King Crimson: Matte Kudasai Meaning

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Matte Kudasai Lyrics

Still, by the window pane
Pain, like the rain that's falling
She waits in the air, Matte Kudasai
She sleeps in a chair, in her sad America

When, when was the night so long
Long, like the notes I'm sending
She waits in the air, Matte...

1. anonymous

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   Jan 17th 2020 report

   To me, this seems less of a specific, but a more general portrayal of the personification of the Japanese people who were taken from their homes and placed in internment camps during World War II..Their future is unknown to them, it’s “up in the air” (where she waits)...the camps are overcrowded, perhaps a shortage of beds (“sleeps in a chair”).. This all happened in a dark time in the history of a “sad America”..
2. anonymous

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   Jul 21st 2019 report

   This must be about a Japanese woman who lives in America now and is lonely.
   
   Japanese because of the 'matte kudasai', which means"'please wait'.Clearly she waits on the phone: 'she waits in the air'. Obviously she is trying to contact family or a friend in Japan. She is not a traveller like a tourist or a business woman: it is HER sad America.
   
   Why she sleeps in a chair is not clear. Maybe she had to wait very long. But then this story must have happened a long time ago, when you had to wait on the phone at long distance calls. It may also explain why she gets an operator on the phone: 'please wait'. She is waiting quite some time: 'still by the window pane'.
3. anonymous

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   Sep 7th 2017 report

   A quiet introspective message of doubt. Is there anything to wait for?
4. anonymous

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   Jul 12th 2017 report

   Like "Phone Call From the Moon".
5. anonymous

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   Feb 16th 2017 report

   This song is a counterpart to Waiting Man. Both convey the longing of a couple separated by time and space.
6. eldar221

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   Feb 16th 2015 report

   This song always reminds me of Yoko Ono right after John Lennon was shot. I remember the media reporting that she frequently slept in a chair in her Dakota apartment during that time.
   
   I love the open-endedness of this song. Does it have to be strictly about Yoko? I doubt it. Still, John was killed in November of 1980, and this song was written not long after.
7. astorian

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   Oct 8th 2012 report

   First, the title: "Matte Kudasai" is a Japanese phrase meaning "Please wait." It's what a Japanese receptionist would tell you on the phone, just before putting you on hold.
   
   The song itself is a portrait of a lonely woman in the United States waiting sadly and sleeplessly for her husband or lover to come back from a trip far away. It's probably a portrait of singer Adrian Belew's own wife, while her husband and his band are on tour overseas.
   
   Adrian sends her long letters from every city he performs in, and tells her, in effect, "Please wait for me... I'll be home with you soon."

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