No Place For You

Album: Stereo (2002)
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Songfacts®:

  • "No Place For You" is about a woman who ended her life after struggling to find a place in the world - or, perhaps, after the world refused to give her one. She was cursed from the beginning ("no place for you to be a girl; no place for you, they closed your world") and found herself in her mid-30s with nothing but loneliness and exclusion, waiting tables and trying to please people "who have nothing to do this evening."

    The lyrics paint a clear picture despite being disjointed. At times it feels like Westerberg is talking about two different people and presenting events out of linear progression. Yet, like murky blobs in an impressionistic painting, the ambiguous parts add up to a cohesive effect.
  • Westerberg tells us exactly who this song is about in the 2003 Come Feel Me Tremble documentary. While performing the tune at the film's 37:09 mark, he changes the lyrics "Up in the skies now, she's getting away" to "up in the sky now, Katie is breathing." Then, at 38:04, he holds the funeral card for a woman named Catherine Jane O'Brien. He kisses the photograph and throws it in a fireplace.
  • Westerberg often explores suicide in his music. The songs "Crackle And Drag," "Can't Hardly Wait," and "Self Defense" all touch upon the topic in varying degrees of directness. Many believe "Waiting For Somebody" does, as well.

Comments: 1

  • Mary from Mpls, MnThis was written for my best friend Katy. We started to go see the band in 1981.
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