Lyrics for Hold On, Hold On as interpreted by delial

Hold On, Hold On Lyrics
The most tender place in my heart is for strangers
I know it's unkind, but my own blood is much too dangerous
Hanging around the ceiling half the time
Hanging around the ceiling half the time

Compared to some I've been around
But I really tried so hard
That echo chorus lied to me with its:
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on"

In the end I was the mean girl
Or somebody's in-between girl
Now it's the devil I love
And that's as funny as real love

I leave the party at 3 AM
Alone, thank God
With a valium from the bride
It's the devil I love
And that's as funny as real love
And that's as real as true love

That echo chorus lied to me with its:
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on"
That echo chorus lied to me with its:
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on"

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Skybluepoet
03-15-2006

Rated 0 
I think that this song is about disbelief in love...she starts out talking about how it seems hard to love her family, which I can really relate to sometimes. "compared to some I've been around/but I really tried so hard" I think means she was looking for real love, and met a lot of men who weren't right, but she hasn't yet found it, and now realizes that it was a lie to think that she could find love if she holds on..."it's the devil I love/ and that's as funny as real love/ and that's as real as true love" I think she's got the right idea. Love. Funny.

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WayFarAway
03-15-2006

Rated 0 
They're not All personal experiences.
Call it generic or just human. Overheard and just in passing? Maybe.

I'd say it's about someone who doesn't know love, but they don't believe themselves or the encouraging words of those near and dear. it's not familiar.

Bored easily, they seek new experiences.
Wandering spirits?
Everyone knows what's good for themselves.

Mind over heart?

Oh, I dunno.

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Skybluepoet
03-16-2006

Rated 0 
No, not all personal experiences, course not. Maybe experience is less personal than we like to think overall.

should I interpret your words?
will I find any meaning?

Does mind over heart equal mediocrity?
I dunno, maybe.

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TigerlilyGirl
05-10-2006

Rated 0 
i think it's about someone who lost hope of good things to come their way. she goes on about describing how she has been the 'bad seed', and a lonely person who once believed things would go good and then saw otherwise... when she says 'that echo chorus lied to me with it's hold on...'.. the chorus: a crowd telling her to wait and see, and that whole deal... when you get the hang of it, it's a pretty sad song

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lilstacyQ
05-11-2006

Rated 0 
actually i read an interview where she said this was the only song she had written that was autobiographical

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Skybluepoet
05-22-2006

Rated 0 
I just saw that too! =]

AVC: You said this album has the only autobiographical song you've ever written, "Hold On, Hold On." What do you mean by "autobiographical"?

NC: I mean that the song is actually about me. It's not metaphorical about other people. It's not little pieces of my life made into a story about someone else or someone fictitious.

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magicaldreamer11
05-25-2006

Rated 0 
I can relate to this song, and the entire album, on so many levels. I guess that means I'm screwed. I can't quite put a finger on it, but I just love it when she sings "The most tender place in my heart is for strangers, I know it's unkind but my own blood is much too dangerous".

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Gillianizmo
06-30-2006

Rated 0 
Hmm...I think I'll throw caution to the winds and dive into a line-by-line immersion scenario:

I think the lines about "in the end I was the mean girl...in-between girl" are about who she can't help being when she's around her "own blood" -- they see her a certain way and so it becomes dangerous for her to stay because they won't let her change and become someone she wants to be, someone she can like -- she can never get past halfway, that "in-between". In the end then, what's are the two sides of "between"? The devil and the deep blue sea, if you want to infer that. Screwed, as the last person said. So she chooses the devil, meaning strangers, superficial and unknowable, because what's unfamiliar to her looks far safer than what she knows, and knows will hurt her. Saddest is that the devil/strangers are preferable to the loneliness of the deep blue sea (which is what we are taught from the blood that we know), even though she knows better. So when she leaves the party alone, she's grateful (to "god", not the devil now, interestingly enough) for having done something less self-destructive this time; BUT the cynicism is still there in the valium from a bride who's wedding day is obviously not the joyous occasion it's cracked up to be if she's handing out the drugs herself. Valium is the drug that blots out sadness, that insulates from pain, keeps you numb. And that's the "happy ending" she was waiting for, right there, the one she's supposed to "hold on" for -- the bride has just thrown a shadow across that light at the end of the tunnel, and what's left, what's real, is only the devil now. That's as funny as "real love", right? And straggling away from the wedding alone, in the middle of the night, the devil seems as real as true love, which is ... nada. nada. nada.
The way I'm interpreting it, this song carves into me a desperate longing for something real and true and authentic, but makes it awfully hard to resist the diving board into a whiskey bottle while I'm feeling "her" pain... Man, she has a way with words.

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mytwocentstoo
08-30-2006

Rated 0 
I hear a girl who didn't measure up to her family's expectations. She hasn't engaged herself, whether by choice or by fate, in the types of relationships or endeavors that they consider appropriate. She lives life on her own terms and they are unaccepting of that. I see "now it's the devil I love and that's as funny as real love" as a sarcastic shot at their lack of understand of the truth and who she really is. They judge her and see her as some ungodly whore for not making the choices they wanted her to make.

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mangeek
09-02-2006

Rated 0 
I interpret this song as being about a 'love' with chemical addiction, and her preference of drug and/or alcohol as a partner rather than a real person. The lines that led me to this especially were:

"I left the party at 3am, alone thank god.
With a valium from the (bride/ground?), it's he devil I love."

She's a party-girl who's more interested in being a party-girl than being intimate with a human being. She'd rather go home to a spinning room and a deep valium-induced sleep than someone she met.

The 'Mean girl... in-between girl" line says that when she DOES get into a relationship, she keeps herself safely away from the other person so they can't interfere with her 'true love' with her addiction.

This is common amongst the borderline depressed, many have incorporated addiction so deep into their lives that they NEED to be addicted to something to feel human. When people have failed you, there's always the neediness of a nicotine addiction, the bliss of drunkenness, and the serenity of prescription drugs.

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AnamDuine
01-09-2007

Rated 0 
Mean girl, in-between girl... she often ends up being seen as a "mean girl" (she is misunderstood?) possibly because of her boldness or assertiveness? In between girl could mean being used by someone as a rebound, or she ends up in relationships that are more about convenience than commitment. "Somebody's" is a possessive statement, to me that implies her acknowledging being hurt.

Just guesses based on party girls I've known. Whatever it means to her, it's a shite state of affairs, tho not uncommon.

Funny, I always thought her Valium had come from "the bra", where she had it hidden.

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gonzojournalist
01-18-2007

Rated 0 
I agree, it's a sad disbelief in love. She tried so hard to find it, but in doing so, had been around. The phrase, "in the end i was the mean girl/or somebody's in between girl..." means, to me anyway, that she was either the mean girl because other love-disillusioned men latched on to her when she didn't find them compatable, and she had to be mean and break their heart. Or, she was somebody's in between girl, because she took a liking to the men she slept with and they treated her merely as a booty call, if you will, a woman only for sex. Never a real relationship. Never love. These men move on and seem to fall in love with their girlfriends, but until then, Neko serves as their in-between gratification. Why did they never love her?
So she's been around, but she really tried so hard. See, she's not a slut--though she's been with a lot of people in the search for true love--and it never manifested. She is far from being a slut, she fell in love with the devil--her party scene, wild girl--because love failed her and this is somewhat her wall, her guard to prevent her from becoming hurt anymore. She tried to find real love, and its just getting ridiculous by now, its at a point where this search has made her disillusioned about love. All she is is a sex toy for men she likes, and she can't quit sleeping with them because she does like them, or a point of obsession for men not compatable for her. So this whole sleeping around thing is not her at all--her love with the devil, the party scene, is funny because it is not her at all, like her search for real love, which is funny because it seems so fruitless.
She is a kind person after all (hence being in love with the devil is so funny), and that is why she gives her kindness to strangers, for they cannot hurt her. Perhaps it is the bum on the street, or the single mother. She feels lied to about love eventually coming to her, so she's become guarded. I think, underneath the disillusion, she is merely in denial to herself, "meh, love is not real, it is a lie," for that is easier on the heart than being vulnerable. I think she still harbors a hope that it might come, though. A hopeless romantic in denial. A horribly sad, sad song.

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peche72
02-11-2007

Rated 0 
interesting:

Big Star > The Balad Of El Goodo

Years ago, my heart was set to live, oh
And I've been trying hard against unbelievable odds
It gets so hard in times like now to hold on
But guns they wait to be stuck by, at my side is God

And there ain't no one goin' to turn me 'round
Ain't no one goin' to turn me 'round

There's people around who tell you that they know
And places where they send you, and it's easy to go
They'll zip you up and dress you down and stand you in a row
But you know you don't have to, you can just say "no"

I've been built up and trusted, broke down and busted
But they'll get theirs and we will get ours if you can
Just-a hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on

Years ago my heart was set to live, oh
But I've been trying hard against strong odds
It gets so hard at times like now to hold on
Well, I'll fall if I don't fight, and at my side is God

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lonesomecrowdedwest
02-25-2007

Rated 0 
I think it's a disbelief in love too. Something happened that broke her trust and hope in love. She was let down; now she's just given up and getting through life "holding on" the best that she can. Holding on until things can get better.

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Purrty
04-12-2007

Rated 0 
The first two lines obviously refer to Neko's troubled family relations. Anyone not family is a 'stranger'.

But the 'devil'... It almost sounds like it could be the 'valium', hence drugs.

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Wharfrat
07-27-2007

Rated 0 
Just recently got into Neko Case and I love this song.

I think she is at a wedding and the bride is in her family and is marrying someone she used to date who she is still in love with. Better to stay away from the family person after this because something that she knows shouldn't happen might. The devil is the idea of the person she can't quite let go yet. Glad that she's left without an incident and the valium will help her get through the rest of the night. Her heart is the echo chorus which she knows this time she shouldn't follow. Sad song really,

It's hard to see someone you still care about get married to someone else, I've been there.

My 2 cents.

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butterflykiss84
09-28-2007

Rated 0 
I absolutley adore this song...to me I just think the wedding part is more of a metaphor for an unhappy bride, having to take valium to get through her wedding - and this mirrors her own feelings towards life and love. Love isn't a happy thing for the narrator or the bride.

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MiraForTheMasses
11-27-2007

Rated 0 
Agreed! Definitely is a song about disbelief in love. Here's my interpretation of it...

It starts out as her saying that she's so distant from herself and her family that she cares more about strangers than her own blood. I'm not quite sure what she means by "hanging 'round the ceiling." Perhaps that she feels much lower than her family, that she isn't worthy, or that her depression gets her down when she's around her family.

Then she says compared to some people, she's really dated a lot of men, looking for love, but she's never found it.

The most important line of the song:

That echo chorus lied to me with its:
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on,"

I'm sure that it means that she's always told to hold on, because love will come. It's repeated so often that it seems like an echo, or a chorus. Love never comes, of course. The echo is lying to her.

The next verse is pretty clear. She's experienced love on either end of the spectrum, but never true love which is smack-dab in the middle. She's either broken hearts (mean girl) or is the "booty call" (in-between girl) as said before. The sadness becomes her only love and it's as funny as true love, which isn't funny at all.

Then, at a wedding, which is the ultimate proclamation of true love, and she's so distant from everyone and everything that she doesn't want to go home with anyone anymore. She takes a valium which numbs her pain, but the feeling isn't real. It's a funny as real love, which isn't funny at all. And the feeling is as real as true love, which isn't real at all.

And people keep telling her to hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

There's my interpretation of it. I hope it makes sense to all of you.



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blackbird24
12-03-2007

Rated 0 
It's funny how everyone's talking about her family - I didn't even think of that at all.

"The most tender place in my heart is for strangers..." She doesn't let herself get close to anyone anymore.

"Compared to some I've been around / But I really tried so hard."
She's been with a lot of men by now, and none of them was right...at this point she's just ready to go home alone, numb, because people have told her time and again to hold on, true love is waiting, but again and again "That echo chorus lied to me." Even a bride is seen succumbing to drugs, agreeing with her...what a sad statement about love. :(

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noonday
12-13-2007

Rated 0 
from her performance stage banter in LA:

"this is another song i wrote with my good friends the Sadies. a great band from toronto, canada. and this song. i don't really write songs about myself very much 'cause why would i do that? but it's about always, uh, looking around and realizing how old you are and how...not...married you are, and how many kids you don't have and what a freak that makes you. but then you just have a few and give the world the finger"

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ajslamka
01-07-2008

Rated 0 
"That echo chorus lied to me with it's hold on, hold on..."

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haruki
02-12-2008

Rated 0 
noonday: I was at that same show, such an excellent one. I loved her after she did "Deep Red Bells." "...Wow, I'm not usually in rooms where I can hear myself this well! ...It's weird!"

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MsAdalee
02-18-2008

Rated 0 
Echo Chorus - a definition. Song meaning is always personal, but I think it's important to know what an "echo chorus" is historically. The chorus was a huge part of ancient Greek theater. The echoing was part of the physical delivery to make sure the sound traveled in huge theaters. But more importantly it was part of the play and did the following as found on Wikipedia. "The chorus will switch between the roles of "commentator" and "character". When the chorus is acting as a character, they often provide other characters with the insight they need." I think it was this type of chorus that Neko Case referenced in this song.

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persimmon
09-28-2008

Rated 0 
I love the line "I left the party at 3 AM... alone, thank God" -- it's not relevant to me anymore (again, thank God), but there was a time years ago when I would congratulate myself every time I woke up the morning after a party or a night of bar-hopping without having made some sort of cheap hook-up. Ugh. It's interesting that it's actually better to be lonely by yourself than to have your loneliness amplified by the presence of someone you don't care about.

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SeaSurface
04-03-2009

Rated 0 
This is why I love Case. This song is autobiographical and very relevant to her life but the way she chose to incorporate that aspect with that of the myth of Echo.

"That ECHO chorus lied to me with its 'Hold on, Hold on'"

"The chief god Zeus had many affairs with both mortals and gods, much to his wife's dislike. While he pursued his amours, it was Echo's duty to beguile Hera's attention by incessantly talking to her. Hera discovered the ruse and as punishment, she made Echo always repeat the voice of another.

Echo fell in love with a vain youth named Narcissus, who ignored her. Narcissus found a pool of water and stared at his lovely reflection until he died. Echo watched him until she pined away, now her voice remains, repeating the last few things people say." source: Encyclopedia Mythica @ www.pantheon.org

It's easy to deduce from this stanza:

"In the end I was the mean girl
or somebody's inbetween girl,
now it's the devil I love.."

That the devil that she is in love with is Narcissus. Which begs the question, though it's autobiographical and we can connect the particular words with that of myth due to a system of differences, is Case being so self-reflexive that she is both Echo and Narcissus?

Wonderful! And what a nerd she is (neko that is).



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