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Ada, don't talk about reasons
Why you don't want to talk about reasons
Why you don't wanna talk
Now that you got everybody you consider sharp
All alone, all together, all together in the dark
Leave it all up in the air
Leave it all up in the air
Leave it all up in the air
Ada, put the sounds of your house in a song
Try to be speechless for a minute
If you think you're gonna faint, go out in the hallway
Let them all have your neck
Ada, don't stay in the lake too long
It lives alone and it barely knows you
It'll have a nervous breakdown and fall
Into a thousand pieces around you
Stand inside an empty Tuxedo
With grapes in my mouth, waiting for Ada
Ada, hold onto yourself by the sleeves
I think everything counts a little more than we think
Leave it all up in the air
Leave it all up in the air
Leave it all up in the air, yeah
Ada, Ada, Ada
Ada, I can hear the sound of your laugh through the wall
Ada, don't talk about reasons
Why you don't want to talk about reasons
Why you don't wanna talk
Now that you got everybody you consider sharp
All alone, all together, all together in the dark
Leave it all up in the air
Leave it all up in the air
Leave it all up in the air
Ada, Ada, Ada
Ada, I can hear the sound of your laugh through the wall
Ada, Ada, Ada
Ada, I've been hoping you know your way around
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"Ada don't talk about reasons why you don't want to
Talk about reasons why you don't wanna talk"
She keeps going round and round the subject and her feelings on marriage. She is unsure if she wants to go through with it.
"Now that you got everybody you consider sharp
All alone, all together, all together in the dark
Leave it all up in the air"
Everybody who is invited to the wedding reception is dressed formally and seated, waiting for the bride to come in. They are "in the dark", as in they do not know what is happening. "Leave it all up in the air"- Ada is not sure what she wants.
The speaker is "inside an empty tuxedo" with "grapes in [his] mouth... Waiting for Ada". The speaker is dressed in a tuxedo, indicating he is either a guest at the wedding reception, or possibly the groom. The part about grapes in his mouth may suggest that either he has a sour taste, meaning that he does not feel good about the situation of her marriage, or that he is unable to talk.
When the speaker says he can "hear the sound of [Ada's] laugh through the wall", I think about him waiting outside her dressing room and hearing her laugh, maybe with her bridesmaids.
In the end, the speaker hopes that Ada makes the right decision- "Ada I've been hoping you know your way around".
"Let them all have your neck..."
"Ada" could be an ex-wife/girlfriend, little sister, or just a lost love that is beyond his control.
The warnings of "don't stay in the lake too long" and "if you think you're gonna faint go out in the hallway" hint of that Ada may struggle with some kind of mental disorder ("social anxiety" according to the band?) and the narrator feels guilty knowing he's not there to guide her through it. Unfortunately it almost seems like the narrator is not getting through to Ada, or she's not listening and he is only muttering to himself. She leaves his advice "up in the air". He can only watch Ada from a distance and hope she is doing okay and following his advice.
The line "I can hear the sound of your laugh through the wall.." and lightened climax of the song may possibly hint at the narrator's coming to terms with Ada when he hears her laughing behind closed doors. He realizes that she's doing fine without him. Unfortunetly you have to feel sympathy for the narrator because I believe he had ultimately mistaken his own vulnerability and isolation and associated it with Ada, and really all he only wanted to feel important and significant in Ada's life. A sad story, but you can only hope that both Ada and the narrator find peace on their own.
(which is also echoed in the line
"now that you got everybody you consider sharp
all alone, all together, all together in the dark
leave it all up in the air"
)
Ada's a dying town, much like most of the Great Lakes small towns. The lake reference in the song seems odd, but taken in this context, starts to make sense.
If read from the perspective of actually personifying the town and trying to convince it that it will not simply die off, it makes a convoluted sense. But that could be wishful thinking.
Does anybody know if there is any connection whatsoever?
this is close to my favorite national song ever, though i really can't ever lay claim to just one... but, i don't know why i never gave the personification of the lake thing more consideration. after the fact, it's funny when you think about the things you never really thought about. it seems, to me, that often it's because, on some level, you just accepted it. it meant something to you, even if you never really weeded it out. oh, articulation can be a real pain in the ass... i'll tell you that much.