Sally's Pigeons

The lyrics look back on a childhood friendship and the carefree games two girls shared. As the narrator grows older, their lives become more serious: romance, an unexpected pregnancy, and the friend’s unexplained departure replace childhood freedom. In the present, the narrator remembers her with sadness and affection, and the memory still brings tears.

Sally’s pigeons are the central image. Their flight suggests freedom and the girls’ ability to imagine a world without limits, especially when they are young. The phrase “she was late” is a gentle, indirect way of saying the friend was pregnant. The old photograph on the dresser shows how the past remains close, even though the friend is gone.

The lyrics do not explain exactly why the friend left or what happened to her afterward, so her fate remains uncertain. The narrator may also feel regret, but the song does not say that she could have changed events. The recurring pigeons may represent both the happiness of childhood and the pain of remembering what cannot be brought back.