Linda Ronstadt: Someone to Lay Down Beside Me Meaning

Song Released: 1976

Someone to Lay Down Beside Me Lyrics

There's somebody waiting, alone in the street;
For someone to walk up and greet.
Here you are all alone in the city;
Where's the one that you took to your side?
Lonely faces will stare through your eyes, in the night.
And they'll say, "Woman...

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   May 16th 2022 report

   This a truly moving piece that offers a profound look at the conundrum that is love. At the simplest level it laments the chasm between the kind of deep committed love that a woman demands versus the tawdry everyday lust that seems to consume most men. But whether in the animal kingdom or in our own species, the chasm is real and purposeful. Sex drive in the male is strong because he need only impregnate and thence go on his merry way. Whereas females have a marked element of reluctance about sex because their burden is appreciable should they become pregnant and have to carry and bear and rear the offspring. So nature has arrived at a détente of sorts by requiring the male to either fight for the right to mate or to keenly impress the female in order to lure her into willingness. This is how species evolve into the greatest strength and endurance.
   
   Now the song. In the first verse we are introduced to a young woman hanging around the city's night life ("There's somebody waiting, alone in the street, for someone to walk up and greet") ever on the lookout for a significant other ("Here you are all alone in the city"), after having broken up with her previous beau ("Where's the love that you took to your side?"). The woman is admonished to be wary because men are mostly looking to get in her pants ("Lonely faces will stare through your eyes in the night; and they'll say, 'woman sweet woman, please come home with me; you're shining and willing and free'"). Of course the woman is reluctant, ideating instead some long term committed relationship akin to the home in which she grew up ("But your love is a common occurrence; not like love that I feel in my heart"). While at the same time admitting to herself that perhaps her lofty goals are not readily attainable and she may settle for immediate sexual gratification ("Still you know that may be what I need, is someone to lay down beside me; and even though it's not real...").
   
   In the second verse, she has had a one-night stand with a guy and might experience regret and disappointment, especially since the man might be selfish and may go around boasting of his 'conquest' ("The sun will soon share all the cost, of a world that can be sort of heartless").
   
   And the song ends with a forlorn sentiment: alas, ("Still you know that may be all you get; is someone to lay down beside you... you just can't ask for more").

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