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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It is about losing your virginity.
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I think it could be interpreted two different ways. The first came to me when I was younger. The whole thing with spinning empty bottles, beer through the nose, going way too fast, gasoline in the summer heat, jenny screaming: could all be a part of a car crash as they were all drunk. Her first time drinking there was a bit of blood and pain. She dies and hopes they will rememeber her.
More likely is the having sex for the first time.
Also when she says Jenny dances it means she is a dancer. or at least that's what i got. Hope these two help! :) -
I agree with most of the comments, the only thing i would like to add is that i think white houses is a metaphore for her virginity. White is pure, which means she is pure
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How do I start, well, I was young and immature, and I had these feelings for a girl and she came over to my house to watch some tv with me, really cute girl, we ate some sandwiches, bologne or peanut butter and jelly I forget, anyway, at some point I decided I wanted to kiss her and I tried and she pulled away, and it all happened so quickly, but she was in a panic and I pursued her not understanding why she was so afraid of me when I was just trying to show her I liked her, she ran for the door and I trapped her and locked the door, she turned around and fumbled for the deadbolt and did not know how to work it, evidently she did not have one at home to protect her like my mom and I did, and she cried, I tried to tell her I wasn't trying to hurt her but she just wanted to go home, I cried and told her I was sorry, opened the door and she left, years later I ran into some of the same crowd from my childhood, people had moved places but some had kept in touch somehow, and I was told if I would just go to this party where they were going to be doing coke, that I would get to see this girl again and how much she wanted to see me, and I chickened out as I did a lot and still do in many ways to cover up my mistakes, anyway, the house I was in was small and yellow, but it got painted white when my new dad came, drove by some time ago and there are prickly pears there now in the front to keep the kids from riding over the bumps in the front yard, and the back was all moldy. Thought about going back, but, that was where I started, and I hope I have grown some since then.
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This song is about a summer romance that most likely occured during high school.
In the song, the girl was convinced that she was in love, and had some very naive thoughts about love.
She had sex with the guy she fell in love with, and wanted to stay in love forever. But one day, her eyes were opened to reality, and she realized it had been a mistake to lose her virginity to this boy.
The intensity of adolescent hormones and emotions are expressed..
The white houses in the song represent the innocence she lost that summer. White represents innocence, and she is showing her desire to have stayed innocently in love, and not have her eyes opened to the harshness of reality. She's keeping the secret of losing that innocence, and she knows she can never get it back. -
Nah I actually think she's talking about summer break, her and her friends go up to a huge vacant white house where they're all just hanging out and a boy that her friend is talking to comes with his friends, and they're all hanging out drinkin and whatnot then ya'know they each find a guy to chill with, then when Vanesssa says "she's so pretty and she's so sure, maybe i'm more clever than a girl like her" she's talking about her friend who Vanessa might look up to in a way, and her friend is sure about having sex with her guy but Vanessa is actually thinking about it so she hopes she's maybe smarter than to just do that.. but she ends up doing it and feels like everythings just happening so fast and when its over she realizes he was a mistake, but she picks her head up and goes.. always remembering that summer and the group of friends.
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I think it's about when Vanessa went to a dance acadamy when she was 14 (which she really did!) and got involved with some older girls at the acadamy before classes started in the summer and their were older boys in the group. Jenny, the best dancer in the group (and the life of a party) likes the boy in the red shirt (or is dating him), but Vanessa likes him as well. Vanessa thinks maybe she can get to him before Jenny because shes more clever then Jenny. Vanessa impresses the guy and he starts to like her. He takes her to his car to have sex. Vanessa does because shes just happy she beat Jenny to it but she later regrets it. Vanessa either leaves the boy, the school, or the group because shes embaressed of herself.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I read some of the interpretations on here and thought mine is nothing like it so I am gonna put mine out anyway.
Crashed on the floor when I moved in(The girl goes to a camp and she is late so she gets the floor till the counslers get another cot.)
This little bungalow with some strange new friends(the little bungalow is the cabin which her and her strange new friends all older than her stay.)
Stay up too late, and I'm too thin(stayed up to late would be past the time that everyone is supposed to be in bed and I'm too thin is she isn't as developed as the other girls.)
We promise each other it's 'til the end(their friendship)
Now we're spinning empty bottles(the kids are playing spin the bottle)
It's the five of us(the five kids in her cabin)
With pretty eyed boys girls die to trust(die to have the girls want the boys to want them)
I can't resist the day(she can't resist her friends)
No, I can't resist the day(her friends convince her to play)
Jenny screams out and it's no pose(she screams when she and a boy are doing something)
'Cause when she dances she goes and goes(she keeps trying to get the guy the other girl wants)
Beer through the nose on an inside joke(laughing at a joke about jenny)
And I'm so excited, I haven't spoken(she thinks she is going to get the guy pr the guy likes her)
And she's so pretty, and she's so sure(jenny)
Maybe I'm more clever than a girl like her(the other girl thinks she is smater than jenny so she trys to get the guy using her smarts)
Summer's all in bloom(the middle of summer)
Summer is ending soon(its almost the end of camp)
It's alright and it's nice not to be so alone(she likes being with her friends even if they arnt true friends)
But I hold on to your secrets in white houses(we lose are innocence but we won't tell anyone because what happens here stays here)
Maybe I'm a little bit over my head(maybe I shouldnt be doing this)
I come undone at the things he said(she fell for him even if it wasnt smart)
And he's so funny in his bright red shirt(he is so funny even though he isn't good he isn't trustworthy)
We were all in love and we all got hurt(jenny and her liked the same guy and they both got hurt cause he didn't like either of them)
I sneak into his car's cracked leather seat(he convinces her to sleep with him)
The smell of gasoline in the summer heat(he convinces her to sleep with him)
Boy, we're going way too fast(she thinks they should slow down)
It's all too sweet to last(its to good for him to love her and slow down so they have sex)
It's alright(its allright he dosnt love her)
And I put myself in his hands(she lets him sleep with her)
But I hold on to your secrets in white houses(she won't tell anyone about it)
Love, or something ignites in my veins(adranilin goes in her vains)
And I pray it never fades in white houses(she dosnt want it to last because she knows he dosnt love her)
My first time, hard to explain(she is trying to explain her first time to jenny afterwards)
Rush of blood, oh, and a little bit of pain
On a cloudy day, it's more common than you think(she tells her she was confused about it)
He's my first mistake(he was her first mistake)
Maybe you were all faster than me
We gave each other up so easily
These silly little wounds will never mend
I feel so far from where I've been
So I go, and I will not be back here again
I'm gone as the day is fading on white houses
I lied, wrote my injuries all in the dust
In my heart is the five of us
In white houses
(after camp all of them said they would keep in touch and they didn't and the girl was dissapointed ebcause she liked them all)
And you, maybe you'll remember me
What I gave is yours to keep
In white houses [x3]
(she writes it in a letter to the boy)
i know its odd but its what I thought of the song hope you like it -
Whoever should be singing this song is talking about their first year at this camp and they are glad they made friends, quick and easy. To find out they are trouble-makers.
White houses mean pure, at first the girls are not growing up they are just 18 year-old girls in a ballerina camp. but then they meet some older boys. And she has sex in the back of his car.
[sneak into his cars black leather seats
[the smell of gasoline in the summer heat
[Boy, we're going way too fast
[It's alright but I put myself in his hands
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[She's so pretty and she's so sure
[Maybe I'm more clever than a girl like her
/ Singer means that one of her friends is sure that the boys like her, the cleverness part means she KNOWS the boys don't like her. -
I think the lyrics are a lot more literal than most people might realize. I agree that it's about going to a summer intensive program for ballet, and maybe the places where they stayed were literally white houses, and she's talking about her roomates and the friendships she formed. When it says "and I'm too thin," she's talking about the pressures and rigid standards that come with being a ballerina. I think when she talks about Jenny screaming out and it's no pose, I think that Jenny is either a really good dancer that is also there, or maybe the instructor?
I think then, obviously she talks about her first time having sex, pretty self-explanatory.
Then at the end when she says "Maybe you were all faster than me" I think she means that maybe her new friends moved on more quickly after that summer than she did, and, "We gave each other up so easily" when you make friends this way, you say you'll keep in touch, but you never do and you go home and forget about each other and move on with your lives. But she won't forget what happened there and everything she gave to those girls is for them and she isn't taking it back. -
This song is about a girl that goes off to a dancing program in the summer and becomes very close with the 5 people in her "bunk" hence: white houses. The rest of the people love to party and tell little inside jokes,which makes the other girl feel left out. Now this one girl, jenny, is a party girl, that catches the dude in the red shirt's eye.the girl sees the two talking and thinks that she can outsmart jenny. She does it with the guy even though he doesn't love her, but she doesn't care, cause she beats jenny to the cut. Finally, she realizes the mistake she made and how they (her and the boy)went too fast. She can't live with herself, so she leaves the camp. Hope you like my interpretation!
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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 :) -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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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"
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