The Civil Wars: Girl with the Red Balloon Meaning

Girl with the Red Balloon Lyrics

There's a pub on the south side of town
Time stands still while there's still wine around
She's the one you in the calico
The one who's always and never alone

Did she let him go,
Or did the forewinds blow him away?
Oh does she even...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jan 11th 2012 !⃝

   I take the red balloon as a metaphor... the girl with the red balloon is the girl who has everything, and this balloon is symbolic of everything about her that is amazing, and she does't know how amazing she is; 'does she even know, she's the girl with the red balloon', she can't see it through the smoke and mirrors. she could have her pick of anyone, but instead she chooses this guy, just a meaningless guy, so meaningless that he is 'a man with no name'.
   
   I think it's written from the perspective of a guy who is in love with her, she's kind to him, letting him in out of the cold, but oblivious to his feelings. He's curious as to what's happening, and he's jealous.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jun 15th 2012 !⃝

   I think that this song is about a girl who waits for the right guy, but because of the mistakes she's made, she can't find him. The red balloon is a reference to a kind of scarlet letter. She wears it without knowing it. And she can't keep a man because of it. Smoke and mirrors is a metaphor for her past. She's made mistakes and they've ruined her.
3. anonymous

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   Sep 2nd 2017 !⃝

   I hear the tortured soul of a beautiful girl who has been abandoned. I do not, however think this is abandonment from a romantic interest. It seems to me that the man she longs for is one that absolutely cannot be replaced. I think perhaps this is her father. She carries a red balloon signifying all of the love and value her heart could bestow upon a man but she is unaware that it even exists. She cannot see her inherent beauty and value because abandonment by her father (the one man that should have been her eternal love) has left her hurting, alone, jaded and with seemingly no alternative but to drink the pain away. So lovely. So sad.
   To that girl I would say there is one who can fill the emptiness of your soul. One friend that is closer than a brother. He is waiting for you. He can restore all of the spoiled history in your heart that festers there like a cancer. Take heart. He is real and He is there.
4. anonymous

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   Jun 20th 2015 !⃝

   I think it's a man's perspective about a girl who has everything, and she's really rich with nice clothes (usually with some sort of calico on them) but one day/night when the man she thought she loved and loved her left (for unknown reasons 'did she let him go or did the four winds blow hi away')she starts throwing her life away with alcohol and drugs and vanity (keep her glass full with cheap champagne...smoke and mirrors have done her in). She feels like no one understands her(always and never alone) but this one man does, and he wants to say something to her to make her see that he loves her, and that she shouldn't throw her life away, and that he wanted to be there for her but didn't have enough courage too. The red balloon, isn't a symbol for everything she's lost, but what she can have, his heart, his love and understanding, and finally happiness. So he writes this song hoping to get through to her.
5. anonymous

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   Feb 24th 2015 !⃝

   I believe the red balloon is a symbol of love, and the girl doesn't know that she has the man with no name's love, she doesn't even know his name. So she just spends her time in a dingy old pub, drinking cheap champagne, wearing some sort of calico cloth.
6. anonymous

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   Feb 20th 2013 !⃝

   its about a girl that doesnt realize she is the object of the mans love. (any man or no man)
   she is oblivious due to glass filled with wine. (alcohol)
7. anonymous

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   Dec 9th 2012 !⃝

   The girl with the red balloon is symbolic of lost love.(It may or may not have to do with Banksy's lovely rendering). The question in the song is does she even know she's the girl with the red balloon--ie is she aware that she's lost love--she's pushed someone away, "did she let him go?" Another poignant lyric--"she's always and never alone." She seems to surround herself with men/people and can't take the love she's offered. She's lost, and she doesn't it--or doesn't know she's lost love.
8. anonymous

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   Jun 16th 2011 !⃝

   No, you dumb shit. Granted some artist created a piece with a girl and a red balloon doesn't mean there are any correlations. The whole 'girl with red balloon' is a bit trite in my opinion anyways. Granted in this case is was well executed. Not to mention the shit Banksy stands for- he's a bit of an ass with the whole 'jokes on you' thing goin for him. Don't affiliate such a beautiful song with that shit.
9. anonymous

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   May 20th 2011 !⃝

   A beautiful musical telling of Banksy's girl with a red balloon. The feel and emotional impact is similar. A remarkable song and a remarkable piece of art.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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