Neighborhood Girls

This song seems to be linked to the earlier song, "Straight Lines." It also seems to imply that the woman who committed suicide in that song was, or might have been, a prostitute.

Here, we have two people talking about "neighborhood girls." One says that her neighborhood had one, but now, "she's gone."

Then, without having described her beyond her usual place of... business, someone replies (and this reply is the bulk of the song) that they think they "know" that woman.

This person says, in response, that he saw her in the morning and had "eyes of ice," which can mean both a shade called "ice blue," but also that her eyes were cold and devoid of emotion.

He (since the subject is a "girl," I am saying that the response is provided by a man for simplicity's sake) also claims to have spoken to her at a party. She says something enigmatic, which he chalked up to her being inebriated. She said, he recalls, "There's a backbone gone and I've got to get it back before going on." While arch, this comment seems perfectly understandable-- she wants to get her backbone, her resolve and confidence, back... and then move on, probably to another line of work.

The party-goer can be somewhat poetic himself, noting that this woman was "looking out at people from the back of her mind." Usually, the expression, "the back of my mind," means "in the part of my past I don't need to recall much." Here, it seems to mean "in an aloof and detached manner."

She also said she was looking for a "razor's edge" that she had "lost," and would, along with the backbone (to use it?), she would like to regain.

Why? She feels that her life lacks clarity. "I am just walking through the smoke," she says, and "things are going gray."

In what way are a backbone and a razor alike? They form straight lines. And that, above all, is what she is looking for: "I'd like to hear a straight line to help me find my way."

And this phrase is the signal to the listener that this is likely the same woman who is the subject of "Straight Lines." Now we can add this clue to the others. In that song, the woman "cut down on her lovers," because, as a sex worker, she had felt she was seeing too many; here, the party-goer says "She seems to have resigned." We have the "razor's edge" being sought here, and "cold metal" first "touching skin" and then "too close to the bone" there.

(It's also possible that this is the same woman as in "Cracking." There, the woman walks to the park in the "afternoon," and finds the sun blinding; here, the party-goer sees the woman he is speaking of "walking in the sun," albeit in "the morning." Also, that woman "walks a hairline," and so is interested in lines. There is a lot of imagery of cold in "Cracking," and this woman has "eyes of ice,"

Further, the woman in "Undertow" says she wants "to learn all the secrets from the edge of a knife," and could also be the same person.)

The last clue we have is the party-goer's throwaway line, "She had long, black hair." And this is where the connection possibly breaks down.

The first person to speak now speaks again: "Must be a different neighborhood girl/ 'Cause ours had blonde hair." As did the woman in "Straight Lines." The title agrees, since the song is called "Neighborhood Girls," plural. There are at least two.

Except... that woman also had "gone and cut her hair again." Women often change their hair color, as well as its length. Or, given her profession, she may have worn a wig when not working so as to be less recognizable.

Would a detective or judge be able to say with certainty that this was the same person as the suicide? Or that the blonde neighborhood girl the first speaker means is the same person as either of those others? Probably not.

But we know it must be. Otherwise, why bother mentioning it?

Next Song: Left of Center