Caroline

Album: Saints & Liars EP (2009)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Caroline" is the second track on Noah Gundersen's EP, Saints & Liars.

    The acoustic ditty shows Gundersen trying to woo a lady named Caroline:

    Well, if I was a painter
    I'd put you down in paint
    I'd hang you by the Mona Lisa
    Put that girl to shame
    Or if I was a sailor and sail the seven seas
    I'd row across the ocean just to bring you home with me

    Oh, Caroline, my baby
    Oh, Caroline, my sweet
    You make a man go crazy
    Why won't you come to me?


    In our interview with Gundersen, we asked him why he picked the name Caroline. "I think it mostly just worked phonetically," he said. "The original one, it worked phonetically with the rhythm and the melody of the song."
  • Caroline reappears in the song "Boathouse" on Gundersen's debut album, Ledges. We learn that their relationship is over because of his "heartless drinking," and that Caroline is leaving town with their son:

    Caroline, I've been wondering
    Why you didn't pick a better man?
    Caroline, my Mona Lisa still can't match your smile
    So go on, wave goodbye

    Boathouse, coming down the river
    Boathouse, carrying my love
    Boathouse, carry them to safety
    Out from the Mississippi mud
    Where I lost my love


    "I thought it'd be a funny writing exercise to tie it into another song and kind of create this story," he told us. "But it's all mythological, none of it is literal. I think maybe there are some minor resemblances to someone I used to know in the song, but, for the most part, it's just a made up story."

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