Vanessa Carlton: White Houses Meaning
White Houses Lyrics
This little bungalow with some strange new friends
Stay up too late, and I'm too thin
We promised each other it's til the end
Now we're spinning empty bottles
It's the five of us
With pretty eyed...
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1TOP RATED
anonymous Aug 23rd 2009, 20:00 report
Okay well this is pretty easy interpret. The girl (Vanessa) went to a ballet camp. There were 5 girls all together in the bunks at the camp. The bunks were called white houses. Thus the name of the song. It says she crashed on the floor when she first moved in, meaning when she first came to the camp she crashed on the floor when she stepped through the door. Some strange new friends represents the other girls in the bunk. well the girls had inside jokes ("Beer through through the nose on an inside joke") they liked to party, and their was a girl named Jenny who was "so pretty and confident" and got the "guy in the red shirt" to kinda like her. well Vanessa thought that she was "more clever than a girl like her" meaning she could win the guy over. well she does and goes to his car. Thus the "cracked leather seats" and "the smell of gasoline in the summer heat" she then starts to "come undone at the things he said" before she knows it she "puts herself in his hands" then she looses her virginity " my first time hard to explain. rush of blood, oh, and a little bit of pain" she is in love with him but he only wants a fling. She is hurt "love, or something ignites in my veins" she then realizes she's made a mistake "he was my first mistake" she feels "so far from where I've been." and she realizes her friend probably would have been better being with him because her and the rest of them were "faster than me,we gave each other up so easily, these silly little wounds will never mend" so she decides to give up on her love for the guy "I lie, put my injuries all in the dust " and then she leaves. ("So I go, and I will not be back here again, I'm gone as the day is fading on white houses") she never forgets her friends though "In my heart is the five of us" and then she gets over him "Maybe you'll remember me, what I gave you is yours to keep" (what she means in 'what I gave you is yours to keep' meaning you can keep my virginity I don't want need it anymore) oh and white houses symbolize purity and that she's saying that she left her innocence behind at that camp. and when she says we were all in love and we all got hurt, she means Jenny was hurt because she stole 'the red shirt' guy from her and Vanessa was hurt because he didn't love her back. well that was very long so thanks for reading. I hope I got it right :)
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2TOP RATED
anonymous Feb 4th 2006, 02:02 report
The song is about a summer intensity program, like a summer camp-type thing that hardcore ballerinas do in preparation to begin to dance professionally, as she was on track to do. They are usually held on a campus, in nicer, sorority-type dorms (the White Houses). She's talking about her new ballerina buddies she met, that's why she's "too thin". They have fun and party and meet boys, but are also highly competitive with each other- (Maybe I'm more clever than a girl like her). Since most of these girls spend hours a day dancing, they don't attend regular school, and spend a lot of time with older boys, so hense, her first sexual encounter. This is all courtesy of my roommate, btw, once a ballerina, who instantly knew what the song was about, and explained it to me.
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3TOP RATED
anonymous Nov 30th 2007, 21:53 report
This song is about all the trials and tribulations of growing up. First she moves out and meets some new possibly more experienced ("maybe they were all a little faster than me") friends. She was jealous of jenny because jenny's confident and beautiful. The the girl is smart. They like the boy in the red shirt and although jenny's pretty and outgoing, the girl maybe can outsmart her. She does and she and the boy have sex in his car. She describes what it is like to lose your virginity, as a girl. She thought he cared about her, but all he wanted was a summer fling. She feels she made a mistake a great like is "love, or something in my veins" meaning she's aware its not love that's driving her to do what she does. Many think its lust; I thunk its triumph. I think even thought at one point in the song she does hesitate, the idea of beating jenny to the boy makes her continue. The white represents purity and the houses are where her not so innocent secrets will be stored. Vanessa said that she practiced ballet at an academy and the bunks were called "white houses."
Hope that might have been a little helpful! -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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anonymous Nov 27th 2005, 15:40 report
It about her first time having sex, and the summer it happened, and the people it happened with.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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anonymous Jul 8th 2006, 12:14 report
Hey, I think this song is about an innocent girls first experience in college. She meets a new group of girlfriends and boyfriends. ("with pretty-eyed boys girls die to trust")
The next stanza is talking about a good friend of hers whom she admires.("shes so pretty and she's so sure")
She then meets a guy who she has no idea why she's with him
("maybe Im in a little over my head")
He takes her out and convinces her to have sex with him
("Boy, we're going way to fast")
She then realizes what a mistake it was and regrets it
("Hes my first mistake")
So then she either leaves the college, the dude, or quits hanging out with that entire new group.
("So I go, and I will not be back here again")
I think maybe the white houses part is a metaphor of living in a pretty white house one day; like a fairy tale ending.
I really really like this song (good job vanessa!)
Hope ya'll appreciate my interpretation.
thnx -
anonymous Jul 20th 2006, 13:48 report
I think that in this song she's saying she hung out with some friends, and maybe lost her virginity and how she regretted it. "My first time, hard to explain, rush of blood, oh and a little bit of pain. On a cloudy day it's more common than you think he's my first mistake." All her friends probably already done it so singing "maybe you were all faster than me" meaning they experienced it already. She might have been the only virgin there.
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anonymous Sep 6th 2006, 00:24 report
The song is supposedly fiction and not about vanessa personally. I think the song is about the summer that the girl she sings about had sex. I think the white houses symoblise the girlish ideal of a perfect boyfriend who she will one day marry etc etc- basically girlish innocence. Obviously, from 'he's my first mistake', this turns out not to be so. The song is her reminiscing about the whole summer. It actually really reminds me of bryan adam's 'summer of '69' because it's about realizing too late how good times are till you've lost them. I think that as she is looking back on that summer she realizes that she misses the times with her friends, the four other girls she lived in a bungalow with, obviously her first time on her own. She may have tried to forget the summer because she has regrets about the boy she slept with, because she rushed into it and allowed herself to be swept away by 'the things he said', getting 'over [her] head' and the fact that her perfect summer was coming to an end; but she realizes that her and her friends 'gave eachother up [too] easily' and lost their friendships with one another because they regretted the romantic relationships they formed that summer, in which they 'all got hurt'. It's like running away from something you're ashamed of.
Oh yeah, and when she says 'i hold onto *your* secrets' after the part about her first time, I think she is referring to the fact that you never forget your first time. Girls at least remember every detail, and she associates this as part of her 'white houses,' which resemble her innocence and virginity. After this first sexual encounter, she is an experienced woman and no longer an innocent girl. -
anonymous Sep 14th 2006, 17:46 report
I think white houses are piano keys... Because that's how she got her frustrations out growing up. She doesn't want to think about the bad times and her losing her virginity, so she hangs on to their secrets in white houses. So she only lets them out when writting songs or something like that.
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anonymous Jan 23rd 2007, 01:18 report
I'm am completely and wholly in agreement with the ballerina thing. I always sort of thought something like that, since I did ballet dancing when I was younger and wanted to be a professional (I am obviously not one now), and I remember looking up how to get into ballet as a profession. And in the music video, it DOES have a girl ballet dancing in it...
Yup, all makes sense. That person up there who figured this out is very clever. -
anonymous May 13th 2007, 02:36 report
1st verse: [crashed on the floor...we promised each other it's 'till the end]
A girl starts high school (bungalow is a metaphor), meets a bunch of new people, they become best friends 'we promised each other it's 'til the end.
2nd verse: [now we're spinning empty bottles it's the 5 of us...can't resist the day]
5 best friends, spinning empty bottles symbolizes emptiness, friends kinda separated over high school, can't resist they day is their graduation, they want it to come but at the same time don't because they don't want to leave their friends.
3rd verse:
Jenny screams out and it's no pose, because when she dances she goes and goes: a girl in their group is loud and abnoxious, never stops acting like it
Beer through the nose on an inside joke: a few of the people in the group have their own inside jokes
I'm so excited, I haven't spoken: sarcasm, maybe feels left out of the inside jokes
4th verse:
[She's so pretty and she's so sure: other girl (Jenny) is pretty but arrogant
[Maybe I'm more clever than a girl like her: Thinks herself is a better catch, other boys don't recognize it
[The summer's all in bloom, the summer's ending soon: high school ending soon, in "full bloom" at the end of senior year, rt before graduation
[It's alright and it's not to be so alone: she has other friends, perhaps a bf
[but I hold on to your secrets in white houses: she knows something's up between other people in the groups, keeps it to herself so as to not make a big deal, white symbolizes innocence, as the group used to be earlier in high school
5th verse:
[Maybe I'm a little bit over my head, I come undone at the things he said: perhaps her boyfriend broke up with her, can't understand why and gets upset over it
[and he's so funny in his bright red shirt: he's either the one in the group that everyone idols or she's being sarcastic, red can symbolize crime or wrongdoing (adultery in the Scarlet Letter), perhaps he cheated on his girlfriend
[We were all in love and we all got hurt: group of friends broke apart after the breakup, torn between still being friends with one of the two
[I sneak into his car's black leather seat, smell of gasoline in the summer's heat boy we're going way too fast, it's all to sweet to last: boy tricks her into sleeping with him, she thinks he's infatuated with her, she knows its too good to be true but goes along with it anyways
[it's alright, and I put myself in his hands, but I hold onto your secrets in white houses: she lets him have emotional control over her, still keeps his secrets along with the innocent memories
[love or something ignites in my veins and I pray it never fades in white houses: she feels that the boy loves her, doesn't want it to fade along with those same memories
[my first time...hes my first mistake: Vanessa may be using sex as a metaphor for falling in love or she could really mean sex. either way, the girl still falls for the guy, realizes its a mistake
[maybe you were all faster than me: other people in the group "matured" faster, maybe she feels left behind when all her friends abandoned her after the break up
[we gave each other up so easily: friends didn't try to mend the relationships
[these silly little wounds will never mend: silly as in immature drama-type stuff, will always be there even if they sort of make-up
[i feel so far from where I've been: doesn't know who she is anymore, was happy, now friends have left her
[so I go and I will not be back here again, I'm gone as the day is fading on white houses: girl goes away to college at the end of high school, leaves all the drama behind, day fading on white houses is like giving up on trying to make things all innocent and fun like they were before
[i lie, put my injuries all in the dust: leaves all these bad memories, whatever they may be, behind when she leaves, puts on a happy face and makes the best of it
[in my heart is the 5 of us in white houses: she only remembers the good times the friends have had, keeps them in her heart
[ and you, maybe you'll remember me: she talking to the boy saying maybe he'll remember her
[what I gave is yours to keep: either virginity or heart
[in white houses: innocence again (I love that metaphor) -
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anonymous May 28th 2007, 01:10 report
I'm definitely going with the whole ballerina thing considering Vanessa was a ballerina and she was my ballet teacher's room mate once.
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anonymous Jul 11th 2007, 18:38 report
I sort of saw the white houses as a metaphor for innocence. "The day is fading on white houses," "In my heart is the five of us in white houses," like she's leaving behind her innocence, but her memories remain untouched, even though she and her friends have moved on into life...OK, that sounds really sappy, but that's how I interpreted it. :)
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anonymous Jul 13th 2007, 20:59 report
This is more than her just having sex, so much more. This is about a girl who's life suddenly changes drastically. She finds herself in a new place for this one summer, where she makes new friends she never thought she would have and encountered things the never knew she could. She starts to hang out with this group, a girl and that girls boyfriend and another girl. She "grows up," compared to who she used to be. She breaks the rules like she never had before. Then she meets this guy, and she falls in love for the first time. Her friend likes him also, but when this boy doesn't like her back, the friend doesn't mind too much. And all summer, this girl has the time of her life with these new friend and these new things. But, with this boy, the girl knows she doesn't have much time, and she just wants him so much. She does stuff with him, to have him, that she knows is wrong (such as sneaking out, etc.). It moves fast, but she is just happy she has him. Then, she gives herself to this boy, and after that it's never the same. It's no longer fun, and summer ends. The "group" all changed so much, and after this summer it will never be the same with them. They all go thier seperate ways, and this girl is devestated. She can't believe it's all gone so soon. So rather than wait, she goes back to who she was, missing this summer and what she had terribly.
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anonymous Nov 4th 2007, 18:55 report
I watched an interview she was in when this album came out and she said it had to do with losing your virginity.
it does say
"rush of blood, and a little bit of pain" -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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anonymous Jul 20th 2008, 00:06 report
I think it's about a camp or something like that, and they play spin the bottle or truth or dare or like 7 minutes in heaven or something to that effect..(Jenny screams out and it's no pose 'Cause when she dances she goes and goes Beer through the nose on an inside joke And I'm so excited, I haven't spoken)
And maybe the guy that had a sexual encounter took advantage of her when she thought he liked her?
It sounded better in my head :)
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