I've always thought along the lines of itsraninheaven's idea, that the song was told from multiple viewpoints. The way I see it, the first half of the song it is the story of a cheating husband told by his young lover, and his wife. The first half of the song (first four verses) are being told by the young lover, who says things like "come into my bed" , "I have dreams of orca whales and owls", "floaters in my eye" and finally "I am a child it's too soon." I think this young woman represents a desperate need to make herself "mature" and an "adult" by engaging in sex and drugs, just find herself "waking up in fear" and having dreams of orca whales and owls, which I think represent childhood.
The last verses I think are being sung by the wife, who after snooping around, has found bags of cocaine and tthe girls phone number, and coming to a sad realization she "wades downstairs."
One might say since the last verse of the song is very much similar to the verse sung by the young lover earlier, it might be changing again to the young girl, but I think that the lines "You will never be my fool" changing to "You will never be my dear, dear friend," signify a difference in who is saying the lines. The young girl would use the word fool, because that what she was looking for in the relationship, a fool, not a dear dear friend. The wife, however, was looking for a dear friend, a life companion. Both women are disappointed, finding that they can't handle to be each other's fools, nor dear friends.
I've always thought along the lines of itsraninheaven's idea, that the song was told from multiple viewpoints. The way I see it, the first half of the song it is the story of a cheating husband told by his young lover, and his wife. The first half of the song (first four verses) are being told by the young lover, who says things like "come into my bed" , "I have dreams of orca whales and owls", "floaters in my eye" and finally "I am a child it's too soon." I think this young woman represents a desperate need to make herself "mature" and an "adult" by engaging in sex and drugs, just find herself "waking up in fear" and having dreams of orca whales and owls, which I think represent childhood.
The last verses I think are being sung by the wife, who after snooping around, has found bags of cocaine and tthe girls phone number, and coming to a sad realization she "wades downstairs."
One might say since the last verse of the song is very much similar to the verse sung by the young lover earlier, it might be changing again to the young girl, but I think that the lines "You will never be my fool" changing to "You will never be my dear, dear friend," signify a difference in who is saying the lines. The young girl would use the word fool, because that what she was looking for in the relationship, a fool, not a dear dear friend. The wife, however, was looking for a dear friend, a life companion. Both women are disappointed, finding that they can't handle to be each other's fools, nor dear friends.