Questions/vocabulary + grammar

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Questions/vocabulary + grammar
Message from tomjerry posted on 08-04-2018 at 09:08:52 (D | E | F)
Hello,
Could you help me please?
I love this song (Home To Stay/ by Josh Groban). It always warms my heart to listen to his voice. The lyrics are nice but I do not understand them very well:
1/ With maybe's and whatif's (???)
2/ I wonder if it would be better to say: to write on/ or to write about (something)/ instead of to write of?
(in the sentence: You wrote of trains and Paris galleries)
3/ Please tell me: "between" what and what?
(in the sentence: Isn't there a place between)
4/ And finally, please tell me about the real meaning of that very nice song!
Thank you !

I know you're gone/ I watched you leave/ I always thought/ That it was me/ You made it clear/ With that last kiss/ You couldn't live a life/ With maybe's and whatif's (???)
When every boat/ Has sailed away/ And every path/ Is marked and paved/ When every road/ Has had its say/ Then I'll be bringing you back Home to stay
I have the cards you sent to me/ You wrote of (???) trains and Paris galleries/ This spring you'll draw/ Canals, and frescoed walls/ Look how far your dreaming's gone
When every town looks just the same/ When every choice gets hard to make/ When every road/ Has had its say/ Then I'll be bringing you back Home to stay
And now I know why you had to go alone/ Isn't there a place between (???)
Reach out to me/ Call out my name/ And I would bring you back again/ Today
(source: the link of the song):
Link

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Modifié par lucile83 le 08-04-2018 10:03

Re: Questions/vocabulary + grammar from gerondif, posted on 08-04-2018 at 11:03:44 (D | E)
Hello
(Home To Stay/ by Josh Groban).
1/ With maybe's and whatif's (???) it means that the guy is unable to make a decision and always says maybe instead of yes and no and opposes any suggestion with: Yes, we may go to the beach but what if it rains ? Obviously a guy to be jilted !!
2/ I wonder if it would be better to say: to write on/ or to write about (something)/ instead of to write of?
(in the sentence: You wrote of trains and Paris galleries) Maybe but if the chap who wrote the song wrote it that way, that's the way it is ; I mean when Bob Dylan says "it ain't me babe !" I would never dream of singing the song saying "it isn't me baby !"
3/ Please tell me: "between" what and what? You needn't say, somebody can be a "go-between" for instance It isn't usual to place between alone (what will you do in between) but it's a song, not an essay.
4/ And finally, please tell me about the real meaning of that very nice song!

I know you're gone/ I watched you leave/ I always thought/ That it was me/ You made it clear/ With that last kiss/ You couldn't live a life/ With maybe's and whatif's (???)
So, a guy has just been jilted by his girlfriend who couldn't bear any more to live with a guy who could never make a decision and answered with maybe's and what if's
But the guy is confused: "I always thought that it was me", well, yes, it was him, it was because of him, because of his permanent indecisiveness that she left.

When every boat/ Has sailed away/ And every path/ Is marked and paved/ When every road/ Has had its say/ Then I'll be bringing you back Home to stay
Now this guy thinks he is superior to his girlfriend, thinks that he knows "better" and explains that when she has tried everything in her new life without him (the boats might be her new boyfriends, the paths and roads the various ways of life she will experience), then HE, the big saviour, will be generous enough to bring her home saying "I forgive you ! See, I knew better !" A male chauvinist !!

I have the cards you sent to me/ You wrote of (???) trains and Paris galleries/ This spring you'll draw/ Canals, and frescoed walls/ Look how far your dreaming's gone
When every town looks just the same/ When every choice gets hard to make/ When every road/ Has had its say/ Then I'll be bringing you back Home to stay

Same idea! The guy deems himself superior to her, forecasts what she will do (draw canals and frescoed walls) as if it were just a whim of hers, something that she wanted to do but that will pass,(you must let children have their ways and whims, they will come back....) and he still imagines that, once his girlfriend has had her way, he will get her back. Well, he might be disappointed, but the song is written by a male, it is his point of view.

And now I know why you had to go alone/ Great !The chap admits he is intelligent and understands why she left without him !!

Isn't there a place between (???) He is day-dreaming ! He thinks there might have been an intermediate solution, that she could have brought him along or something....

Reach out to me/ Call out my name/ And I would bring you back again/ Today. Another male chauvinistic remark: Admit you were wrong, call me, reach out to me and I will bring you back again (would is a tense mistake in the song). Here again, the guy, in his immense kindness, is ready to have her back.

But just imagine she was right to go away because the chap was no good ! Then the song sounds really pathetic.
Listen to Jacques Brel's "Ne me quitte pas", same type of unhappiness (but with talent ).
Or Michel Fugain's song "les divorcés" where he gives advice to his wife as if she couldn't cope....
A lot of old songs from the sixties are typical of a society where women had in fact fewer rights than men ! I mean a husband had to allow his wife to get a job at that time for example. It is surprising to find the same thinking in a modern song...

Re: Questions/vocabulary + grammar from tomjerry, posted on 08-04-2018 at 17:43:02 (D | E)
Thank you so so much for your explanation.

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