Lyric discussion by Vball 

This song seems to be about finding love and it "dying." The beginning is about exotic things and places, like horchata (a drink), pincher crabs (on a beach somewhere), and Masada (a part of Israel, I believe). "Winter's cold is too much to handle" by himself, so he has someone with him. This could explain that they're with each other more for comfort than for actual love. "Here comes a feeling you thought you'd forgotten" is the feeling of love. Everyone's been thru that feeling where they can't find anyone else and they're alone.

Things get bad.

The balaclava is a ski mask, an international sign of a criminal. "Years go by and hearts start to harden / Those palms and firs that grew in your garden / Are falling down and nearing the rosebeds / The roots are shooting up through the tool shed / Those lips and teeth that asked how my day went / Are shouting up through cracks in the pavement" This should be self-explanitory. They had a "garden" of beautiful firs and rosebeds but it's falling apart and turning ugly. Those same lips that he loved are soon the lips he "buried," or murdered. He broke up with her. "Oh you had it but oh no you lost it / You understood so you shouldn't have fought it. " She saw it coming but she still disagrees and protested.

That's my take! AMAZING song! I like it more than anything on the original LP!!

a balaclava is not a ski mask. It's basically a hood, but no facial coverings. So it is not an "international sign of a criminal". It was named after the village, Balaclava, because that is what the soldiers wore during the Battle of Balaclava, so it is more like a sign of a soldier.

you both have points, but a balaclava is what people call ski masks, even though it isn't correct according to the dictionary it still is socially correct.

masada is a fort outside of jerusalem...

An error occured.