Lyrics for We Both Go Down Together as interpreted by sethbrown

We Both Go Down Together Lyrics
Here on these cliffs of Dover
So high you can't see over
And while your head is spinning
Hold tight, it's just beginning

You come from parents wanton
A childhood rough and rotten
I come from wealth and beauty
Untouched by work or duty

And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, my love
We both go down together

I found you, a tattooed tramp
A dirty daugher from the labour camp
I laid you down on the grass of a clearing
You wept but your soul was willing

And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, my love
We both go down together

And my parents will never consent to this love
But I hold your hand

Meet me on my vast veranda
My sweet untouched Miranda
And while the seagulls are crying
We fall but our souls are flying

And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, my love
And oh, my love, oh my love
And oh, my love, my love
We both go down together

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awesome
01-12-2005

Rated 0 
I get the feeling the "love" is all in the singer's head and he has forced this poor girl into an unfortunate situation.

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Wrgggggggrkyyyyyyyy
01-17-2005

Rated 0 
there are really no lyrics that would make it seem like the girl isn't in love with the guy. even the part where he says "you wept but your soul was willing" it's a very good way to put it, since it was apparently her first time ("untouched Miranda"). i think it's a very romantic story about a couple who is forced to commit suicide to be together.

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pumkinhed
01-22-2005

Rated 0 
what is this on?

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EyesSoBright
01-22-2005

Rated 0 
PICARESQUE!

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Imposs1ble
01-30-2005

Rated 0 
This song is supposed to be a prequel to "Leslie Anne Levine" which increases its greatness.

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teenage x robot
02-23-2005

Rated 0 
it's supposed to be a prequel to "leslie anne levine"?! !

wow.

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thegreatcreator
02-28-2005

Rated 0 
this song is amazing. so far my favorite on the new album.

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fadetoflashes
03-07-2005

Rated 0 
This is not a prequel to Leslie Anne Levine. That song was about, in short, an aborted child whose ghost still haunts the general vicinity of her death. She is in love with the ghost of a chimney sweep, who most certainly would not come from "wealth and beauty". This is about star crossed lovers who commit suicide together. Snap.

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Imposs1ble
03-09-2005

Rated 0 
You are so very insightful, who would have thought "Leslie Anne Levine" was about a ghost? Leslie died but she did have parents that PREceded her, who may or may not have been in love and created a child...

During a live recording Colin states that it truly is a prequel to the aforementioned "Leslie Anne Levine." Do your research. Oh, snap.

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tps12
03-11-2005

Rated 0 
This is not a happy love song. It's about a privelaged rich kid in Victorian England, who had his way with some poor lower class girl. Of course he is blind to this, and lies to himself that it is real love.

The title is ironic; he is only pretending to go through with the double suicide, and is really planning on shoving her off so that word doesn't get back to his parents.

Sociopath.

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1 Reply
inconstanti
03-12-2005

Rated +1 
I can't find any actual reference to a suicide. Lyrically, it's the classic story, two persons from different backgrounds find tragedy in a love which is not meant to be. This by itself is a downfall and a tragedy, at which thw song hints. It`s definitely not a happy story, and one that will end badly, but not necessarily in death.

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inconstanti
03-12-2005

Rated 0 
I can't find any actual reference to a suicide. Lyrically, it's the classic story, two persons from different backgrounds find tragedy in a love which is not meant to be. This by itself is a downfall and a tragedy, at which thw song hints. It`s definitely not a happy story, and one that will end badly, but not necessarily in death.

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fadetoflashes
03-12-2005

Rated 0 
Imposs1ble,
Leslie's mother died in childbirth. With that in mind, it would be pretty hard for her to die once more with this wealthy lover. You're probably lying about hearing Colin say that, but if not, this is not a well thought out prequel. It doesn't even make any thematic connections to Leslie Anne Levine, not to mention the aforementioned contradiction as to when Leslie's mother died. I don't need to do research when I am fully capable of reading the lyrics without help. Square.

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halation
03-16-2005

Rated 0 
It would be very nearly impossible for it to be a prequel, lest Leslie have died directly from her mother's impact -- never having been born at all, but it was implied that she was "birthed" in the lyrics, so again, there's no way this could be a prequel. Furthermore, it was stated that Leslie was "birthed down a dry revine" while the girl in this song would have been washed away into the ocean.

As for this song, I think it is about suicide, the opening lyrics being the end of the story -- "Here on these cliffs of Dover / so high you can't see over / and while your head is spinning / hold tight, it's just beginning"

It is hard to say, though, whether or not the girl jumped alone or if the boy did in fact push her, up until that point, believing he would jump off with her. "We both go down together" is sung very vindictively, but he pledges his allegiance to her several times throughout the song. Overall, I think it is about a dual suicide, off the wonderful white cliffs of dover.

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thegreatcreator
03-17-2005

Rated 0 
it is highly doubtful this song is a prequel...it would be very hard to connect the two stories...you might have misheard colin.

there really is no hint that he pushed her alone. it states many times that he is dedicated to her..not once with a hint that he backed out and pushed her.

as halation has stated, it is most likely a dual suicide.

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sethbrown
03-19-2005

Rated 0 
I don't think either of them necessarily die in this song.

"We fall but our souls are flying" could just be a rather poetic lyric about falling in love. Or even falling onto the veranda in an embrace. Of course, it could be more literal than that. But that possibility could lead on to Leslie Anne Levine. Their union was not supported by their parents so, if this song is the story of Leslie's conception, she could be forced to abort. Just a theory though.

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themunkel
03-22-2005

Rated 0 
I'm tossing in my .02 with inconstanti and Imposs1ble...further, what good would it do Imposs1ble to lie to you?

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pumkinhed
03-22-2005

Rated 0 
i have a weird feeling that the line is "a dirty daughter from the labor CAMPS" of course it could just be that I want it to rhyme.

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Nimbus the Kitten
03-24-2005

Rated 0 
The man is from a priveledged background, the woman is not. But they fall in love. "And my parents will never consent to this love But I hold your hand." I think this is a pretty blatant song: They love each other, but it is wrong in society's eyes. So they jump off a cliff, together. Thus, "We both go down together." I also think it's a given that they do, in fact, both die.

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tps12
03-24-2005

Rated 0 
LAL's "the girl who died with me" does not necessarily imply that the mother literally died. Instead, it is a metaphorical death -- the mother died inside when her daughter did not survive through her first morning -- which explains how LAL can haunt her fifteen years later (I don't think ghosts can be haunted).

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marykay
03-25-2005

Rated 0 
listen to impossible! from stylus magazine about leslie ann: "...the dolefully doomed tale of a cast away child abandoned by her loafer of a mother. The mother births the babe prematurely and both succumb: 'I still cling to the petticoat of the girl who died with me.' Still harboring angst over her mother's relationship with a man of lower class, which resulted in her own birth, the wraith of Leslie Anne aimlessly haunts the town's balconies with rattle in hand, jangling outside its inhabitants windows; finding fancy in another reject such as herself--the chimney sweep. In the 17th century, a Master Sweep would teach Sweep Boys, usually orphans or young children sold into the position by their parents, to climb the flues and brush them clean. Death often came at an early age- from dust inhalation or cancer contracted from accumulated soot. It is insinuated that Leslie saved this sweep who was 'lost and lodged' inside the chimney flue. Bitter and irresolute, Leslie's specter continues haunting her purlieu although she has long outlived all her antecedents."

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=43

and yes, it is the prequel. i've heard colin say it twice.

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Imposs1ble
03-27-2005

Rated 0 
Thank you marykay. Also, at the recent live shows they have been playing this song followed directly by Leslie Anne Levine.

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fadetoflashes
03-29-2005

Rated 0 
marykay,
"The mother births the babe prematurely and both succumb: 'I still cling to the petticoat of the girl who died with me.'"
As I said before, if she dies in We Both Go Down Together, how is it possible for her to die once more in childbirth? Also, this "man of lower class" in Leslie Anne Levine that Stylus Magazine talks about doesn't add up either. The male is the rich one in WBGDT. If you have actually heard Colin say that this is the prequel, I am very disappointed. He is one of my favorite lyricists, and I would like to think that he would catch a glaring oversight such as that.
Imposs1ble,
The fact that they play LAL following this one means nothing. They are thematically connected, in terms of the lower-class pregnancies and their calamitous results (which in both songs is death).
Anyway, there's no way that you two should think this is the prequel unless you have actually heard Colin say so. Where can I find recordings of him saying this?

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decemberist
03-29-2005

Rated 0 
well, i've not heard him say it, but i did read here
http://www.thecuckoosegg.com/milosz/blog/2004/06/spending-warm-summer-days-indoors.html

that it was described as a prequel. however, looking at the lyrics of both songs, it does not make sense. i think really only colin could explain this. i've seen people say that LAL involves a man of lower birth. but i don't see anything in the lyrics that would suggest that. really it seems more like the woman would be of lower birth. the song mainly involves the girl, not the parents anyway. so this whole lower birth thing seems more like conjecture. the only way i can see these two songs really connecting is if perhaps the girl doesn't actually die in WBGD2. it's told from the upper class male's perspective and he tells of his intention. but it doesn't mean it actually happened. anyway, this could be argues ad infinitum, only colin knows for sure. just enjoy the song.

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Bryia_026
03-29-2005

Rated 0 
so, yes, in LAL there is one line that says "a wastrel mesallied," meaning a wasteful person or good-for-nothing married to someone far below their class. and yes, the verse it's in implies that the mother is the wastrel. and, LAL is pretty clear that both the mother and the daughter die during childbirth. Just a thought that perhaps makes no difference in anything: Could the phrase "birthed me down a dry revine" mean that the mother was dead when she gave birth, and the dry revine is her dead birth canal? Probably makes no difference anyhow.
i am inclined to believe that because there are so many accounts of people having heard or heard about Mr. Meloy intending WBGDT to be a prequel to LAL, that yes it really is.
Also, I don't believe that anyone dies in WBGDT. "We both go down together" could possibly (and I think it does) mean that they both lose their standing in society because of this Romeo-and-Juliet type union. They become outcasts of sorts because perhaps neither social class can accept their children's partner? This is all made up as I go along, btw. I'm not sure of any of this. So, maybe we are all wrong about LAL in that it was the father who was the upperclassman and their child is Leslie Ann Levine.
or, and this just came to me, maybe "We both go down together" means that they could only be together that once is secret, made a lovechild of Leslie Ann Levine, and they are both going down together metaphorically, like they are both heartbroken by their seperation. And, maybe that connects to LAL because the stress of birthing the child of her one true love that she can never see again killed the mother? Just some things to consider. And also, enough fighting! This is an open forum, don't turn it into a bulletin for slandering. These are our opinions, nd everyone's will differ. jeez louis.

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