Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[river1974]

I'm a *beep*, I'm a lover
I'm a child, I'm a mother
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint
I do not feel ashamed
I'm your hell, I'm your dream
I'm nothing in between
You know you wouldn't want it any other way

Could you tell me what does "I'm nothing in between / You know you wouldn't want it any other way" mean? Thanks a lot.

[bud]

Each of the lines illustrates two opposites or extremes. So "to be nothing in between" means to be one extreme or the other, black or white, and not a mixture of the two.

"You wouldn't want it any other way" means "you love me because of the fact that I am extreme."

[river1974]

Thank you, Bud. Now I totally understand the meaning of the lyrics for this song. Sometimes I am confused about some English lyrics even if I have looked up all the vocabulary and phrases therein, especially about songs by Tori Amos.

[bud]

My pleasure, River... My answer was not totally clear yesterday. What I forgot to say is that she means that she takes on both extremes at different times, but is never in the middle of the extremes. Today she is the child, needy, but tomorrow she will be the mother, nurturing.

Don't worry about the lyrics problem. They can be very difficult, if not impossible, to understand. I have even heard songwriters say that they don't even know what some particular song means even though they wrote it. They say that the words "just came" to them.

All the best.

[missdaredevil]

Isn't that a song by *Alanis Morisette*?
"I'm a bit-ch, I'm a lover"

[river1974]

At first I suppose it's a song by "Alanis Morisette" too. But actually, the singer of this song is "Meredith Brook". I don't know much about this female singer, but I like her voice-powerful and emotional just like "Alanis Morisette"!