Talk Of The Town

The speaker remembers wanting someone who appeared briefly and then became distant. A private feeling was spoken aloud in a crowd, turning into public gossip. The mood shifts from longing and embarrassment to uncertainty: the speaker still wants this person, but no longer knows who they are or how they fit into each other’s lives.

The person arrives “like a day” and passes “like a cloud,” images that suggest a brief, hard-to-hold presence. Clouds rearranging in the sky mirror how talk and impressions change over time. “The talk of the town” means the subject of widespread conversation; by the end, the question of who is being discussed may refer either to the desired person or to the speaker’s own exposed feelings.

The lyrics leave the relationship and its outcome unclear. The person’s changing place in the world, and the contrast between “common laborer” and “highbrow,” may suggest different sides of their life or a change in status, but the details are not explained. The speaker watches from a distance and imagines that “maybe tomorrow” things could change, while also admitting that the desire may remain unanswered.