The woman is the song is an upper middle class working girl in a big city. Think the "Sex in the City" girls. She's "hard" for a rich girl, or street smart and tough. Or at least she likes to think she is. That's the persona she projects. But inside she's vulnerable. It's harder and harder to make it through her unfulfilling days. She gets so tired after midday. Lately.
The man in the song is the sort guy who preys on such vulnerable women. He sees her more clearly than she sees himself. He knows exactly the sorts of sweet little lies he needs to tell to bed her, which is all he really cares about. The man is not a villain, he's just doing what he does. He admits up front that he's incapable of love. He also knows that the woman will hear what she wants to hear anyway, and he doesn't need to try all that hard to lie to her. She needs the fantasy of love even if none exists. When he tells her that he's really saying goodbye, she sings over his words and drowns him out. She's singing about the office, throwing herself back into her work.
So that's the cycle. She's unhappy at work, so she sleeps with men out of desperation, then to hide from the shame of that she throws herself back into work. It's about the late nights she leaves the office and takes that lonely ride down the elevator. Perhaps the only moment in her life where she allows herself a moment of honest reflection.
The woman is the song is an upper middle class working girl in a big city. Think the "Sex in the City" girls. She's "hard" for a rich girl, or street smart and tough. Or at least she likes to think she is. That's the persona she projects. But inside she's vulnerable. It's harder and harder to make it through her unfulfilling days. She gets so tired after midday. Lately.
The man in the song is the sort guy who preys on such vulnerable women. He sees her more clearly than she sees himself. He knows exactly the sorts of sweet little lies he needs to tell to bed her, which is all he really cares about. The man is not a villain, he's just doing what he does. He admits up front that he's incapable of love. He also knows that the woman will hear what she wants to hear anyway, and he doesn't need to try all that hard to lie to her. She needs the fantasy of love even if none exists. When he tells her that he's really saying goodbye, she sings over his words and drowns him out. She's singing about the office, throwing herself back into her work.
So that's the cycle. She's unhappy at work, so she sleeps with men out of desperation, then to hide from the shame of that she throws herself back into work. It's about the late nights she leaves the office and takes that lonely ride down the elevator. Perhaps the only moment in her life where she allows herself a moment of honest reflection.