Perfect Place (7" Version)

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a picture of profound isolation, even when surrounded by others. The opening line, "We are all together alone," immediately establishes a sense of collective loneliness. The narrator acknowledges their own state as "just dreaming" and "just wishes," suggesting a detachment from reality or a yearning for something more. This sets a melancholic tone, hinting at a world where genuine connection feels elusive and personal aspirations are deferred, perhaps indefinitely. The central tension lies between this pervasive feeling of alienation and a powerful, almost utopian, desire to fix everything and everyone. The narrator envisions a future where they will "take care of the old" and "all the babies that have no one," and later promises to "assure all of the husbands who are guilty" and "nurse all of the black and blue babies." This grand ambition to heal a broken world stands in stark contrast to their own admitted inability to "feel at home" and the recurring refrain that "not much is sacred." The most striking craft element is the persistent, almost desperate, repetition of "I will change tomorrow." This phrase, coupled with the parenthetical "(This could be a perfect place)," functions as a mantra of deferred hope. The narrator projects an idealized future, a "perfect place" that is always just out of reach, dependent on a tomorrow that never seems to arrive. The contrast between the sweeping promises of change and the narrator's present state of feeling lost and disconnected creates a poignant, almost tragic, undercurrent. Ultimately, the lyrics resonate because they capture a universal human experience: the gap between our aspirations and our present reality, and the often-unfulfilled promise of a better future. The writing effectively uses the recurring motif of "tomorrow" to highlight the difficulty of enacting change, both personally and globally, while the persistent sense of "alone" underscores the deep-seated need for connection that remains unmet.