Any English Majors Out There, Song Interpretation Please?

Question

The late, great songwriter, Townes Van Zandt, included a line in his song "Be Here To Love Me", that has me baffled. The line goes,

"Children are dancing, the gamblers are chancing their all,
The Window is accusing the door of abusing the wall."

The Window is accusing the door of abusing the wall? What does that mean? Please help.

Answer 1

Well, both the window and the door share a wall. The door, although it slams, is not really the reason the wall (their home) gets abused and the window suffers its consequences (rattles or breaks). In other words, the window falsely blames the door for harming their home but it doesn't realize that the door is as helpless as the window.

What I take from it's foolish to accuse those who are as powerless as you to stop the problem.

(Another example of this kind of situation is to say "don't blame the soldiers for the war." Neither we the citizens nor they the soldiers can simply stop the war. Nonetheless, the soldiers are the instrument of war.)

Answer 2

It may be some reference I never got, but I always thought it to be, to use another analogy "the pot calling the kettle black."

The window and the door are both holes in the wall, and the window is being hypocritical by calling the door abusive. Such is life.

That interpretation fits in well with the rest of the song. The world is indifferent, and at times confusing, and the only means of escape is into a passionate, if temporary, moment.

Answer 3

Sounds like a case of 'the pot calling the kettle black" if you know what I mean. I don't understand the context as it relates to the song, but I would guess that the window is being hypocritical because the door is "abusing" the wall by creating an opening in it, but the window is doing the exact same thing.

That's all I have.

Answer 4

Sorry friend, I think even the English Majors out there also can't find out the answer....