☝️ Key Points
- The protagonist, Tom Frost, contacts his old love Martha after many years and asks if she still remembers his voice
- He invites her for coffee to talk about their shared past, which he describes as a time of 'roses, poetry, and prose'
- Tom Frost confesses his impulsiveness and his desire to be a 'man' in their relationship
- He accepts that their relationship may have never been meant to last, but confesses to Martha his indelible love
- The song ends with a melancholic reminiscence of their intimate moments and shows Tom Frost's enduring affection for Martha, despite the inevitable changes that aging brings
Interpretation
The song lyrics 'Martha' by
Tom Waits are about the nostalgic memory of a past love. The protagonist, Tom Frost, contacts his old love Martha after many years, knowing full well that both have changed a lot.
He starts the conversation by asking if she still remembers his old voice ('Will she remember my old voice') and offers to meet for coffee to talk about old times ('Meet me out for coffee, Where we'll talk about it all'). He remembers their time together as an era of 'roses, poetry, and prose', where they only had each other and were carefree ('All I had was you and all you had was me, There was no tomorrows, We'd packed away our sorrows, And we saved them for a rainy day').
Tom Frost confesses that he was always impulsive and that back then the most important thing for him was to be a man ('And I was always so impulsive, I guess that I still am, And all that really mattered then, Was that I was a man'). However, he accepts that their relationship may never have been meant to last ('I guess that our being together, Was never meant to be').
Despite all the changes and the time that has passed, he confesses his indelible love to Martha ('And Martha, Martha, I love you can't you see?'). The last lines of the song are a melancholic memory of their intimate moments ('And I remember quiet evenings, Trembling close to you').
Overall, 'Martha' is a song about lost love, regret, and the inevitability of aging. It also shows the human ability to preserve love and affection for the people who once were an important part of our lives.