(The flowers you gave me are rotting
And still I refuse to throw them away)
This is about a reluctance to accept the reality of the situation, the flowers a metaphor for the shared emotional experience of her and her partner)
(Some of the bulbs never opened quite fully
They might so I'm waiting and staying awake)
Here Regina states that she feels that the relationship never reached its full potential. The possibility of the bulbs (a metaphor for their emotional connection) to open up again is leaving her reluctant to move on and instead waiting and staying awake for the possibility.
(Things I have loved I'm allowed to keep
I'll never know if I go to sleep)
This line is referring to her emotional attachment to the relationship that while she no longer loves it feels that she is allowed to keep it. By stating that she will never go to sleep, she is acknowledging that the relationship is doomed and she is grasping at a non-existent possibility.
(The papers around me are piling and twisting
Regina the paperback mummy
What then?)
This is referring to her attempts to understand her predicament through literature and through various texts. She feels that she has been encompassed by this leaving her a paperback mummy. But she knows that this will not be what will allow her to overcome her feelings evident in the pessimistic rhetorical question "what then?"
(I'm taking the knife to the books that I own
And I'm chopping and chopping and boiling soup from stone)
I find this the most beautiful lyric. By taking a knife to the books she owns she is making reference to her attempt to understand her predicament by searching through and cutting out relevant passages that may help her understand. However the second line referring to boiling soup from stone is a reference to an old fable; here using it to once again to embody her pessimism of finding a conclusion, as adding more and more passages still will not change the reality nor help her understand why.
"By stating that she will never go to sleep, she is acknowledging that the relationship is doomed and she is grasping at a non-existent possibility."
"By stating that she will never go to sleep, she is acknowledging that the relationship is doomed and she is grasping at a non-existent possibility."
I read the line "I'll never know if I go to sleep" as a continuation of "They might [open] so I'm waiting and staying awake." So actually it is not an acknowledgment of defeat, but a grasping at straws.
I read the line "I'll never know if I go to sleep" as a continuation of "They might [open] so I'm waiting and staying awake." So actually it is not an acknowledgment of defeat, but a grasping at straws.
"...the second line referring to boiling soup from stone is a reference to an old fable; here using it to once again to embody her pessimism of finding a conclusion..."
The fable that the lyric "I'm boiling soup from stone" is alluding to is not pessimistic at all -- it's a tale wherein a character, like the poet in this song, starts boiling a stone. People come by and charitably sprinkle ingredients into it until the soup becomes edible. I think of this line as a continuation of her chopping up books and trying to piece together an understanding from a community of thinkers.
I think what you are reading as the pessimism of the song is contained in Regina's cadence and the sadness of the piano accompaniment. This interpolates onto us a suspicious reading of the lyrics, and so we feel like the poetess in this situation is in a doomed relationship.
But despite all that stuff, I really like this analysis and I feel everything else you said is totally spot on.
Oh I should clarify something: although the boiling soup from stone bit alludes to a story which has a positive outcome, I don't think that the poetess is optimistic -- I think she is desperate. She is desperate throughout. The flowers rotting part also shows that it the relationship is clearly pretty messed up, and so we might read her as cynical, but she's clearly desperately trying to make sense of something.
Oh I should clarify something: although the boiling soup from stone bit alludes to a story which has a positive outcome, I don't think that the poetess is optimistic -- I think she is desperate. She is desperate throughout. The flowers rotting part also shows that it the relationship is clearly pretty messed up, and so we might read her as cynical, but she's clearly desperately trying to make sense of something.
One of my favourite songs.
(The flowers you gave me are rotting And still I refuse to throw them away) This is about a reluctance to accept the reality of the situation, the flowers a metaphor for the shared emotional experience of her and her partner)
(Some of the bulbs never opened quite fully They might so I'm waiting and staying awake) Here Regina states that she feels that the relationship never reached its full potential. The possibility of the bulbs (a metaphor for their emotional connection) to open up again is leaving her reluctant to move on and instead waiting and staying awake for the possibility.
(Things I have loved I'm allowed to keep I'll never know if I go to sleep) This line is referring to her emotional attachment to the relationship that while she no longer loves it feels that she is allowed to keep it. By stating that she will never go to sleep, she is acknowledging that the relationship is doomed and she is grasping at a non-existent possibility.
(The papers around me are piling and twisting Regina the paperback mummy What then?) This is referring to her attempts to understand her predicament through literature and through various texts. She feels that she has been encompassed by this leaving her a paperback mummy. But she knows that this will not be what will allow her to overcome her feelings evident in the pessimistic rhetorical question "what then?" (I'm taking the knife to the books that I own And I'm chopping and chopping and boiling soup from stone) I find this the most beautiful lyric. By taking a knife to the books she owns she is making reference to her attempt to understand her predicament by searching through and cutting out relevant passages that may help her understand. However the second line referring to boiling soup from stone is a reference to an old fable; here using it to once again to embody her pessimism of finding a conclusion, as adding more and more passages still will not change the reality nor help her understand why.
Your analysis is really close.
Your analysis is really close.
"By stating that she will never go to sleep, she is acknowledging that the relationship is doomed and she is grasping at a non-existent possibility."
"By stating that she will never go to sleep, she is acknowledging that the relationship is doomed and she is grasping at a non-existent possibility."
I read the line "I'll never know if I go to sleep" as a continuation of "They might [open] so I'm waiting and staying awake." So actually it is not an acknowledgment of defeat, but a grasping at straws.
I read the line "I'll never know if I go to sleep" as a continuation of "They might [open] so I'm waiting and staying awake." So actually it is not an acknowledgment of defeat, but a grasping at straws.
"...the second line referring to boiling soup from stone is a reference to an old fable; here using it to once again to embody her pessimism of finding a conclusion..."
The fable that the lyric "I'm boiling soup from stone" is alluding to is not pessimistic at all -- it's a tale wherein a character, like the poet in this song, starts boiling a stone. People come by and charitably sprinkle ingredients into it until the soup becomes edible. I think of this line as a continuation of her chopping up books and trying to piece together an understanding from a community of thinkers.
I think what you are reading as the pessimism of the song is contained in Regina's cadence and the sadness of the piano accompaniment. This interpolates onto us a suspicious reading of the lyrics, and so we feel like the poetess in this situation is in a doomed relationship.
But despite all that stuff, I really like this analysis and I feel everything else you said is totally spot on.
Oh I should clarify something: although the boiling soup from stone bit alludes to a story which has a positive outcome, I don't think that the poetess is optimistic -- I think she is desperate. She is desperate throughout. The flowers rotting part also shows that it the relationship is clearly pretty messed up, and so we might read her as cynical, but she's clearly desperately trying to make sense of something.
Oh I should clarify something: although the boiling soup from stone bit alludes to a story which has a positive outcome, I don't think that the poetess is optimistic -- I think she is desperate. She is desperate throughout. The flowers rotting part also shows that it the relationship is clearly pretty messed up, and so we might read her as cynical, but she's clearly desperately trying to make sense of something.