The sixth Soothing Song Sundays is being presented to the song, “Flapper Girl,” by the folk-rock band, The Lumineers.

The song, “Flapper Girl,” has a very calm, sort of mellow tone to it. Without the lyrics, the mood of the song is happy and has a “rainy day” feel; a song where you would hum and skip in the streets to.

A flapper is a young, single, woman in the 1920s that had short, bobbed hair, and danced along to jazz music in clubs. These Flapper Girls wore skirts and flaunted around men while overall having a great time.

To me, I think the song, “Flapper Girl,” is about a young girl who wants to be on her own and free. This girl might have just broken up with her loved one or maybe just wants to break loose of anything and everything that’s holding her down from being happy. Although, the guy hasn’t given up hope on her and continues to sing this blue song to try and receive her love once again. However, the girl has already broken free and moved on happily.

The song begins as, “Cut off all of your hair / Did you flinch, did you care?”

In these two lines, it is known that the girl finally let loose. She just cut her long hair as a symbol of freedom and letting go of all the stress and affairs of her life. The song is asking her if she even cares about loosing her hair as if she wanted this all along.

My reasoning behind thinking this song is about an ending relationship is due to the next line of the song, “Did he look, did he stop and stare / At your brand new hair.”

Within these lines I think the he is an ex-friend or an ex-boyfriend. He realizes that she’s moving on and doing all the things she wasn’t able to do before. She’s becoming an independent individual and learning to be content and to enjoy the roller coaster of life on her own, without him.

Shortly thereafter, the man that used to hold her back tries to reach out to her as he sings, “I’mma buy one for us when I get back, A big Cadillac. / And you can wave to all of your friends, And I’ll never leave you again…”

The vibes coming off from his lines in the song make me want to believe that he left for one reason or another and left her in despair. However, the woman is already feeling like herself and is enjoying this new freedom as a young flapper girl.

“Would you write, would you call back baby / If I wrote you a song. / I’ve been gone but you’re still my lady and / I need you at home.”

It is quite evident that this it not the first time this man left the woman. He has left this woman before and realizes he was wrong for leaving her in the past. He still wants her to be “his” and for her to show him love despite the fact that she has moved on.

He continues to sing to her, “Flapper girl, flapper girl, / Prohibition in curls, / Hair of gold and a neck of pearls, / Is a flapper girl.”

The man understands that she has changed in the time that he left her and she is now a flapper girl.

“And if you ain’t behind my door / Then I ain’t got a home anymore / Would you write, would you call back baby / If I wrote you a song.”

The lyrics describe how much pain and sadness the guy is still feeling since her departure. The song ends with him saying if she does not choose to love and come back to him, that he forever lost his “home.” He realizes that she is his life and he would do anything to get her back.

“Lovers come, lovers go, lovers leave me alone / She’ll come back to me.”

In addition, even though other flapper girls and young women chase after him for his love, he only wants to give his heart to the woman he once had. However, it is far too late. The girl is finally free of her worries and cares, and she is dancing around in jazz clubs enjoying every second of life. He does not think there is not other woman like her.

The song “Flapper Girl,” by The Lumineers, gives the audience the opportunity to see both sides of a relationship between two people while being exposed to both of their feelings towards the ending of their relationship. The man does not want to accept their current relationship situation and while she is living freely with no burden, he is still lovestruck on her. She realizes she deserves better and she just wants to have fun and be a flapper girl. She lets loose, cuts her hair, while he is still stuck in despair.

I love this song and the band The Lumineers, and if you haven’t checked them out yet, make sure to check them out on iTunes or stream them on Spotify.