I think this is a song about bearding, being ‘the other woman’ in an affair, and karma
And the tennis court was covered up with some tent-like thing
This evokes a wedding, perhaps the reason for this song. She is reflecting on her relationship after the marriage of the muse.
And you asked me to dance but I said, "Dancing is a dangerous game"
At the start of the relationship, she was scared to ‘dance’ i.e., to get involved.
Oh, I thought this is gonna be one of those things
She thought it was going to be a love affair that might break her heart (like before?).
Now I know I'm never gonna love again
She was right, it didn’t make her happy, she can’t move on to love anyone else.
I've got some tricks up my sleeve. Takes one to know one, you're a cowboy like me
She acknowledges she has a past herself. Her tricks/deceptions: bearding, glass closeting, having both a lover and a PR bloke, hiding her real relationship. Perhaps even a history of treating her real lovers the way she has been treated in this relationship.
Never wanted love, just a fancy car
She sees the lover as a material girl and perhaps she was that person too once.
Now I'm waiting by the phone, like I'm sitting in an airport bar
This is a description of being at someone’s beck and call. I think of an affair, where you have to wait for them to call and you are kind of trapped by your obsession. You put up with the scraps of their attention. Your metaphorical plane is not going anywhere, and you just pass your time waiting to take flight with them if they call.
You had some tricks up your sleeve takes one to know one
The shoe is on the other foot now, the lover is playing these tricks on her now. Perhaps she’s done this herself in relationships in her past. i.e., had someone ‘waiting for her call in the airport bar’.
You're a cowboy like me perched in the dark
Telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear, like it could be love, I could be the way forward, only if they pay for it
You offer to be in a PR relationship for money. This is the game (the trick) they both know.
You're a bandit like me, eyes full of stars, hustling for the good life. Never thought I'd meet you here
She sees the lover as a fairly pragmatic character doing this for the money and to get on, she thought she was the only one like that and never thought she’d meet someone so like her.
It could be love, we could be the way forward, and I know I'll pay for it
I wonder if she’s being cynical here? There is a twist in the lyrics to I’ll pay for it. Maybe she wonders here if she was played. It a bit like “and the saddest fear comes creeping in that (s)he never loved me or her…..”
You're a cowboy like me, perched in the dark, telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear. Like it could be love, I could be the way forward, only if they pay for it.
This is the trick they play, that they have both use on men, but she is also rich – so was the game of ‘pretend love’ used on her and she thought it was real?
You're a bandit like me, eyes full of stars, hustling for the good life, never thought I'd meet you here. It could be love, we could be the way forward, and I know I'll pay for it.
She reflects. The lover is a hustler like her, maybe the player (her) got played? She certainly knows she’s ‘paying’ for their relationship now in emotional heartache. Maybe this is also the switch to her realising she will need to pay for a new PR relationship herself now to clean it all up.
And the skeletons in both our closets, plotted hard to f*** this up
She knows both of their pasts did cause problems for their relationship. Past contractual obligations? Trust issues, jealousy?
And the old men that I've swindled, really did believe I was the one
She realises she easily fooled men into thinking her love for them was real, so why would she not have been fooled herself by a crook who was caught?
And the ladies lunching have their stories about, when you passed through town but that was all before I locked it down
She knows there was negative gossip about the lover and her, but she has shut it down now (with her new beard?).
Now you hang from my lips like the Gardens of Babylon
So, she has locked it down. Her new lover (beard) is apparently one of the seven wonders of the world, he hangs from her lips (like an actual beard would) but is he an illusion? – no one is sure if he is real. Equally, the love of her life is an illusion now too. Now they are over, did they really happen? Was their relationship real, or was it like the gardens of Babylon, a beautiful myth? The lover has erased her from her life.
With your boots beneath my bed, forever is the sweetest con
Boots beneath your bed is a Shania Twain song about a lover who has various affairs. Perhaps she became just like one of the girls named in that song. The lover’s boots were beneath her bed at the end, but it was not ‘always and forever’ for that relationship like she’d hoped, it was a sweet con where their relationship was to be hidden in perpetuity. The lover’s man was always going to be part of their story too. She was always destined to be in the airport bar.
I've had some tricks up my sleeve, takes one to know one you're a cowboy like me
Can she complain? Is it Karma? Maybe it’s what she did to other people, so she knows the playbook. Maybe she had women, who wanted more commitment, while she insisted on a guy for show and expected them to cope.
And I'm never gonna love again….. outro
It ends sadly like it didn’t work out (the faithless love/hoax/shade of blue ended). She feels she’s never going to love anyone else, its broken her.
