Well I hope that I don't fall in love with you
'Cause falling in love just makes me blue,
Well the music plays and you display
Your heart for me to see,
I had a beer and now I hear you
Calling out for me
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you.

Well the room is crowded, people everywhere
And I wonder, should I offer you a chair?
Well if you sit down with this old clown,
Take that frown and break it,
Before the evening's gone away,
I think that we could make it,
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you.

Well the night does funny things inside a man
These old tom-cat feelings you don't understand,
Well I turn around to look at you,
You light a cigarette,
I wish I had the guts to bum one,
But we've never met,
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you.

I can see that you are lonesome just like me,
And it being late, you'd like some some company,
Well I turn around to look at you,
And you look back at me,
The guy you're with has up and split,
The chair next to you's free,
And I hope that you don't fall in love with me.

Now it's closing time, the music's fading out
Last call for drinks, I'll have another stout.
Well I turn around to look at you,
You're nowhere to be found,
I search the place for your lost face,
Guess I'll have another round
And I think that I just fell in love with you.



Lyrics submitted by diamondprincss02

Track duration: 03:55

"I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You" as written by Tom Waits

Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC

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I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You song meanings
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17 Comments

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  • 0
    Song Meaning:I hear a story of unrequited love. Why must people get their underwear in a wedgy over something as trivial as the word for a beer? C'mon, aren't there more important things in life to be enjoyed? Like a nice song, for what it is?
    I wasn't searching for the meaning of the song on here. I was trying to find out who actually performed this song in the movie, "The Prince and Me." The song fits the movie appropriately. [I can actully see Prince Edvard calling a beer a 'stout,' too.] The first time the song is played is when it's Paige's turn to select jukebox music to listen to as she and her co-workers clean up after closing time. Prince Edvard, "Eddie," sits there and watches Paige dance as she wipes down tables. The next time the song is played, is toward the end of the movie, when the Prince asks Paige to dance with him:

    Prince Edvard: Paige, may I have this dance?

    Paige: Of course.

    Prince Edvard: I hope you don't mind, but I've requested our song.

    Prince Edvard: We have a song...?? We have a song!

    cute video with clips from the movie as sung by Marc Cohen, written by Tom Waits
    youtube.com/…
    Flag Cherylqton June 18, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:One of my favorite songs, though I've not thought of an interpretation beyond the wordless crush on a girl in a bar. What if he is actually focusing on a different girl in the bar with each stanza? The narrator is lonely and wants that "love at first sight" feeling so he keeps wondering if he's found it until the final stanza.
    Flag nooseron May 14, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:MisterMook is closest I think. The 'You' in question slips drunkenly between a woman and alcohol. In my opinion the beer wins out at the last line, but it's deliberately left open. Typical mischevious lyrics that grown ups can enjoy too.
    Flag ReUseManon April 28, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is a very simple story of the guy at the bar, see's the girl, but does not have the courage to approach, and, after a night of thinking, after the next one I'll talk to her, consoles himself, after shes gone with the fact that he was about to approach, but she'd left, hence leaving him with some drunk dignity....
    Flag sysiphuscorinthon April 16, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I love the turn in the 4th verse... I hope YOU don't fall in love with ME.

    After exposing all of his fears of commitment he realizes he is falling for her and now must face the realization she may return the favor. You can feel the pain of a man afraid of commitment in this song. He fumbles and worries and once he finally gets the confidence to face her, well it was too late. She is gone. And he knows he missed his shot.

    Very well done.
    Flag mpaz14on November 10, 2010   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:As someone said previously, this song is not to be taken literally, or that is my believing. It is about a man who is denying his feeling towards a woman. He doesn’t want to fall in love, because it makes him depressed.
    /The music plays and you display your heart for me to see/ I had a beer and now I hear you calling out for me/
    The playing music refers to emotions she exposes for him to se and the effect this has on him is like beer. Alcohol makes him more in touch with emotions.
    He wants to get to know her, but he is afraid of getting hurt although he is already on his way. The guy she was with has left and he has a chance to step in, because he can see that she is just as lonely as he. But he hasn’t got the guts to approach her; he is hiding behind his fear of being blue, even though he is already lonely and has not much to lose.

    Now it's closing time, the music's fading out Last call for drinks, I'll have another stout. Well I turn around to look at you, you're nowhere to be found, I search the place for your lost face, guess I'll have another round And I think that I just fell in love with you.
    In the end of the song he knows it is time for him to make his move towards her. But because he has waited too long she disappears and is nowhere to be found. In the last line he admits that he has fallen in love with her. All trough the song he has been denying it in a way and hoping he was not in love. When she is gone he feels he can be true because there is no longer a danger of falling in love and being blue, because she is gone. In a way he tricks himself because he has fallen in love, but he let her slip away and now he will feel blue.
    Flag RomeoIsBleedingon October 14, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I see it as a guy who's not in love with the woman but in love with the idea of love itself, so much so that he projects it onto any attractive stranger that he sees through his alcoholic haze, constructing a drunken reverie which dissipates as she leaves. He doesn't love the woman...he hasn't even talked to her, but the idea of the love that he can't find, because he doesn't even have the courage to ask for a cigarette, makes him wallow in his self-pity.
    Flag CitizenBellon April 22, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I apologise for the stout. Just trying to make a point that this is one of the most intelligent songwriters we have & it's only to be expected that his songs will work on more than one level. So you might listen to it when you're in love & hear a love song, but in a more cynical frame of mind you'll hear something else. There's a definite subtext that this guy is a loser & a fantasist & only really falls for this beautiful stranger when she's safely vanished. It's even clearer in the earlier version of the song, where the more beers he has the more he feels this woman is communicating with him. I think Mistermook got it about right.
    Flag morbid moragon January 28, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Okay, the whole stout debate is taking away from the song here. And a stout is just a dark beer and most guys were I come from drink dark beer AND whiskey. It's also just a rhyming device, so I think everyone is over thinking it a bit. This song, to me, is just about a lonely guy seeing a beautiful woman and fantasizing about a chance encounter. Although, I do find Mistermooks subtext angle a pretty viable argument. In any case, the song and the words put me in a nice place. This entire album puts me in a nice, peaceful frame of mind.
    Flag Catcher138on December 20, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think the important bit is the subtext. In the end he's not in love with the woman from the bar because he's met her, or on the basis of a few exchanged glances in a bar, but because she didn't make him get away from his alcoholism or the dream world of "what would happen if?" It's not a love song, it's a song about making excuses to not fall in love and wallow in self-pity.
    Flag Mistermookon November 18, 2008   Link

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