Charlotte Sometimes - An interpretation

-by David Green

All the faces All the voices blur Change to one face Change to one voice Prepare yourself for bed The light seems bright And glares on white walls All the sounds of Charlotte sometimes Into the night with Charlotte sometimes Night after night she lay alone in bed Her eyes so open to the dark The streets all looked so strange They seemed so far away But Charlotte did not cry The people seemed so close playing expressionless games The people seemed so close so many other names... Sometimes I'm dreaming where all the other people dance Sometimes I'm dreaming Charlotte sometimes Sometimes I'm dreaming expressionless the trance Sometimes I'm dreaming so many different names Sometimes I'm dreaming the sounds all stay the same Sometimes I'm dreaming she hopes to open shadowed eyes On a different world come to me Scared princess Charlotte sometimes On that bleak track (see the sun is gone again) The tears were pouring down her face she was crying and crying for a girl who died so many years before... Sometimes I dream where all the other people dance Sometimes I dream Charlotte sometimes Sometimes I dream The sounds all the stay the same Sometimes I'm dreaming There are so many different names Sometimes I dream... Sometimes I dream... Charlotte sometimes crying for herself Charlotte sometimes dreams a wall around herself But its always with love With so much love it looks like everything else Of Charlotte sometimes so far away Glass sealed and pretty Charlotte sometimes

Robert is at a girl's funeral.  The girl is named Charlotte.  He sees all the people, the faces, voices -- and remembers why he's there: Charlotte. The eternal bed she prepares for. The light at the end of the tunnel... a death as dark as night he remembers her more often than just sometimes, I'm sure. This is what Charlotte felt as she died.  Opened eyes in a new place. A new strange enviornment The old world so far behind But she wasn't afraid, she did not cry.  She knew it was ok where she was. Back to Robert -- the people here are playing social games, even though its somber. There are so many different people he sees, he knows, he feels... This whole block of lyric is the turmoil going on in Robert's mind over Charlotte's death.   Sometimes he wonders how other people react and feel, and then he thinks of her.  When he does, its all the same: so humdrum, so silent, so still. He sees her in her different world, her afterworld, opening eyes there the way she opened his eyes once when she lived. He remembers her crying for someone before.  A friend, a mother, who knows? But he remembers the way she wept. A foreshadowing to her own death. Now Robert is in her place. Who are the other people?  Others who share his sorrow?  A dance isn't always happy.  Of course he dreams of her. It's always the same, it won't change.  She's gone. Present moment.  he can't focus on her for too long because he can't handle it all. Maybe Charlotte wasn't ready to depart. But she's a good person. her wall of love, protects, extends to Robert, makes him feel better even in a different realm. So close by... She's still with you. Charlotte always...

Big song!  No pic on this page, sorry!