

Log in to reply
mistiqueblue
07-22-2007

Rated 0 
I interpretted this song as being about new and perhaps forbidden love. Wanting to be with someone all the time, wanting to wake up with them and go everywhere with them. It's about acceptance of eachother and the relationship - "i just can't get it straight you see and oh well" and "i am fine by you". I can relate to the lyrics, "i won't tell one soul." I feel that's about perhaps a forbidden love, but also about commitment to the other person and the relationship. I think it's a beautiful illustration of new love.

Log in to reply
freevirgin
08-01-2007

Rated 0 
i love this song. When i first heard the song i thought she was saying "if your gonna get OUT, you might as well get OUT with me". But either way i still get the same meaning of the song. I interpret it as a girl telling another girl to get out of the closet thus the "if your gonna get up, you might as well get up with me". she then says "i wont tell one soul".

Log in to reply
joeyjoey
09-19-2007

Rated 0 
bored-to-life, i honestly don't think Tegan and Sara write songs exclusively to be listened to lesbians. a lot of their songs can be applied to all types of relationships.
people usually just interpret them as there being a guy and a girl because it's their norm. and it's doesn't really make a difference anyway.

especially if you're aiming for equality in sexuality.

Log in to reply
oceanslippers
11-30-2007

Rated 0 
maybe its about tegan, because she took longer to "come out" i guess you could say. who knows, all their songs are like chameleons.... endless meanings for every point in your life.

Log in to reply
drewenid
10-23-2008

Rated 0 
its about sara being in a relationship with someone who is in a relationship with someone else..aka an affair..so is, so jealous and walking with a ghost

read pata3's response

Log in to reply
emalie
05-24-2009

Rated 0 
This Is Such A Great Song!
I Love Tegan And Sara.
Although The They're Both Lesbians
And I Myself Being A Lesbian Can Relate
To Their Songs, When I Hear This Song It
Makes Me Think About A Young Girl Having An
Affair With An Older Man That Works Downtown.
I'm Way Fucking Off But That's What It Makes Me Think About.
But, Then Again It Does Sound More About Coming Out (:

Log in to reply
dalvana
05-26-2009

Rated 0 
Quite similarly to your interpretations, I think it's about Girl A having a huge crush on Girl B and the other girl is maybe feeling the same, but she is still very insecure about the thing because she's always been heterosexual. So she has love feelings, too, but she is frightened about it.
The lines
"and i sit all night
i sit still all night"
refers to that in my mind, A is telling B they can take it slow and what A really feels is that if just being together in a same room is what it takes at first, it's enough for her because she really is in love.

And Girl B also doesn't want to come out 'cause she's so scared and A promises to not tell anyone.

But that's just how it goes in my mind and everyone can take it differently. :)

Log in to reply
anddarling
09-11-2009

Rated 0 
i love this song tegan and sara seem to just have a feel good song for every stage of life. My girl friend got me listening to them and now i listen to them for like every emotion that i feel. its kinda like therapy for life. and plus they're extremely attractive<3

Log in to reply
morado
09-22-2009

Rated 0 
to me this song is like having a relationship with someone that obviously loves you when you're alone together, but acts like you're nothing when you're in public together. and you're trying to be okay with that, telling yourself it's okay, you won't tell anyone, but you sit all night wishing they'd accept the relationship and come out about it(distracting you. but you really love them so you're willing to give them time.

Log in to reply
spiCheL
11-09-2009

Rated 0 
Sara was having an affair with a girl in a relationship. She previously said what the song was about.

Log in to reply
sagehayley
11-19-2009

Rated 0 
the way i interpreted this song is completely different from everyone else's interpretation...
i imagine someone trying to convince someone they love to be with them, because that person they love is so upset, like the soul-hurt kind of upset, and i imagine this person listening/being with that person all night "i won't tell one soul"

and perhaps the person doesn't really understand the conflict in the person's life, which is the "i just can't get it straight, you see" and thats ok with the other person...
they do love one another.

it's the kind of unrelenting relationship that entails sitting up all night being there for someone... loving them.

i could be way off, but essentially, that's what the song means to me.

Log in to reply
sagehayley
11-19-2009

Rated 0 
that may not be what the song was intended to be about, but that's just how it makes me feel.
it's the beauty of a GOOD song, anyone can see it any way they choose.

Log in to reply




  • Add Your Comments
What does this song mean to you?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.





Popular
Top:   Lyrics, Artists, Albums
Random:   Lyric, Artist, Album

Your Ad Here