The Secrets of the Old

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a picture of a peculiar, intimate circle where forbidden knowledge is shared. The narrator claims to possess "old women's secrets," a phrase that immediately sets a tone of hidden wisdom and perhaps a touch of the uncanny. These aren't just any secrets; they are the kind that even the narrator, in their youth, wouldn't dare to contemplate, suggesting a potent, almost dangerous, undercurrent to the information being passed down. The past, once a source of potent desire, now seems to echo as a distant, almost mundane "old song." This shared knowledge creates a unique bond, a "solitude" for the narrator, Madge, and Marg'ry, distinct from the present world. The lyrics emphasize their exclusivity: "For none alive today / Can know the stories that we know / Or say the things we say." This isolation isn't necessarily negative; it’s a space carved out for the unvarnished truth about human connection and desire, stripped of contemporary judgment. They hold a collective memory of past affections and intimacies. The core of their shared lore appears to revolve around the complexities of romantic and sexual relationships across different eras. The narrator details how they discuss "how such a man pleased women most" and the varying durations of love affairs, from fleeting to lifelong. The contrast between "the bed of straw / Or the bed of down" suggests a comprehensive understanding of love and sex, encompassing both hardship and luxury, the primal and the refined. This focus on intimate histories, passed between these three women, highlights a deep, perhaps melancholic, fascination with the enduring, yet ever-changing, nature of human desire and connection.