i think the words are "The St-Jude club at noon" not "This ancient club"
i think it was make more sense

wow this song is very beautiful, i love their voices especially with the beat! DOES ANY ONE KNOW MORE SONGS WITH SLOW BEATS KINDA LIKE THIS ONE?

Would someone like to explain what "the st-jude club" is?

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Amy's voice is so melancholy and beautiful. she reminds me of a female sufjan stevens. when i saw them in concery about a year ago she invited me and three of my friends on stage. it was so amazing!

in the beginning she says "Grieving over loss; Sorry to be heavy, but heavy is the cost"
i take this quite literally; from what many of my friends have gone through
she probably lost someone close (i'd assume her boyfriend, which i say because if you take
into consideration the fact that she's in personal ads..you know?) and kind of packed
on some weight from emotional eating and stress etc.
and i believe that in the end, he was questioning if his "standards" i guess we'll call
them, were set too high. is it her weight, or is it just him being a total arse?

that's how i see it. [shrugs] still a beautifully true song.

Many good things have been said and I'll try to summarize it somewhat.

I think Rokr got it quite - look at the title. This song is about being "personal" in different ways.

First, it's about the actual nature of those internet dating platforms and I'm quite surprised no one has talked about that yet. While everything seems totally meaningless, spontaneous and not personal, there are actually deep feelings behind all that happened. The music illustrates this, I think: Notice how the melody of the singers is actually very monotonous almost throughout the whole song, while it is the music - the thing that only the listeners hear - that reveals its actual tragic nature. Only when she writes him after he didn't show up her voice changes very slightly, has more melodic peaks. And when she finally sings "I was sure you saw me", when she rests a moment on that high note of "sure", that is actually the only time emotions really show up. But then she leads on - "it wasn't meant to be."

Then, it's about the way the two characters deal with their emotions and with intimacy.
I half agree with clashippy: "therefore, girls over-analyze, boys lead on"
But I'd rather say - they both over-analyze, and they both ultimately lead on. I also think in the end they both blame themselves, but this is not so evident in the case of him, because the fundamental difference between them is that she talks, while he doesn't.
And that's the magic of it - that is, I think, why he didn't show up in the first place, and also why he didn't tell her anything: Being personal is just a weight is not able to bear.

As for all the speculations, I think it's part of this song that we actually don't know what's going on. We only have their private (another hint!) messages, and we have the thoughts of Caroline (notice that we don't know his name at all): so first we get just her perspective, but only at the end does the male character himself question the story, very faintly (again cfr. the musical interpretation), thus adding a wholly different perspective. We are left with a look at both sides, which somehow tells us nothing - and somehow everything.

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I think that the man is advertising on a dating site, "Is it You and Me?" is like the cheesy title of the advertisement to draw in romantics.
"Caroline" replies because she's bored as stated, but tells the man she is grieving over loss but is still interested in him. She says as all women feel, that she isn't a "film star beauty" because all women are insecure and maybe she's just being modest and/or honest about her appearance. "Heavy is the cost" means that she's having emotional problems at the time, grieving and that's just how it is and if they've got a problem then they can go away or if they're willing to stand by her through it.
The man thinks that this isn't a problem and reassures her, "these things can be scary" and he did go to the date at St. Jude's Club and perhaps saw her, looking all forlorn and sad? and thought that maybe he couldn't handle a emotional baggaged woman.
He then contemplates whether it was his "flaw" as other people have stated or just something about her.
He then puts the add back up after the non date, but add, "nothing too heavy" meaning he's just interested in something casual.
The women then denies that because he didn't turn up, it obviously "wasn't meant to be" and she "thought" she saw him, and maybe she did as he might have seen her, but may have been hallucinating that the man she was going to meet somehow looked like her dead lover/boyfriend etc.
That's just my interpretation of it after listening to it a million times; I love it. the angst in Amy's voice in beautiful and Torquil's deep, mysterious voice adds alot of character. I love the incredulence in Amy's voice when she asks, "Why did you not show up?" and the subtle desperation in, "Your voice, it sounded kind".
The most heartbreaking part is when Torquil is singing the "Wanted single f...." part for the second time, as if he remembers about the poor woman he abandoned but wants to keep on going, his voice really emphasizes this part.
:D

I think the too heavy has two meanings also. Weight and emotional. Mosly I think its weight because after she said sorry to be heavy but heavy is the cost he seemed fine with it and still wanted to meet her. That's when she sent him her picture he decided not to show.

And when he says "is it you or me." A clique when breaking up is, "It's not you, it's me." But he didn't like her because she was fat so he's saying, is it you or me?

..just maybe

I loved this song.

I think that it has double meanings. Not just over-weight, but "ugly" in general (it's depressing but true that weight is equated with beauty).

But I also think the emotional attachment is one thing too. Since she already warns him she's "heavy", if he walks out after that, the only thing I can think of is that when she says, "heavy", she means "emotionally heavy". If he ditched her for that... It's realistic.

If we go into even more deeper meanings, it's possible this can mean two people met up, and they had a relationship, but it was so short it was more like a fleeting glance, and the guy "who didn't show up" may just mean "he didn't actually put anything into the relationship".

But I don't know.

For some reason, I feel sorry for the guy. :/ It's really weird. But I do.

I love this song so much. it is so sad, but so wonderful. I love the way they made a personal ad into a song. very creative.

I can't believe anyone actually thinks there is a double meaning about weight. she specifically states "greiving over loss, sorry to be heavy, but heavy is the cost". whenevery someone speaks of a tragedy or unfortunate incident the term used is heavy. the mood is heavy. that's all the meaning there is.

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this song is beautiful i agree makes me sad though. devastating

This song is about how shallow people are. Single F is obviously a girl looking for someone to want her and take her weight AND baggage and love her anyways. But Single M isn't as kind as he sounds and he ditches her after seeing her photo. Then when she reads his new add, she can't help but reflect if it's her or him.

So basically what everyone else said.

Beautiful song.

I just got a lot of the meaning re listening to the song.

Think of the name. It's Personal. But listening to Single M--his tone and words--he's as impersonal as it gets. Caroline sound's personable--like she's real. But Single M gives away nothing. He's a hollow robot. Shallow and impersonal. He doesn't even give his name or age. And he gives up based on her appearance, not even bothering to actually meet her.

And his criteria for women sounds unbelievably precise. "Must enjoy the sun, must enjoy the sea." I think that he's someone who's been around the block quite a few times and has lost his fervor for love.

Also, the last part is definitely a reflection of how he see's himself. He gives up without even meeting the person. Is it there problem, or is there something wrong with him?