Suzanne Vega
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Even if I am in love with you
All this to say, what's it to you?
Observe the blood, the rose tattoo
Of the fingerprints on me from you
Other evidence has shown
That you and I are still alone
We skirt around the danger zone
And don't talk about it later
Marlene watches from the wall
Her mocking smile says it all
As she records the rise and fall
Of every soldier passing
But the only soldier now is me
I'm fighting things I cannot see
I think it's called my destiny
That I am changing
Marlene on the wall
Well, I walk to your house in the afternoon
By the butcher shop with the sawdust strewn
"Don't give away the goods too soon"
Is what she might have told me
And I tried so hard to resist
And when you held me in your handsome fist
And reminded me of the night we kissed
And of why I should be leaving
Marlene watches from the wall
Her mocking smile says it all
As she records the rise and fall
Of every soldier passing
But the only soldier now is me
I'm fighting things I cannot see
I think it's called my destiny
That I am changing
Marlene on the wall
Marlene watches from the wall
Her mocking smile says it all
As she records the rise and fall
Of every soldier passing
But the only soldier now is me
I'm fighting things I cannot see
I think it's called my destiny
That I am changing
Marlene on the wall
And even if I am in love with you
All this to say, what's it to you?
Observe the blood, the rose tattoo
Of the fingerprints on me from you
Other evidence has shown
That you and I are still alone
We skirt around the danger zone
And don't talk about it later
And I tried so hard to resist
And when you held me in your handsome fist
And reminded me of the night we kissed
And of why I should be leaving
Marlene watches from the wall
Her mocking smile says it all
As she records the rise and fall
Of every man who's been here
But the only one here now is me
I'm fighting things I cannot see
I think it's called my destiny
That I am changing, changing, changing, changing, changing
Marlene watches from the wall
Her mocking smile says it all
As she records the rise and fall
Of every soldier passing
But the only soldier now is me
I'm fighting things I cannot see
I think it's called my destiny
That I am changing
Marlene on the wall
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Lyrics submitted byNovartza, edited by daan8336, hyperides, anban, karen81963
Marlene on the Wall Lyrics as written by Suzanne Vega
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Marlene On The Wall song meanings
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+3
General Comment
It's about loss of virginity. Possibly also in a taboo relationship. I don't think the relationship is abusive, I can see where this comes from though.
On one occasion she sings "my destiny, AND I am changing" so it's her destiny to change (grow up, lose virginity). The blood is from loss of virginity, rose tattoo is a love bite/hickie, reference to evidence is fear of being discovered.
"Reminded me of the night we kissed" = exciting like the first kiss, "why I should be leaving" = if she stays (which she did) they'll have sex, "tried to resist" succumbing to temptation. "Don't give away the goods too soon".
The relationship is either taboo or insecure and she doesn't know what it means to the other person, if he/she is in love too (what's it to you?), whether he views her as meat (a conquest) and she's given him sex too soon (the butcher's shop - sawdust would be strewn in a butcher's to cover/clean blood; giving away goods too soon). She has been compelled by desire (the "handsome fist") to act in a way she thinks is unwise.
Marlene's perspective is the perspective of the knowing other who has seen it all and for whom all of this which seems contingent and important, seems predictable and trivial. I assumed Marlene was a historic portrait which had seen much history, but since it refers to Marlene Dietrich the soldiers might refer to her popularity as a WW2 pinup. Hence the emotional turmoil as analogous to the emotional impact of combat.
The relationship is covert, carried on around a "danger zone" (risk of being caught), not talked about, she's frightened of evidence being exposed, the couple are alone. It could be covert for all kinds of reasons (class or ethnic or other differences, underage, disapproved of, adulterous), but one possibility is that it's a lesbian relationship - hence "held in handsome fist" and "fingerprints" could be a reference to fisting, and "changing" could be a reference to realising one's sexuality (changing from assumed heterosexuality to knowing oneself to be gay).
Ldxar1on August 19, 2008Link
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+2
General Comment
Suzanne Vega needs to be more appreciated. There are no comments on her songs! This is a great song, and although I'm not really sure what it's about, I'm pretty sure it has to do with sex. Especially in the thrid verse when she says,"I walk to your house in the afternoonBy the butcher shot with the sawdust strewn"Don't give away the goods too soon"Is what she might have told meAnd I tried so hard to resistWhen you held me in your handsome fistAnd reminded me of the night we kissedAnd of why I should be leaving "She's speaking of lust. Both lovers know it's wrong but they can't help themselves. As she leaves, "Marlene watches from the wall." "Marlene" (a painting or portrait most likely) has seen all the other lovers that have been there, hence her mocking smile. The narrator reminded that this is really nothing more than just another ordinary relationship. Finally she walks away from that relationship, "I think it's called my destiny/ that I am changing."not sure if that's correct, but that is how I see it.
ItsAllIWanton March 17, 2005Link
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+2
General Comment
Suzanne Vega once had a poster of the great Marlene Dietrich on her wall. This song is sung from the point of view of Marlene Dietrich looking down at Suzanne Vega living her life. There is obviously a forbidden relationship taking place and the song switches from Suzannes point of view of things and then to how Marlene Dietrich would view it."Marlene watches from the wall, her mocking smile says it all......""Don't give away the goods too soon is what she might have told me....."
Very clever and very toughing actually.
noelsguitaron September 24, 2007Link
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+2
My Interpretation
Reading some comments here are different to how i interpret the song! It has never evoked the idea of abuse when I hear it... more the psycological effects of love! The uncontollable effects of life and destiny or fate. The strong imagery in the song definitely strikes as the narrator being internally damaged by her own feelings of love for another. I feel it's a song about someone who is used to playing with other peoples' emotions, has had many lovers but has never really felt affected by them although they (the soldiers/ men) have been hurt or in love with her. She has now fallen in love with someone and is feeling the pain and torment. She recalls all the lovers who where in love her and how she never really cared about how they felt when they fell. It was all just a game to her- hence the mocking smile of Marlene (Marlene Dietrich) who she aspired to be while she played the field, a kind of playful fantasy, taking on the role of a cruel femme fatale. But now she is the one who falls hard..she sees the dark side of it all. The imagery of blood portrays her damage, this lover leaves 'fingerprints' which we associate with crime or murder. She is beginning to realise what she has done to others with reference to a butcher. She is changing now realising that her past promiscuity was not really much fun for others as it was for her. It gives the sense that she has been shocked or traumatised into changing the way she behaves through realisation!
pinkcloud77on June 23, 2010Link
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+1
General Comment
The other opinions on this song are really nice but im sorry, Im pretty sure this is about domestic abuse. Theres too many references to violence - "Observe the blood, the rose tattoo Of the fingerprints on me from you" Thats bruising from where he has gripped or slapped her. "We skirt around the danger zoneAnd don't talk about it later" Thats a fight they've had. "I'm fighting things I cannot see" Shes fighting her love for him and her desire to stay.
And I tried so hard to resistWhen you held me in your handsome fistAnd reminded me of the night we kissedAnd of why I should be leaving
He's forced her into something, and I suspect the night they kissed was what he was like before he became violent. Shes realised she should go.
I think she loves him but he hurts her. I agree with the 'marlene is a picture' interpretation, I never really got that before.
jenpage50on September 20, 2007Link
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+1
General Comment
I think it's about a abusive relationship. She is the soldier in the abusive relationship. She is fighting against him and losing the war. She is changing cause now she is aware that it may be a one sided relationship, she may love him but he doesn't love her.
NutzyPixeon November 02, 2008Link
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+1
General Comment
I think this is talking about a series of relationships "of every soldier passing" refers to the various people she has had relationships with. I think the current one from the first verse they have not formed a relationship yet, and he does not know why she is nervous. The third verse she is talking to the person who made her afraid.
I think Marlene Dietrich is giving her strength, the wise older woman, the one who tells her to stand up for herself and not be afraid to be alone sometimes. I heard her talk about that poster in an interview once.
I think she is changing her destiny from being a victim to being self confident.
joannajoyon April 25, 2010Link
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+1
General Comment
The title of the song refers to a picture of Marlene Dietrich. And clearly, the song is about a woman who has a habit of being in abusive relationships. However, there is more to it than that. As Vega writes in the chorus, "I am changing." That is the key to the song. I write about this in detail on the following webpage (I assume you will have to copy and paste the link):
Also, the line in the third verse is not "By the butcher shot [sic] with the sawdust strewn." Rather, it is, "By the butcher's shop with the sawdust strewn." Although "butcher shot" has a certain poetic beauty.
FranklyCuriouson December 17, 2011Link
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General Comment
Sounds like a it's about a forbidden relationship. The guys using her, but she's letting him, even though she knows it: "Even if I am in love with you/All this to say, what's it to you?" It's obviously something that shouldn't be happening:
"Of the fingerprints on me from youOther evidence has shownThat you and I are still aloneWe skirt around the danger zoneAnd don't talk about it later"
She knows she should stop, but she can't:
"And I tried so hard to resistWhen you held me in your handsome fistAnd reminded me of the night we kissedAnd of why I should be leaving"
Marlene is a picture or painting in the guys house, and she's always watching girls coming to & from getting up to know good, which is why she's got a "mocking smile"
missmeon February 04, 2006Link
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General Comment
i love this song. definitely agree on the first comment about suzanne being underappreciated
so_fetch!on July 11, 2006Link
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- Artists - S
- Suzanne Vega
- Cracking
- Marlene On The Wall Lyrics
More Featured Meanings
Love in a Vacuum 'Til Tuesday Well, in my opinion this song is about being a young & maybe a little naive &/or introverted girl and finding yourself loving a man who is at first very charming, carefree & outgoing, and seems at first to be without limits, as in "There was a timeyou opened up every doorwayyou didn't mind if everythingwasn't your way"then that man starts to gradually become more introverted & shows their more possessive/obsessive side to you as the relationship progresses, even while they keep up the appearance of being carefree & outgoing to everyone else,"Don't pull awaythat goes against what you told meI look in your eyes I realize what you've sold meis love in a vacuum"so you confront them about the way they're acting and of course they deny it,"I think you've changedbut you insist thatthat's not true"quite possibly they are an addict of some sort, my guess would be cocaine, &/or showing very obsessive behavior towards you (early on in the video for this song we see the man hanging a picture up, it is a very large portrait of Aimee & it is prominently displayed in his/their apartment for the duration of the song), thus their "love in a vacuum","You look so strange, so distantthat you're hardly youNow I can seehow you have been acting differentYou say it's mebut I knowthat it isn'tit's love in a vacuum"but still you are in love with them and don't want to leave them and you know that they are truly in love with you and they don't want you to leave them either, maybe they are convinced you can save them from themself, maybe they are so broken that the possibility of an overdose &/or suicide attempt is very real and you want to get through to them that their behavior not only dangerous but it is also just pissing you off and if they don't wise up they run the risk of loosing you, as in the lines"You will be lonelyif you leave me alone", so you want to save them but can't get through to them due to the addiction &/or emotional problems they have, "Love in a vacuumand that's not enoughlove in a vacuumYou will be lonelyyou'll be the only one who feels this wayYou will be lonelyif you leave me alone You will be lonelyyou'll be the only one who feels this wayit's just not enough"you want them to understand that the love they are giving you is not enough when it is filtered through the vacuum of their drug addiction &/or emotional impairment, "You will be lonelyyou'll be the only one who feels this wayit's just not enoughand just waityou will be lonelyLove in a vacuumLove in a vacuum and that's not enoughLove in a vacuum".'Love In A Vacuum' for me is a hauntingly truthful acute argument on the loneliness of obsession and almost inevitable loss of love that follows people who are broken in some way or another; the obsessives, the co*ke heads, the drunks, addicts or the just-plain-old emotionally broken; a razor sharp, lyrically driven, deceptively poppy, yet ultimately-depressing-in-the-best-way song. Quintessential Aimee Mann. when rules change Life in Your Way High life Grand Theft Auto Insane Ian The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri Hayalperest This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere. In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.Rate These Lyrics
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