Joe Gwinn wrote: =============
** Not a crime at all.
> >Yes, a song about sexual frustration provoking arson.
> Teasing leading to furniture combustion in a fireplace.
>
> Hardly rises to the level arson. Vandalism?
But the owner of the chair or whatever is entitled to compensation.
..... Phil
I had always thought it meant setting the room on fire. Seems I'm not alone...
<Wikipedia>McCartney commented on the final verse of the song: "In our world the guy had to have some sort of revenge. It could have meant I lit a fire to keep myself warm, and wasn't the decor of her house wonderful? But it didn't, it meant I burned the f****ng place down as an act of revenge, and then we left it there and went into the instrumental."
</Wikipedia>
Hmm. Well, Counselor, you have a point there. So it was arson.
Not that anything ever happened in consequence.
Joe Gwinn
There wasn't a chair.
The "I once had a girl" line is a feed for "Or should I say, she once had me". In this context the meaning of the second 'had' is 'fooled', which is common English informal usage.
Yep, and I also read it that way.
But met can also be used two ways, the second implying intent to meet versus accidental meeting.
Joe Gwinn
I suspect a dual meaning of "had" in Lennon's wordplay is relevant here ...
"I once had a girl" (had a relationship with) versus "she once had me" -- as in "she conned me" (had me over) due to him not getting any sex out of it, despite putting in the groundwork. Biding his time, as it were.
The "met" version of the lyric (an early draft?) would not lead to that wordplay.
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