Straight out of a Sacramento high school, Rose Melberg entered the indiepop 7-inch scene in 1992 with her first of many successful bands, Tiger Trap. Crunchy guitars and punk attitudes couldn't hide Rose's velvet voice and painfully-honest lyrics, and the all-girl foursome quickly became stars of a burgeoning indiepop/punk movement centered around Olympia, WA, and record labels like K and Kill Rock Stars. Too good to last, Tiger Trap split after their second U.S. tour, leaving one classic album and an EP on K Records. Wondrously prolific, Rose quickly teamed with uber-fan Jen Sbragia to form the The Softies, possibly her best-known project. With just two guitars and two angelic voices, from 1994 to 2001 The Softies debuted with a 7-inch and mini-LP on the wonderful Slumberland Records, toured the U.S. five times (once with Elliott Smith), released three amazing albums on K Records, and recorded several singles and compilation tracks.
At the same time, Rose somehow managed to front Go Sailor, who collected their sold-out and sought-after pop singles on Lookout! Records in 1997, and had two songs featured in the campy film, But I'm a Cheerleader. Never stopping, Rose also played drums on two albums with Gaze and recorded various duets and solo tracks while on tour. Those stray tracks were compiled on Portola, released by Double Agent Records in 1998. All Music Guide gave it four stars and declared: "Even in light of the uniform brilliance of Rose Melberg's past work with Tiger Trap and the Softies, her solo debut is still revelatory -- never before has her voice been so disarmingly honest and vulnerable ... Portola is a small miracle."
After giving us an avalanche of mellifluous albums to treasure, Rose kept quiet for five years while she started a family on a small Canadian lakeside town. In 2006, she came back with her solo masterpiece. Rose's maturity is immediate on Cast Away the Clouds -- long after graduating from Indiepop University, she emerged as a developed singer/songwriter akin to Nick Drake, Tracey Thorn, Elliott Smith, and Isobel Campbell (of Belle & Sebastian). With lyrics like a deeply personal journal, Cast Away the Clouds is an album Rose made for herself.
The newest album Homemade Ship was released in 2009
Four Walls
Rose Melberg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There's nothing left for me here in this town
But I don't need a house to show me what I've left behind
Four walls are not enough to hold these memories of mine
Please believe me
You don't need to deceive me
I'll be gone by morning
You and your new love
Will be so happy when I'm gone
Look back, turn out the light
This old foundation wont last through the night
But even though I'll miss you
There are worse things that I have known
I've suffered greater sorrow than just being left alone
Please believe me
You don't need to deceive me
I'll be gone by morning
And then you can carry on
You and your new love
Will be so happy when I'm gone
These fadedwooden floors
Say if your her's I guess that she is yours
But I don't need a monument to prove that I had you
And maybe leaving this house turned out not so to be so hard to do
Please believe me
You don't need to deceive me
I'll be gone by morning
And then you can carry on
You and your new love
Will be so happy when I'm gone
Happy when I'm gone
In Rose Melberg's song "Four Walls," the singer is leaving a house that holds painful memories. From the opening line, "The roof is falling down," it's clear that this house is no longer a safe or stable place for the singer to be. She's packing up and leaving town, but doesn't need the house to remind her of what she's lost. The refrain, "Four walls are not enough to hold these memories of mine," highlights how memories cannot be contained within physical spaces, and how leaving a house does not mean leaving behind the emotional weight of past experiences.
Despite the melancholic tone of the song, there's a sense of resolution in the singer's decision to leave. She urges her former partner to not deceive her and acknowledges that they will likely move on with a new love. The lines, "There are worse things that I have known / I've suffered greater sorrow than just being left alone" provide context for the singer's understanding of how this loss fits into her broader experiences.
Overall, "Four Walls" is a deeply introspective song about the difficulties of leaving behind a past relationship and acknowledging the ways in which memories remain even after physical objects are gone.
Line by Line Meaning
The roof is falling down
The house is in a dilapidated condition and is falling apart.
There's nothing left for me here in this town
There is nothing for the singer to hold onto in this town anymore.
But I don't need a house to show me what I've left behind
The singer does not need a physical structure to be reminded of the memories that were formed in it.
Four walls are not enough to hold these memories of mine
The memories and experiences formed in this house cannot be contained within four walls.
Please believe me
The singer is imploring someone to trust her.
You don't need to deceive me
The singer does not want to be lied to or tricked.
I'll be gone by morning
The singer will leave the house the following day.
And then you can carry on
The singer is giving permission to the other person to move on.
You and your new love
The other person has moved on to a new relationship.
Will be so happy when I'm gone
The other person and their new partner will be happier without the singer around.
Look back, turn out the light
The singer is giving a final farewell to the house and the memories within it.
This old foundation won't last through the night
The house is not structurally sound and will not survive through the night.
But even though I'll miss you
The singer will miss the other person and the memories they shared.
There are worse things that I have known
The singer has experienced worse heartbreak than just being left alone.
I've suffered greater sorrow than just being left alone
The singer has experienced more significant sadness than just being abandoned.
These faded wooden floors
The singer is referring to the worn-down floors in the house.
Say if your hers I guess that she is yours
The floors are indicating that the other person has moved on to a new partner.
But I don't need a monument to prove that I had you
The singer does not need material possessions to prove that they once had a relationship with the other person.
And maybe leaving this house turned out not so to be so hard to do
Leaving the house and the memories behind was not as difficult as the singer had expected it to be.
Happy when I'm gone
The other person and their new love will be happier once the singer is out of their lives.
Contributed by Maya T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Gazolba
Lovely haunting song.
Fran Olivera Vera
<3