well I walked over the bridge
into the city where I live
and I saw my old landlord
well, we both said hello there was nowhere else to go
cause his rent I couldn’t afford
well relationships change though I think its kind of strange
how money makes a man grow
some people they claim if you get enough fame
you live over the rainbow
over the rainbow

but the people on the street out on buses or on feet
we all got the same blood flow
oh, in society every dollar got a deed
we all need a place where we can go
and feel over the rainbow

and sometimes we forget what we got
who we are,
and who we are not
I think we got a chance to make it right
keep it loose
keep it tight
keep it tight

I’m in love with a girl who’s in love with the world
and I can’t help but follow
though I know someday she is bound to go away
and stay over the rainbow
gotta learn how to let her go
over the rainbow

sometimes we forget who we got
who they are
and who they are not
there is so much more in love than black and white
keep it loose child
gotta keep it tight
keep it loose child
keep it tight
keep it tight



Lyrics submitted by talkies

Track duration: 03:08


Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight song meanings
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23 Comments

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  • 0
    My Interpretation:I think it's about a guy who is definitely questioning why people get so hung up on money and society in general. He feels like we're all the same in the end .. with the same blood flow .. and he's feeling kind of jaded and annoyed that people can be this way.

    Then he mentions this girl who he likes. A girl who probably is a little naive and is energetic and enjoys the simple things. A girl who can make him feel like himself and who he wants to be .. instead of all the jaded crap. He feels like she may be too good to be true and undeserving.

    In the end, he wants to be himself but also let the things he can't control, GO.

    It's a sweet song :)
    Flag thyi319on September 03, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I don't know who Elliot Smith is (dodges tomatoes) BUT thats my favorite verse because of the complexity and truth of it. I don't think that she's in love with the world is necessarily an ideal thing for him. When I think of it, I think of it as her in love with the material things, with success and money... and he's not as into that. So he has to let her do her own thing "gotta learn how to let her go over the rainbow"; the rainbow which he earlier referred to as fame and fortune "some people claim if you get enough fame, you live over the rainbow"
    Flag shenanyginzon August 20, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:When I listen to this song I get the sense that he feels lost in what life is really about. He mentions money, fame, equality and changing of relationships. These are ideologies that we have created to live for in life and I feel like the way he sings the beginning, he is questioning these ideologies. And whether they are really worth living for.

    I love that line:

    "well relationships change
    though I think its kind of strange
    how money makes a man grow"

    I feel like this line is pointing out the absurdness of how society has structured the growth in a man through how much money he makes rather than WHO HE IS as a person. And how the relationship between money and man hasn't changed and probably never will considering how society is caught up in the media. It also applies to his views on relationships, he finds it strange that relationships do change and people know it but still go through the trouble to form them.

    It's a bittersweet song I feel like. I feel like he is trying to say that everyone is so busy/worried on trying to work their way up to live over the rainbow and it makes people overlook/take for granted all the things they already have in life and who they are and those who they have at that moment already.
    Flag blueberryhearton August 13, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:Do you think that "in love with the world" means a person who is seduced by what the world has to offer, maybe in an exciting spontaneous way, but also in a way that creates a sense of discontentment that causes her to continually move from one thing to the next and not stay grounded or reliable, which is what he loves about her, but he's also afraid that one day she'll want to go and he cant stop her? Now he finds it sweet because he loves her so much, but he's also waiting for the time when its going to end.
    Flag sbfeltmanon August 13, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:loooooooooooove it.
    Flag PlayCrackth3Skyon January 09, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"i'm in love with a girl who's in love with the world" sounds like an elliott smith tribute:)
    Flag lovelyboneson September 12, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:equality. and finding yourself. so beautiful!
    Flag musiqueboxon June 25, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:one last thing,

    He opens the idea of "keep it loose, keep it tight", due to the woman he has fallin in love for.

    The fact that she is in love with the world (to me) simply means she is more forgiving to it / people.

    He is inspired by this / accepts this / empowered by this, (cant help but follow) and thus has a new outlook, and realizes that life (thanks to love) is so much more than what he though was definitaive [sp?]. ("so much more to love than black and white")

    OR,

    Amos could have just been drunk and wrote a song!
    Flag clydewilton November 26, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:For starters I love this song.

    orionzite is most likely the closest in my mind.
    However, still kind of a literal translation.
    But lets never forget there is no right or wrong,
    just what it means to us.

    that being said (haha, i will express my "private logic" on this one)

    To me,
    the song is quite simply a reflection on the world,
    and one person's jaded outlook on it.
    However,
    He has found a new outlook on society / life via a woman he fell in love with.

    "Keep it loose, Keep it tight" (to me) can simply mean hold on to your idiologies, but always be open to others. Cause one day we will all find someone or something that makes us truely happy.

    In the reflection / song, money make society happy(in his eyes). But that, as I said, was his jaded outlook. the following lyrics display the fact that he understands he was wrong to assume.

    "Sometimes we forget who we got, who they are and who they are not"

    A sentimate I now live by.

    This only comes from a man that was and sometimes is, jaded.

    Cheers all.
    Flag clydewilton November 26, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:absolutely gorgeous song..
    Flag lane.on October 07, 2007   Link

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