Okkervil River – A Girl In Port

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Let fall your soft and swaying skirt Let fall your shoes, let fall your shirt I'm not the lady-killing sort Enough to hurt a girl in port Marie's gone blonde and lost a stone She lay on her lawn, spun and alone And when the morning sun it rose Upon Marie and her lacy clothes Well, it lit her up, and she walked around The winding streets of Camden Town Well, she don't know who she wants to be And if I knew I'd tell Marie Let fall your soft and swaying skirt Let fall your shoes, let fall your shirt I'm not the lady-killing sort Enough to hurt a girl in port And Cindy tells me she's had fun Sitting backstage, someone's plus one Up in her room the records spin Needle in the grooves that she's worn thin Well, she lifts her sleeve and she sees a name And she's got a smile on her face And she's got a story you can't see Well, that's just between that name and Cindy And before Holly made her way Over the sea and far away She's telling me inside her car Driving us back from the Crystal Corner bar I lost her there, I fell from hell Cut some fresh pieces from myself And then for a second something in me Said leave today, it's time, Holly, it's time Oh, I'm a weak and lonely sort Though I'm not sailing just for sport I've come to feel out on the sea These urgent lives press against me I'm just aghast, I'm not apart My tender head with my easy heart These several years out on the sea Made me empty, cold and clear Pour yourself into me Let fall your soft and swaying skirt Let fall your shoes, let fall your shirt I'm not the lady-killing sort Enough to hurt the girl in port

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Lyrics submitted by smileforthecamera

Track duration: 06:37

"A Girl in Port" as written by Will Robinson Sheff

Lyrics © BUG MUSIC

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A Girl In Port song meanings
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  • 0
    General Comment:And Cindy tells me she's had fun
    Sitting backstage, someone's plus one
    Up in her room the records spin
    Needle in the grooves that she's worn thin
    Well, she lifts her sleeve and she sees a name
    And she's got a smile on her face
    And she's got a story you can't see
    Well, that's just between that name and Cindy

    In fitting with the theme of the song (a musician meditating on tour flings with girls who invested too much in their brief relationship), I think Cindy listens obsessively to the music of the musician's band and has their (or his) name tattooed on her arm as a personal memento of her night with the musician.
    Flag Deckasefon August 27, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I don't think the point is sex, though it's there. The song is about empathy (as opposed to sex for the sport) and the speaker's relationships with three women. The speaker's been "at sea" for so long that he fills the void in his own life with the lives of others, whom he would help if he could but who may be beyond his help (Marie doesn't know who she wants to be; Cindy may be a junkie, with veins worn thin from repeated use, though of course the sleeve may also be a record sleeve). He's a good listener and is easily moved by what he hears. Being at sea/on tour probably keeps him from getting anything more than these little glimpses into people.
    Flag unishmaltzon February 07, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i love how in concert its just will sheff on stage with his guitar. its so powerful. quite possibly one of the best bands live.
    Flag noreton July 11, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think the lyrics are actually I've come to feel/ out on the sea/ these urgent LIES/ press against me. Using lies instead of lives heightens the poetic quality of the song as well as reinforces the absence of connection and tangibility of the narrator's sexual flings. The narrator, in comparing himself to a sailor stopping in various ports, clearly alludes to the life of a touring musician while simultaneously creating a metaphor for his short-lived sexual experiences with the girls he meets in the places while on tour. The song seems to suggest he felt a real connection with Holly, who is now far away, and seeks to replicate that feeling through random sexual encounters, which ultimately leave him feeling empty and unfulfilled.
    Flag dm8tchon April 13, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Seriously, the lyrics of this song are pure poetry. Every time I hear it, I literally drop everything I'm doing just to listen to the words. This has grown into my favorite Okkervil River song, hands down.
    Flag mofloon September 12, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:For what it's worth, at a gig a couple of weeks ago, Will announced that the song was based on real people, with the first verse being about an incident in London (obviously) and the second about someone in Madison, Wisconsin. He didn't reveal anything about Holly, though, so perhaps that's made up?

    It's a bloody brilliant song though.
    Flag MuzzleOfBeeson October 04, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:to me, it's about a man at sea, for war or whatever reason. he has a girlfriend, or wife or whatever back home, but then he finds a girl who he feels is "better" than the girl at home. he struggles with holding back from the new girl. he wants to give in so badly, but he doesn't for the sake of not hurting the girl in port. just because it's the right thing to do.
    Flag dbsabres06on September 01, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Does anyone else think that "Someone's plus one" is also some reference to Plus Ones, the song right before A Girl in Port on the album?
    Flag Aegiron June 09, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:And before Holly made her way over
    the sea and far away—she’s telling me,
    inside her car, driving us back from the
    Crystal Corner bar—“I lost it there, I fell
    from health, cut some fresh pieces from
    myself. And then, for a second, something
    in me said, ‘leave today. It’s time, Holly.’”

    That's the lyrics for the Holly verse according to the booklet, which takes a different spin on that verse, I used to think that he/the narrator told Holly "leave today, it's time, Holly." but it seems to be that Holly is recounting saying that to herself?

    I interpret it along the same lines as percepirme.
    Flag undeniabledreameron August 04, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Sailing from port to port is definitely a metaphor for sleeping around, though I had yet to consider the possibility of it being one for touring, a proposition I find quite interesting, before coming here. I do not think the song is autobiographical though Sheff's is the only one who can speak to that point.

    The seventh line in the ninth stanza is without a doubt "Just a guest." Contextually, "aghast" makes not sense. He is a guest in the lives of the girls he has been sleeping with, he does not play a major part like a husband, family member, or long term boy friend.

    Considering all the lyrics together, the narrator is attempting to make sense of several years of "commitment free" sex after getting burned by a girl doing the same thing he is. The sentiments are remarkably similar to Getchoo on Weezer's Pinkerton, though the emotional response captured by each song is very different. Rivers' narrator (who definitely is an autobiographical portrayal of Rivers himself) is angrily seeking revenge, while Sheff's is sad, lost, and in want of something more.

    "A Girl in Port" provokes more feeling in me than any other on the album and remains a personal favorite.
    Flag P to the Gon August 02, 2008   Link

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