I can't believe anyone thinks this song is about having an abortion. She obviously had the baby. You don't say "couldn't carry a tune" about people who died without singing. It means they can't sing. It probably means that baby Elvis sings all the time as a kid - he's got not much else to do. He's just rubbish. And the irony is not simply that baby Elvis can't sing, it's that he's not ever going to be successful like the real Elvis, and he's as poor as his parents, he is not going to be the king of anything, rock'n'roll or otherwise. A name can't "make up for the royalty he lacked".
Playing with fire isn't just teenagers having unprotected sex. It's teenagers having babies, too. It's dangerous, they think they know what they're doing and they don't. I can imagine this teenage mother fretted more about what to name the baby than their future life together, and so on. But that's "all they knew".
If the song's about abortion, it's that she wishes she DID have one, not that she wishes she didn't. "Puddles and mistakes", "why don't I begin again", "blowing out wishes, blowing out dreams". But you can't change the past - you can't begin again - all you can do is examine and reexamine it, lying alone on the floor of your cramped flat, tracing your scars and wrinkles...
I find it interesting in this song the juxtaposition of the small flames reckless teens play with - matches, candles - and the reality of adult life represented by huge amounts of water - raining cats and dogs, the sound of heaven shaking, puddles. Obviously all this water can easily put out those tiny flames. This also ties into the fact that she can't afford to heat her tinned soup - no "fire" left, no hope left. She does light candles for birthday cakes - Elvis', I'm assuming, not hers - but they're blown straight back out.
I can't believe anyone thinks this song is about having an abortion. She obviously had the baby. You don't say "couldn't carry a tune" about people who died without singing. It means they can't sing. It probably means that baby Elvis sings all the time as a kid - he's got not much else to do. He's just rubbish. And the irony is not simply that baby Elvis can't sing, it's that he's not ever going to be successful like the real Elvis, and he's as poor as his parents, he is not going to be the king of anything, rock'n'roll or otherwise. A name can't "make up for the royalty he lacked".
Playing with fire isn't just teenagers having unprotected sex. It's teenagers having babies, too. It's dangerous, they think they know what they're doing and they don't. I can imagine this teenage mother fretted more about what to name the baby than their future life together, and so on. But that's "all they knew".
If the song's about abortion, it's that she wishes she DID have one, not that she wishes she didn't. "Puddles and mistakes", "why don't I begin again", "blowing out wishes, blowing out dreams". But you can't change the past - you can't begin again - all you can do is examine and reexamine it, lying alone on the floor of your cramped flat, tracing your scars and wrinkles...
I find it interesting in this song the juxtaposition of the small flames reckless teens play with - matches, candles - and the reality of adult life represented by huge amounts of water - raining cats and dogs, the sound of heaven shaking, puddles. Obviously all this water can easily put out those tiny flames. This also ties into the fact that she can't afford to heat her tinned soup - no "fire" left, no hope left. She does light candles for birthday cakes - Elvis', I'm assuming, not hers - but they're blown straight back out.
It's a miserable song but it's beautiful.