In article <E47D3E7280125C5E.236E408724FE60F3.D24247C2959E3997@lp.airnews.net>
"Shepherd" <cessna19167@yahoo.com> writes:

>John maybe too "good and clever".

No need for quotes on that one!

>However, let's look at the lyrics again.
>The word choice, "laughed", "crawled", "The bird had
>flown", "alone" all have negative connotations.

None of seem negative to me, though there's a subtext associated with each
word, I'll grant you that. The lady's laugh appears to be a nervous one,
or one of displacement. She's just told the guy that she works in the
morning, which is code for "Not a late night tonight, buddy"---i.e. either
"no sex tonight" or "only a sample", as I read it, and her laughter is an
attempt to defuse his reaction, whatever it might be. 

Did the protagonist "crawl" because the wines were too various or because
he was suddenly enervated by the loss of a good opportunity? 

Clearly he wasn't going to share the boudoir with his enamorata, which
presumably was his original intention.

The comment "This bird had flown" actually comes across (to me, anyway) as
fairly dispassionate; he wakes up, and notices without any evident emotion
that the lady with whom he'd intended a romantic night is now gone, and
that he's "alone"---but not "lonely", notice! 

"Alone" carries a neutral connotation here, and I think the composer means
to emphasize that superficial, sanguine reaction. Think of how the
protagonist in "I'm A Loser" would have handled this same scenario...or
complained about it afterwards!

>Why would you invite a guy over and make him to sleep in the bath?

Because she wanted to limit the intimacy of the evening. 

You may tease a fellow to distraction, but you can leave it a one-night
stand if you delimit his entry into the inner sanctum. It's another rather
vivid metaphorical image, isn't it? Even if he got a small sample there on
the floor amidst all the Norwegian wood furniture, he didn't get the final
satisfaction of sharing her bedchamber, and whatever else might ensue. 

>He didn't go there happily, he had to "crawl" there.

Clearly it wasn't a crawl of triumph, imaginable in circumstances where
the happy couple might have just spent an exhausting evening exploring the
Kama Sutra. But I don't see it entirely as a crawl of sorrow, either; 
defeatism, maybe. But he's too tired from all the unrewarded anticipation
to care, at that point. Or he's just drunk. Unless you believe (as I
sometimes do, depending on my mood when I hear this song) that the wine is
a metaphor too.

>When he woke up he's all by himself......all very negative.

But it's interesting, isn't it, that he doesn't whine about being lonely,
or having to hide his love away, or what she'll still believe when he's
dead? He wakes up; notices he's by himself; and ponders not the
profundity of his romantic misfortunes but indifferently comments on his
next move. Which is to light a fire.

The question is, was the fire a real one or just metaphorical?

It really isn't until this moment that we see the protagonist getting even
with the lady who so cavalierly left him for her daytime job. It's a real
hash-settling event, and here, for the first time, we have the evidence we
need (still subtextual!) that things didn't go entirely right for him. But
whether he was actually angst-ridden over it, chagrined, or exultant
(underneath that existential facade) is a question worth pondering.

>Why not just burn the place down!

You can't get the pyrotechnics, you know.

-- 
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"People gossip on the doorstep, think they know the score...."
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saki@evolution.bchs.uh.edu