Marbles - By The Amazing Devil: A Lyrical Analysis
Forewarning: Before we start this analysis, I just want to tell you all that this song first made me smile, then made me laugh right out loud (on a public bus) and then it smashed my heart into a thousand sharp broken pieces. Once I realized what it was actually about, I broke down and cried openly – Now when I listen to it, I feel all of those emotions all at once, and that hurts.
This song tells a story about loss and love, but so very much more than that.
It’s about meeting someone and spending a lifetime loving them only to lose them slowly as agonizing, fading fragments of their mind slip away. It’s about celebrating the memories that you have built together, of shared jokes and fond mistakes, of knowing someone intimately that their stories are also your own. It’s holding each other tight as dementia steals away the other half of your soul, but still having hope in the darkness because you know that you are not alone.
This song reminds us of everything love should be, and one day when I am old and my memories are fading, I can only hope that someone pulls me just as close and tells me that there is hope.
I’ve held your hand since nineteen seventy-nine
You were in a band - still am - yeah but back then you had hair and your smile was so sublime
And I chipped my teeth on every joke you cracked
The song starts with a cheerful tone; a conversation between an old couple, who have been together for 40 years, as they recount the story of their life together. He was young and ‘sublime’ and she fancied him for his full head of hair and pretty smile. You can hear the bantering, overlapping flow of their conversation that comes from their intimacy. They talk of supporting each other, of jokes, and music, and years passing by. She laughed so hard at his jokes she ‘chipped her teeth’ each time (figuratively speaking).
You used to buy me scotch - still do - yeah but now too much is never enough
To take me back to that dance hall where you got thrown out cos they thought you were drunk -I wasn’t -
You couldn’t lie then and you sure as hell can’t lie to me now
The conversation soon sees them move back into specific memories; a night at a ‘dance hall’ where he bought her scotch (still does) and then got kicked out because they ‘thought you were drunk’, which she charmingly calls him on ‘can’t lie to me now’. This is illustrative of their shared history, laughing over stories from long ago, and habits that even now continue (buying her scotch). It shows how close they still are, how they can read each other’s lies, know the truth of each other and still come out amused.
You stole the best years of my life
I’ll give them back
You got fat
And you’re the thigh-high hemline I just can’t stop staring at
They’re teasing each other (‘you got fat’), then expressing their appreciation for each other (you’re the thigh-high hemline I just can’t stop staring at). Back and forth they recount what they mean to each other, the good and the bad that comes with years of intimacy.
I will wait and hope
Your eyes aren’t rivers there to weep
But a place for crows to rest their feet
This stanza, for the first tie, they sing together. Their voices pulling together as age and time weary them and create wrinkles around their eyes (crows feet). But instead of sadness they ‘wait and hope’, reassuring each other that their trauma is shared, and not to ‘weep’.
I will wait and hope
And rest my head at night content
Knowing where my marbles went
They repeat together that they ‘will wait and hope’ the repetition serving to reinforce their determination stay strong together. The third line is a play on the cliché ‘I’m losing my marbles’ which alludes to dementia and age-related memory loss, this is the first time the audience realizes what the song is about, their loss. But, in changing it to ‘knowing where my marbles went’, they reassure each other that their memories aren’t lost, they’re carried by the other.
The flat we rented was a palace for my queen
If by palace you mean that asbestos and beans from a tin, and the gin that we brewed in the bathtub
You sang ‘do you think I’m sexy’ And oh god I really did
Their story continues in this stanza. They share with us a glimpse into their humble lives. They live in an unsafe apartment (asbestos) that they rented, where they scraped by on simple meals (beans) and brewed their own alcohol ‘in the bathtub’. It’s clear that it is a god memory, their tone is joyful because although they didn’t have much, they felt like they lived in a ‘palace’ and he treated her like a ‘queen’. They’d sing to each other; she was flirtatious and sweet, and he would respond with desire. They were happy even though they didn’t have much.
You’d swoon, you’d sigh, working shifts till we cried
Oh if one more guy calls me darling then I
Swear to you and to god I will murder them all, all the bastards applaud when I show that I’m flawed
You’re not flawed darling, you’re just a little under-rehearsed
However, not all was easy for them. The next stanza gives us a more realistic look the difficult lives they led, as they worked ‘shifts till we cried’, and she got hit on and harassed. She recounts men calling her ‘darling’ and goading her, applauding when she failed. Together they sing “I will murder them all” then he reassures her that even when she fails, it’s not her that is flawed, it’s just a momentary lack of preparation. Instead of giving into the pain and anger, he helped her make light of the unfairness of life, a world cruel to women.
And I’d get in. And for some reason, you’ve painted the kitchen lime green
And I’d sink to the floor, what’s the point anymore
And you, you’d reply with a glint in your eye
(And you, you’d reply with a drink in your hand)
Saying ‘I don’t know, but I’m here, I’m all yours, dear heart don’t cry’
A memory hits her, a time when she got home and he’d ‘painted the kitchen lime green’ and she just couldn’t cope anymore. Life was just too hard. She’d sunk to the floor, desperately asking him ‘what the point anymore?’. But he’s singing this part too, because there were times that it was him sinking to the floor begging her to tell him why he should go on. They held each other together through the years.
And each time they’d reply to the other ‘I don’t know, but I’m here, oh dear god, dear heart don’t cry’- each time neither knew what to do, only that they loved the other and couldn’t bare to see them cry. This beautiful mirroring of sentiment shows that, in fact, they did know exactly what to say. That just to express their love was enough; to show their imperfection honestly and reassurance that they would be there, always ‘I’m all yours’. Because they are imperfect, human and flawed, and very much in love.
I’ve loved you, for a hundred years
Certainly fucking feels like it
The minute I met you the colours of my life begun to pour
I’m scared of the dark
Here he uses hyperbole to expresses how it feels to him to love her – ‘loved you, for a hundred years’, but she makes a joke about it, trying to lighten the mood ‘certainly fucking feels like it’. But he doesn’t let her, telling her that when he met her his life flooded with ‘colour’. She can admit her feelings then, her fear of losing herself, and because he was comforting her, she can tell him that she afraid of the dark.
The ‘dark’ is powerful symbolism for the unknown, loss and death, a place without identity and time. While ‘colours’ symbolise the bright memories that they made together. She is scared because her ‘colourful’ memories are fading away and she will be left in the ‘dark’ alone.
And now, even though you’re mad and these memories won’t stay, it’s okay
Cos now I get to meet you for the first time every single day
But he continues to reassure her, that he knows she’s scared, but that it will be ok. He will love her even when she does not remember him anymore. When every day that he will spend with her, will be like the first time they met. And he will love her just as much.
I’ll wait and hope
Your eyes aren’t rivers there to weep
But a place for crows to rest their feet
I’ll wait and hope
And rest my head at night content
Knowing where my marbles went
And I will wait
And I will wait
And I will wait
And hope
The song ends with the word hope, because that is what they give each other. Through their difficult lives, they have been there patiently waiting. And they will continue to be there, holding each other together through the years.
