This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Here comes Dick, he's wearing a skirt
Here comes Jane, you know she's sporting a chain
Same hair, revolution
Same build, evolution
Tomorrow who's gonna fuss
And they love each other so
Androgynous
Closer than you know, love each other so
Androgynous
Don't get him wrong and don't get him mad
He might be a father, but he sure ain't a dad
And she don't need advice that'll center her
She's happy with the way she looks
She's happy with her gender
And they love each other so
Androgynous
Closer than you know, love each other so
Androgynous
Mirror image, see no damage
See no evil at all
Kewpie dolls and urine stalls
Will be laughed at
The way you're laughed at now
Now, something meets boy, and something meets girl
They both look the same
They're overjoyed in this world
Same hair, revolution
Unisex, evolution
Tomorrow who's gonna fuss
And tomorrow Dick is wearing pants
Tomorrow Janie's wearing a dress
Future outcasts and they don't last
And, today, the people dress the way that they please
The way they tried to do in the last centuries
And they love each other so
Androgynous
Closer than we know, love each other so
Androgynous
Here comes Jane, you know she's sporting a chain
Same hair, revolution
Same build, evolution
Tomorrow who's gonna fuss
And they love each other so
Androgynous
Closer than you know, love each other so
Androgynous
Don't get him wrong and don't get him mad
He might be a father, but he sure ain't a dad
And she don't need advice that'll center her
She's happy with the way she looks
She's happy with her gender
And they love each other so
Androgynous
Closer than you know, love each other so
Androgynous
Mirror image, see no damage
See no evil at all
Kewpie dolls and urine stalls
Will be laughed at
The way you're laughed at now
Now, something meets boy, and something meets girl
They both look the same
They're overjoyed in this world
Same hair, revolution
Unisex, evolution
Tomorrow who's gonna fuss
And tomorrow Dick is wearing pants
Tomorrow Janie's wearing a dress
Future outcasts and they don't last
And, today, the people dress the way that they please
The way they tried to do in the last centuries
And they love each other so
Androgynous
Closer than we know, love each other so
Androgynous
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Magical
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"In a thousand years, there will be no men and women, just wankers, and that's fine by me." -trainspotting
Appearance doesn't matter.
I disagree that its a light-hearted song - I'm not really sure where people are getting this - like that its 'hilarious' - but I guess everyone hears things differently. I think that Paul brings a sense of humor to a heavy situation talking about how certain norms will be laughed at in the future, but the song essentially deals with oppression because of gender identity - even from one's own family members. I do NOT hear a sense of lightness and humor in Paul's voice when he sings the chorus ("love eachother so, closer than you know") and in fact at the very end his voice clearly cracks as if he is about to cry.
I also don't think he's saying that androgyny is just a youthful phase, but I think he's saying that its someone's identity and preference and that it shouldn't be ridiculed.
I also think the line "closer than you know" is a clever meaning. It alludes to the two lovers being closer than you realize in their relationship, and also being closer in their gender identities even though one is male and one is female, because gender is fluid and not a binary.
@Indiesongwriter Good one. I've always had a third interpretation with the 'closer than you know': since it's related to 'love each other so', which is a universal emotion, the singer seems to say that Dick and Jane are not so different from you, the listener.
Jesus Christ, an exceptionally written simple song about how appearance and sexual preferences do not matter as after all as "they love each other so." Nothing hilarious about it, urine stalls as a metaphor, as in only a typically male way to uriniate will be long forgotten whenever sex becomes irrelevant and love conquers all, simple.
@Ryanrock88 The reference to urine stalls is relevant to the bullshit public bathroom controversy in politics now; seems that way to me anyhow.
It's hard for me to tell whether Westerberg likes the fact that "the people dress the way that they please" or not, given the talk about Dick and Janie...
"Tomorrow who's gonna fuss" indicates to me that he couldn't care one way or another, because clearly the answer is "no one". The focus is more on the fact that "they love each other so".
Bob Stinson sometimes wore a dress on stage, if memory serves.
"And tomorrow Dick is wearing pants/And tomorrow Janie's wearing a dress" is saying androgeny is often just a phase of youth, without dismissing it. It's something that's been going on for a long time - taking traits of the other sex - it's not a big deal. It doesn't mean people hate their sex or want to change it, it's just something that people do and enjoy.
First of all, this song is about the future.
Male and female personas merge. Dick may be a father, but that doesn't mean he has to take the "dad" role. Same with Janie and the female role. Certain hairstyles do not make you male or female, nor do certain body types.
Dick and Janie are closer than you know. Sexless. Human. No arbitrary social divide.
In the future the males and females who conform to the stereotypes will be outcasts instead of crossdressers.
You wouldn't call your father "dad" if you weren't close to him. That's how I take the line, even if the song is about androgyny.
I think this song is partially a tribute to Prince and his crowd who were also on the scene in MN at the time ("same hair, REVOLUTION"?). Anybody who has seen Purple Rain knows that, in terms of dress, there's not much to seperate the guys and girls in that movie. And, I was only born in 1981, but I get the sense that in the 80s it was much more of a fad for people to dress androgynously. I think we've actually regressed since then to become less accepting of this.
I want this to be my wedding song. It contains everything I feel about gender/appearances/love and overall happiness. hehe. amazing song.