Meaning of a phrase

[Winston Soto]

Somebody goes dry.

[HotBunyip]

If someone said to me they were going dry, I would take it to mean that they were not drinking alcoholic drinks.

Take care,

HotBunyip

[Winston Soto]

This phrase is in the middle of the following lyric:

So I sing you to sleep
After the lovin'
With a song I just wrote yesterday
And I hope you can hear
What the words and the music have to say.

It's so hard to explain
Everything that I'm feelin'
Face to face I just seem to go dry.
But I love you so much
That the sound of your voice can get me high.

Thanks for takin' me
On a one way trip to the sun.
And thanks for turnin' me
Into someone.

So I sing you to sleep
After the lovin'
I brush back the hair from your eyes.
And the love on your face
Is so real that it makes me want to cry.

And I know that my song
Isn't sayin' anything new.
Oh, but after the lovin'
I'm still in love with you.

So I sing you to sleep
After the lovin'
I brush back the hair from your eyes.
And the love on your face
Is so real that it makes me want to cry.

And I know that my song
Isn't sayin' anything new.
Oh, but after the lovin'
I'm still in love with you.

Yes, after the lovin'
I'm still in love with you.

Hmmm, after the lovin'
I'm still in love with you

[Coffa]

In the context, it means unable to express yourself - "my words ran dry".

[jrherring]

This is most likely a metaphor.

In this context to "go dry" is to be unable to do something because some important thing is missing or used up. Specifically when speaking, ones mouth can literally go dry from being nervous. That results in several common metaphors. "The words turn to dust in my mouth" means that you can find nothing to say or that you cannot say what you wish because you cannot find the right words.

Similar phrases can describe the lack of something important to complete the task such as "he reached deeply for the words to say, but the well of emotion was dry" or "he was running on fumes" meaning that is metaphorical "gas tank" of energy was going dry.

Songs and poetry tend to be rich in metaphors, and the better the writer the less likely it is to be simple, trite or common place. This particular example has several potential metaphorical and physical meanings.

[Winston Soto]

Thank you very much.