Bruce Springsteen
Secret Garden
This ballad by Bruce Springsteen is often debated as to what it means. Many think the song is about a prostitute and who can blame them with lyrics like
She'll let you in her house
If you come knocking late at night
She'll let you in her mouth
If the words you say are right
If you pay the price
She'll let you deep inside
But there's a secret garden she hides
But unlike most other Springsteen songs that are very straight forward in their meaning, 'Secret Garden' speaks to the listener in metaphors. Lyrically, "Secret Garden" is a confusing melange of metaphors. Bruce Springsteen is known for his lyrics, powerful, poetic odes to wild, reckless abandon, love at all cost, and elegies to things lost. He’s one of, if not the greatest Bro Poet in American history. Springsteen’s words bristle with electric energy that send little bolts of lightning right into the soul of the listener.
If you pay the price is simple enough, you have to pay a particular emotional price to earn your way into this character’s life. It’s a generalization with broad applicability but it has a poetry to it.
The lyrics go on to describe a very guarded female that doesn't let men close to her. She is often hiding away important parts of herself, and even keeping them from the man she loves.