Pussy Willow

The lyrics portray a young woman moving between private dreams and an ordinary working day. At first, the morning feels soft and dreamlike, and she imagines herself in a fairy tale, waiting for a rescuer. Then the train and the typewriter bring her back to routine. The repeated contrast suggests that her hopes are repeatedly reduced to fit the limits of everyday life, though the song does not say that she has given them up.

Several images make this contrast vivid. “Castle of make-believe” presents her romantic fantasy as a place she can enter in her imagination, not a real home. The “white knight” is a familiar fairy-tale rescuer, perhaps standing for a person or a dramatic change that will take her away from her current life. “Cutting dreams down to size” is an idiom-like image: practical demands make her ambitions seem smaller. Her imagined futures—travel, an elegant apartment, fishing, or dying for a cause—are strikingly different, ranging from comfort to adventure and idealism.

“Pussy Willow” may be a nickname or a poetic image for the woman; the lyrics do not make its meaning certain. The song can be heard as gently sympathetic toward her longing, but also as observant rather than openly condemning her routine. Her dreams may be unrealistic, yet they reveal a desire for a life with more choice and purpose.