Lush Life
Lush Life's Melancholy Symphony: Jazz, Temptation, and Lonely Paris Nights
Lyrics
I used to visit all the very gay places
I used to frequent lively and cheerful places.
Those come what may places
Places where one goes regardless of consequences.
Where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life
Describing a place where one can relax and contemplate life's experiences.
To get the feel of life
To experience and understand life more deeply.
From jazz and cocktails.
Enjoying the combination of jazz music and cocktails.
The girls I knew had sad and sullen gray faces
The women he knew had sad expressions, marked by distant remnants of happier times.
With distant gay traces
Traces of joy that used to be visible but were washed away by life's challenges.
That used to be there you could see where they'd been washed away
Indicating the hardships and struggles they faced, evident in their faces.
By too many through the day
Suggesting that their joy was eroded by the challenges encountered throughout the day.
Twelve o'clock tales.
Referring to stories or experiences at midnight.
Then you came along with your siren of song
A new person came into the speaker's life with an enticing singing voice.
To tempt me to madness!
Expressing how the new presence tempted the speaker towards madness.
I thought for a while that your poignant smile was tinged with the sadness
Initially, the speaker thought the person's smile had a touch of sadness, perhaps hinting at a deep love.
Of a great love for me.
Suggesting that the person might have a great love for the speaker.
Ah yes! I was wrong
Admitting the speaker's initial judgment was incorrect.
Again,
Recognizing the mistake in understanding the person's emotions.
I was wrong.
Acknowledging another error in judgment.
Life is lonely again,
Expressing the return of loneliness in life.
And only last year everything seemed so sure.
Contrasting the certainty of last year with the current uncertainty.
Now life is awful again,
Describing life as terrible once again.
A troughful of hearts could only be a bore.
Suggesting that a multitude of romantic disappointments is tedious.
A week in Paris will ease the bite of it,
A week in Paris is presented as a temporary distraction from life's hardships.
All I care is to smile in spite of it.
Expressing the desire to smile despite life's difficulties.
I'll forget you, I will
Committing to forgetting the person, despite the lingering thoughts.
While yet you are still burning inside my brain.
While the person still occupies the speaker's thoughts.
Romance is mush,
Belittling romance as sentimental and stifling.
Stifling those who strive.
Describing it as oppressive for those who aspire for something more.
I'll live a lush life in some small dive
Declaring an intention to live a luxurious life in a modest setting.
And there I'll be, while I rot
Expressing a resigned acceptance of personal decay or deterioration.
With the rest of those whose lives are lonely, too
Identifying with others whose lives are also marked by loneliness.
Comment