Interpretations:Ondine

• Song
• Lyrics
• Interpretations
• Credits
• Guitar Tab
• Bass Tab
• Chronology

Interpretation 1

Has anyone ever considered the possibility that this song is connected to She Was A Hotel Detective? After all, both songs seem to be about a woman who is some sort of underworld character. What if the "Hotel Detective" is named Ondine? Along with (She Was A) Hotel Detective, that would make this a sort of film noir song trilogy. I realize that this is a reach, but it's at least a possibility.

As far as the interpretation for this chapter in this supposed trilogy, it's fairly easy to come up with a story that fits the words: Ondine, the quondam "hotel detective," a sleazy private eye employed by an equally sleazy hotel, shoots one of her associates -- the narrator of Ondine -- steals his pickup, and runs him over. But, unbeknownst to Ondine, she doesn't quite finish the job. Years later, the singer comes back to hunt her down and to challenge her to "finish what [she] started." Meanwhile Ondine has picked up on some rumors that this guy is back in town, and starts being haunted by dreams about the original crime.

I'm not sure I'd believe that They had this story in mind when they wrote Ondine, but this kind of story does seem to fit with the overall mood of the song. Tutt 14:57, 21 Oct 2005 (EDT)MasterChivo

Interpretation 2

My interpretation of this song has always been that the singer is bitter after a romance with Ondine went tragically awry. --Cronny 01:47, December 16, 2005

Andy Warhol

Has anyone thought of an Andy Warhol connection? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.92.95.110 (talk) 04:40, June 29, 2010

This was definitley the first thing I thought of when I first heard this song. Ondine was an actor who was part of the Factory art scene. He appeared in many of Andy Warhol's experimental films in the '60's and '70's. He was also the subject of A Novel which Warhol wrote based on taped conversations between the two. One could argue that referring to Ondine as 'that swinger' makes sense because Ondine claims to have met Warhol at an orgy. One could even imagine an interpretation of this song in which 'I' is Warhol, and where the word 'She' doesn't refer to Ondine, but to Valarie Solanas, who famously shot Warhol. However, I don't think most of the details fit. Plandis (talk) 11:42, 7 July 2022 (EDT)

Just a note

This Might Be A Wiki's page for the song says that she's a water nymph who cursed the man who is probably the narrator to stop breathing if he slept. And in the song Ondine is telling him about a dream that she had, which just seems humorously ironic because he can't dream anymore because he has to sleep to dream. Just seems like an interesting connection in the song, and I think that it was made on purpose. Good songwriting. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.23.190.166 (talk) 18:00, November 29, 2014