I'm surprised no one has posted similar thoughts already, I really didn't think there would be so many interpretations to this song!
Personally, I feel this song is about a man telling his girlfriend that he knows, (and everybody knows) that she has been cheating on him. I think all the other things he says are just to build up to this message. He is listing dreadful truths, undeniable truths, yet truths that are kept hidden or undiscussed, leading up to the fact that he has discovered his girlfriend's dreadful secret.
Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows
She claims to love him, but she's been unfaithful, she's been discreet, but everybody knows.
And now we come to the most powerful verse in this song, where he basically calls his girlfriend a whore, with a meter on her bed (as in a meter to put money in while she is having sex), because everybody knows she's a whore.
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows
This song is incredibly powerful, no Dylan song can match this in strength. The calm, calculating coldness gives full force to the message, undiminished by petty emotions like anger or jealousy. Each "everybody knows" is meant to shame this girl, each verse about her is an arrow to the heart.
@ismellofhockey thanks for your interpretation.\r\nSeems possible to me.\r\nAnd I think verse 6 says that she\'s very ill.. that she\'s dying... after having lived a very intense life.\r\n\r\nAnd everybody knows that you\'re in trouble.\r\nEverybody knows what you\'ve been through,\r\nFrom the bloody cross on top of Calvary\r\nTo the beach of Malibu.\r\n
@ismellofhockey thanks for your interpretation.\r\nSeems possible to me.\r\nAnd I think verse 6 says that she\'s very ill.. that she\'s dying... after having lived a very intense life.\r\n\r\nAnd everybody knows that you\'re in trouble.\r\nEverybody knows what you\'ve been through,\r\nFrom the bloody cross on top of Calvary\r\nTo the beach of Malibu.\r\n
I'm surprised no one has posted similar thoughts already, I really didn't think there would be so many interpretations to this song!
Personally, I feel this song is about a man telling his girlfriend that he knows, (and everybody knows) that she has been cheating on him. I think all the other things he says are just to build up to this message. He is listing dreadful truths, undeniable truths, yet truths that are kept hidden or undiscussed, leading up to the fact that he has discovered his girlfriend's dreadful secret.
Everybody knows that you love me baby Everybody knows that you really do Everybody knows that you've been faithful Ah give or take a night or two Everybody knows you've been discreet But there were so many people you just had to meet Without your clothes And everybody knows
She claims to love him, but she's been unfaithful, she's been discreet, but everybody knows.
And now we come to the most powerful verse in this song, where he basically calls his girlfriend a whore, with a meter on her bed (as in a meter to put money in while she is having sex), because everybody knows she's a whore.
Everybody knows the scene is dead But there's gonna be a meter on your bed That will disclose What everybody knows
This song is incredibly powerful, no Dylan song can match this in strength. The calm, calculating coldness gives full force to the message, undiminished by petty emotions like anger or jealousy. Each "everybody knows" is meant to shame this girl, each verse about her is an arrow to the heart.
@ismellofhockey thanks for your interpretation.\r\nSeems possible to me.\r\nAnd I think verse 6 says that she\'s very ill.. that she\'s dying... after having lived a very intense life.\r\n\r\nAnd everybody knows that you\'re in trouble.\r\nEverybody knows what you\'ve been through,\r\nFrom the bloody cross on top of Calvary\r\nTo the beach of Malibu.\r\n
@ismellofhockey thanks for your interpretation.\r\nSeems possible to me.\r\nAnd I think verse 6 says that she\'s very ill.. that she\'s dying... after having lived a very intense life.\r\n\r\nAnd everybody knows that you\'re in trouble.\r\nEverybody knows what you\'ve been through,\r\nFrom the bloody cross on top of Calvary\r\nTo the beach of Malibu.\r\n