Ryan Adams – Sweet Lil Gal

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  General Comment:to me (and in my opinion, songs, like all art are meant to mean whatever they mean to the person who experiences them)this song is not really about an actually girl, i think it is about drugs "when i'm lonely you make me feel nice" well if he's lonely obviously there is no one else there. i think this a song in the vein of "Hotel Chelsea Nights" where Mr Adams proclaims he is "strung out like some Christmas lights" and the other part of the title "23rd and 1st" is (to me) a street corner where he would buy drugs and the line "steals my shirt, makes me hurt in the field where my plane went down" is about giving things up to get another fix then coming down, the line "got a sister that's mean," maybe is an allusion from one drug to another (as in, heroin makes him feel nice but cocaine makes him feel mean and angry), and my other take on the song is that it's possibly about a hooker who gave him a good time, that he'd meet on the corner of 23rd and 1st street in NYC while staying at the Chelsea Hotel, but this is just my interpretation and this site is just here so people can argue over what they think songs are about when, in truth, the only people who know what these songs are really supposed to be about are the people that wrote them

  Flag riley101proofon September 07, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:Simply gorgoeus.

  Flag missmeon April 14, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:i may or may not have listened to this song like 73 times recently, my favorite by him...anyways, this is a sweet little song. hah. the lyrics are very simple, they just express that ache you have for certain people that you sometimes can't even explain. a good ache. & really, love can be complicated, but don't we all just want someone who makes us feel good when we are lonely when it comes down to it? simply put.

  Flag justlikeheaven05on April 28, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:Ryan spent a lot of time at Hotel Chelsea, even wrote a song about it (hotel chelsea nights). To the point; Hotel Chelsea is on 23rd street, NYC like noyes said. Just a cool little parallel.

  Flag ontheinsideon April 18, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:23 Street and 1st Avenue, NYC

  Flag noyeson December 10, 2007   Link

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  General Comment:When i hear the "23rd and 1st" line, it makes me think of a streetcorner in a city.
  I feel like the singer is talking to the "sweet lil gal" about her sister--the one who makes him feel nice when he's lonely...maybe?

  Flag xo_lizilyon December 09, 2006   Link

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  General Comment:what does the "(23rd/1st)" on the title means?

  Flag psychobainon February 17, 2006   Link

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