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Interpretations:Letterbox

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Okay, I'll take a stab at this one. I think that it's a song about a person who is in love with a female friend, and has sent her a note telling her so, and is now afraid of her reply. He fears she's been playing games with his emotions. This is not as much of a stretch as it looks:

The phrase "a little bird told me" is usually used when somebody wants to tell a secret, but doesn't want to reveal the source. It may come from the old belief that birds could carry messages and omens. Also, "a little bird," in a slangy usage, could refer to a girl. So the speaker presumably is disappointed that he's not being told anything by the woman in question, that she's been keeping things from him.

We also hear that the speaker's best friend - or possibly the little bird, as the antecedent of the pronoun "she" is kept ambiguous - is a sparrow. The sparrow is often associated with fickleness, flirtation, or pettiness; in the Bible, the sparrow is used as an example of a trivial thing that God nonetheless has full control over. It's a reasonable guess, then, that the speaker's accusing his friend of toying with his emotions.

His statement that he'll "never know" what "you never want to know" is a way of expressing his fear that, yes, he really is just a friend, and he might not want to have his hopes crushed. She's already (unwittingly?) taken "a bite out of his spine" in the past with apparent thoughtlessness, so he's bound to be nervous.

Worse, the speaker wonders if it's even wise to "make noise about love," if he missed his chance earlier, or if she might not be ready yet. So, with a "hole in the brain," he remains in a state of nervous confusion, awaiting a reply.

Assuming he's actually sent the note already. Perhaps he hasn't.

If you look at the lyrics with your interpretation in mind, he gave the note to the friend but isn't sure whether or not she delivered it. Bacon warrior 23:59, 27 Feb 2006 (CST)

This could be another break-up song; "Too late or soon to make noise about love" fits with that interpretation. Somebody who's moving out of a shared home or apartment wouldn't know what would be in the letterbox there the next day... and the second verse seems pretty bitter, indirectly suggesting that, looking back, the speaker considers the subject of the song a backbiter.


It could also have to do with letterboxing.

I think it's just meant to be one big tonguetwister.

Mankoi

If I had a pair of eyes on the back of my head for each time You forgot to take out all the things you forgot to talk about When you took a bite out of my spine I would have a lot of eyes on me by this time, wouldn't I? Wouldn't that just be fine?

Look at that. Now tell me how that makes sense. Now that's 1 out of 3 verses, so at least 1 third of this song doesn't make sense. None of it does, actually. -Salioshy

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