Hearts And Bones

The lyrics follow a relationship from shared travel and marriage to separation, then to a lingering hope that the love might be restored. The movement between past memories and a later, more distant view gives the song a reflective, unsettled feeling. The couple seem close, but they do not agree on what love requires or whether they can accept one another as they are.

Several images connect love to movement and physical closeness. The “arc of a love affair” suggests a relationship with a shape and course, while the repeated “hearts and bones” joins emotional feeling to the bodies that share a life. Their journey through mountains and toward Mexico may suggest a wish to escape routine or begin again, though the man’s uncertainty shows that travel alone cannot solve their problems. “Love like lightning” conveys intensity, but also hints that such passion can be sudden and difficult to control.

The phrase “one and one-half” is strikingly ambiguous: it may suggest that the pair are not fully whole together, or simply express the speaker’s wry, self-conscious way of describing them. The ending sounds hopeful, imagining two people joined so closely that they “won’t come undone,” but this may be a wish rather than a promise. The song leaves open whether their bond can truly be repaired.