Motel Matches

Pretty self-explanatory
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wehitandrun
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Motel Matches

Post by wehitandrun »

"falling for you without a second look
falling out of your open pocket book"


is SHE falling out of the open pocket book, as he is falling for her? or is HE falling out of the open pocket book?
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wardo68
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Post by wardo68 »

I always thought the matches were falling out of her open pocketbook, giving her away, i.e. proof she'd been unfaithful, probably in a Room With No Number, with her ring on a Different Finger.
wehitandrun
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Post by wehitandrun »

Ohhh I see.

I thought he was giving her away like Motel Matches- like just shipping her off.

But the Motel Matches gave her away... as in, "the jib is up!"
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mood swung
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Post by mood swung »

and the 'giving her away'--she could be 1) cheap and easy to procure like motel matches or b) revealing her infidelity. and then there's the title...
Like me, the "g" is silent.
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daybreaker
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Post by daybreaker »

It could be that the matches are metaphorical - she had an affair with him and he's fallen for her now, which will give her away like motel matches would.
whar
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Post by whar »

This song confuses me to this day.
Any more thoughts?

"I struck lucky with motel matches."
At this point, she is motel matches.
Which leads me to believe that-
"Giving you away like motel matches."
means he is giving up on her, throwing her out like motel matches (easy/free to get, easy/free to get away from).

but he falls for her in between. lust?


BAH.
Oy with the poodles, already!
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Mike Boom
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Post by Mike Boom »

Its just a pun, or a series of puns :-

"STRUCK it lucky" - as in striking a match and/or getting lucky.
"Motel MATCHES" - as in a match you light a cigarette with (Lucky Strikes of course) AND/OR a match as in a "matching couple" or a "match made in heaven.

also "giving you away" as has been mentioned could be "caught out" or giving you away as in like you would give away a promotional box of matches. ie Cheap, not wanted, something disposable.

I wouldnt under estimate ECs ability to write a whole song with nothing other than a series of puns in mind.
echos myron like a siren
with endurance like the liberty bell
and he tells you of the dreamers
but he's cracked up like the road
and he'd like to lift us up, but we're a very heavy load
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Mr. Average
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Post by Mr. Average »

I think the wordplay could potentially run even deeper than the pun.

When you think of Motel Matches, it can connote many things to many people:

1. Cheap/Free
2. An amenity of sorts
3. interpersonal connections
4. Something secretive - many clandestine rendevouz (sp) occur in hotels
5. A 'nonsmoker' (Tobacco, Pot) in the real world may become a smoker in the confines of a locked hotel room. These 'closet' smokers covet motel matches, and you can often find them scurrying around in the later evening seeking them from the bar or the front desk because, as 'nonsmokers' they don't pack them or carry a lighter.
6. advertisement medium.
7. Hot, firey, smoking, as in a torrid love affair.

Whenever I hear this song I think of EC sitting in his 150th hotel room for the year and flipping a book of Ramada Inn matches between his fingers, envisioning the whole storyline of a clandestine love affair that begins and ends at the doors of the hotel.
"The smarter mysteries are hidden in the light" - Jean Giono (1895-1970)
whar
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Post by whar »

Mike Boom wrote: "Motel MATCHES" - as in a "matching couple" or a "match made in heaven.
I like that idea. I never looked at it from that point of view.

Now I see it as...

Boys all struggling to find a relationship while Elvis is just banging girls.
8) To put it as simply as possible, anyway. I'm sure he'd be proud to read that analysis.

Seems like that is what every song on Get Happy!! is about.
Oy with the poodles, already!
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ReadyToHearTheWorst
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Post by ReadyToHearTheWorst »

I've always thought of Motel Matches as a 'sequel' to Different Finger. Covering similar territory to Third Rate Romance (as covered by Flip City).
"I'm the Rock and Roll Scrabble champion"
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bambooneedle
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Post by bambooneedle »

whar wrote:Now I see it as...

Boys all struggling to find a relationship while Elvis is just banging girls.
8) To put it as simply as possible, anyway. I'm sure he'd be proud to read that analysis.
Seems like that is what every song on Get Happy!! is about.
I doubt he would, because it's so unimaginatively simplistic.
clairequilty
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Post by clairequilty »

During a show at his solo tour during Goodbye Cruel World he sang the first refrain as: "I picked you up like Motel Matches", then went on to sing the others as "giving you away".

I'll betcha had he thought of it, that would've been in the early refrain on the record also.

But what do I know? I'm also the one who favored Declan Presley.
whar
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Post by whar »

bambooneedle wrote: I doubt he would, because it's so unimaginatively simplistic.
Hence the sarcasm. :wink:
Oy with the poodles, already!
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bambooneedle
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Post by bambooneedle »

Really?

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Yes, the sarcasm you almost forgot about...
just a lackey
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Post by just a lackey »

Here's what I always though it was about. Deranged suitor kills lover in motel room because she won't leave her husband. The George Jones on the radio is off in the distance because his mind is clouded by alcohol and what he did last night. The siren wakes him from his stupor. He looks at her. Her eyes are vacant because he strangled her the night before with his necktie. The red and blue changing lights are those of the police car coming to capture him. In a moment of clarity, he tells the dead girl's corpse he's going to use the matches spilled from her purse and the rest of the bottle of Johnnie Walker to ignite the curtains and burn the motel to the ground while he makes his escape.
whar
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Post by whar »

just a lackey wrote:Here's what I always though it was about. Deranged suitor kills lover in motel room because she won't leave her husband. The George Jones on the radio is off in the distance because his mind is clouded by alcohol and what he did last night. The siren wakes him from his stupor. He looks at her. Her eyes are vacant because he strangled her the night before with his necktie. The red and blue changing lights are those of the police car coming to capture him. In a moment of clarity, he tells the dead girl's corpse he's going to use the matches spilled from her purse and the rest of the bottle of Johnnie Walker to ignite the curtains and burn the motel to the ground while he makes his escape.
:shock:
Oy with the poodles, already!
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

I love just a lackey's take on the song - however it's all rather simple.....

Elvis' note on the Girls Girls Girls Sleeve -

“Motel Matches”: Upon my first motel night in Los Angeles I was hoaxed into believing that I had been assigned the very room where Sam Cooke had been murdered. I didn’t sleep much until I found out in the morning that it had occurred in an entirely different location. Such innocence was short lived, but the infamous Tropicana became the sight of many less serious crimes, indiscretions and comedies.



Hence -

Somewhere in the distance
I can hear who shot Sam
this is my conviction
that I am an innocent man
oh you say I'm unkind
I'm being as nice as I can

CHORUS:
boys everywhere fumbling with the catches
I struck lucky with motel matches
falling for you without a second look
falling out of your open pocket book
giving you away like motel matches

I wake with the siren of an emergency
though your mind is full of love
in your eyes there is a big conceit
and you know what I do
when the light outside changes from red to blue

chorus

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Read about the shooting of Sam Cooke -

http://members.tripod.com/clarkkauffman/id32.htm
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