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Standin' on a corner
Suitcase in my hand
Jack's in his corset, Jane is in her vest
and me I'm in a rock 'n' roll band. Huh.
Riding a Stutz Bear Cat, Jim
ya know, those were different times
all the poets studied rules of verse
and those ladies they rolled their eyes
Sweet Jane
Sweet Jane
Sweet Jane
Now Jack, he is a banker
and Jane, she's a clerk
and both of them save their monies
when they get home from work
sittin' down by the fire
Ooo, the radio does play
the classical music there, Jim
The March of the Wooden Soldiers
All you protest kids
you can hear Jack say
Sweet Jane
Sweet Jane
Sweet Jane
Some people they like to go out dancin'
and other people they have to work. Just watch me now
and there's even some evil mothers
Well they're gonna tell you that everything is just dirt
you know that women never really faint
and that villians always blink their eyes
that children are the only ones who blush
and that life is just to die
But anyone who ever had a heart
they wouldn't turn around and break it
and anyone who ever played a part
They wouldn't turn around and hate it
Sweet Jane, Sweet Sweet Jane
Suitcase in my hand
Jack's in his corset, Jane is in her vest
and me I'm in a rock 'n' roll band. Huh.
Riding a Stutz Bear Cat, Jim
ya know, those were different times
all the poets studied rules of verse
and those ladies they rolled their eyes
Sweet Jane
Sweet Jane
Sweet Jane
Now Jack, he is a banker
and Jane, she's a clerk
and both of them save their monies
when they get home from work
sittin' down by the fire
Ooo, the radio does play
the classical music there, Jim
The March of the Wooden Soldiers
All you protest kids
you can hear Jack say
Sweet Jane
Sweet Jane
Sweet Jane
Some people they like to go out dancin'
and other people they have to work. Just watch me now
and there's even some evil mothers
Well they're gonna tell you that everything is just dirt
you know that women never really faint
and that villians always blink their eyes
that children are the only ones who blush
and that life is just to die
But anyone who ever had a heart
they wouldn't turn around and break it
and anyone who ever played a part
They wouldn't turn around and hate it
Sweet Jane, Sweet Sweet Jane
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Even Jack the Banker and Jane the Clerk, the two "squarest" people imaginable at the time of the 60s counterculture, when they listen to classical music, "all you protest kids, you can hear Jack say, Sweet Jane." In other words, we're all connected to something divine, so don't think you're better or cooler. Being in the know is irrelevant, it's that moment of bliss we all have within us. The words Sweet Jane merely serve to personify that transcendence.
The heavenly wine and roses part at the end, describe a woman in love who experiences her Sweet Jane when her lover smiles.
This song goes with "Rock N Roll" the next track as a sort of diptych, where Lou expresses his Sweet Jane to be the state rocknroll takes him to. It's his holy moment in himself that saves him from himself and the dreariness of this world. And me too for that matter. That is all
"and there's even some evil mothers
Well there gonna tell you that everthing is just dirt
you know that women never really faint
and that villians always blink their eyes
that children are the only ones who blush
and that life is just to die"
go together? In other words, the "evil mothers" are destroying fantasy. Everything is MORE than dirt. Life is NOT just for dying. Because the next lines
"But anyone who ever had a heart
they wouldn't turn around and break it"
finish the sentence. Either way, the thing I agree with people the most on is that this song is just great.
It's definitely not a reference to the Laurel and Hardy film. Come on, people... are you trying to make me laugh? You succeeded.
This is a song about how our preconceived notions are not always correct. Maybe it's obvious, but it's worth noting (since some other posters seem confused about this): the lines about women, villains and children are a challenge to common stereotypes. In Victorian dramas and classic Hollywood films, the women faint when they're shocked. The song's narrator says that's baloney. Similarly, it's a stereotype of the evil villain that they stare intently and never blink. Baloney. So I guess he's saying that the idea of a blushing adult (e.g. blushing virgins) is just silly, because in real life adults don't blush.
And it's in that spirit of confronting reality, that we have to see that life inevitably ends in death.
By the way, I second the opinion: one of the greatest rock songs ever.
Now I'm going to have to go check out the version on "Fully Loaded" to hear the rest of the song.
It is the underground world of the 70s as Lou Reed saw it, I originally thought it was written in the 80s, but I realized it was how Lou saw the world was going to be like.
These themes refer to people, even after forty years, I can still think of people this refers to.
Should you read "The Time Traveler's Wife" you will find that this song perfectly describes Henry and Claire's life when they were younger. A life where doc martins, cross dressers, bisexuals (such as myself), and mundane chores all over lap. You first see their club life, where every one knows every one, and then you see their day life, where every one is "normal" clerks, bankers, etc.
And the ending is just general truths of life.
Much like "Perfect Day"
the last 4 lines are fucking perfect.
>But anyone who ever had a heart
>They wouldn't turn around and break it
>And anyone who ever played a part
>They wouldn't turn around and hate it
Narratively, Jack & Jane are an older couple the singer sees on the street. He immediately makes assumptions about them based on their dress. Jack is in a "corset"...a derisive metaphor for restrictive garb, likely a business suit. Jane is likewise dressed for work in a vest. But the singer catches himself in his derision by noting that he's also wearing something "put on"...his rock & roll band...and laughes at his own hypocrisy.
What follows is a reverie on what he imagines their life to have been...they were young once too and wild in their own right. Then they got older, settled into life, and made a trade-off (working for a living) in order to enjoy the comforts of love (settling down by the fire with their music). In particular, he wants the protest kids to hear that last part...those compromises they deride were all done for the love of Sweet Jane.
In the final verse, the singer acknowledges that although people make different choices, we're all basically the same...it's only self-deception that makes us intolerant of the other camp. Isn't he working at his band after all ("Just watch me now")? And all of those people who hurl dirt at the other camp -- call them dishonest and affected -- well they're just angry because they haven't found life's purpose yet. Maybe that's art (rock & roll) and maybe that's love (Jane), but without it there is no point. Along the way, we all put on dishonest garb in the morning and strip it off at the end of the day. So we all need to be a little more forgiving, because:
>But anyone who ever had a heart
>They wouldn't turn around and break it
>And anyone who ever played a part
>They wouldn't turn around and hate it